The United States will base a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Japan starting in 2008, the first time that a nuclear powered carrier to be based in the Asian country, the US Navy said on Thursday.

The conventionally powered USS Kitty Hawk is currently based in Japan in order to keep a non-nuclear-powered carrier there, but it is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2008, said an official who asked not to be identified.

"We wanted to put our best and most capable platform forward deployed to keep the peace and security in the Asia Pacific region," the official said.

The United States has been keeping an aircraft carrier in Japan, which is an enduring element of US security strategy in the Pacific.

Japan, the only country to have been attacked by nuclear bombs in 1945 at the end of the Second World War, had been reluctant to serve as a base for nuclear-powered warships.

Japan has been a staunch opponent of nuclear weapons.

Source: Xinhua