In a recent paper, Nakayama, Sato, and Matsuoka [Phys. Fluids31, 630 (1988)] suggested that elliptical cross‐section tokamaks with aspect ratioR/a=3.2 and with elongation &kgr;=2.6 are unstable to a splitting (m=2,n=0) instability for plasma &bgr;>5%, and that &kgr;≥4.0 plasmas are unstable to a splitting for &bgr;≥1%. The magnetohydrodynamic evolution codetsc[J. Comput. Phys.66, 481 (1986)] indicates, however, that such plasmas are robustly stable with respect to this splitting. In fact, a &kgr;=3.7 plasma with &bgr;=23.0% shows no tendency to split. However, the addition of pinching coils at the waist will cause the plasma to split if the current in these coils exceeds a critical valueIc, which decreases with increasing beta.