Japan won't join UN meeting on nuclear weapons ban, citing support for US deterrence
Japan will not attend a UN conference on the treaty banning nuclear weapons, a top government official in Tokyo
- TOKYO — Japan will not attend a UN conference on the treaty banning nuclear
weapons, a top government official in Tokyo said Monday, noting US nuclear
deterrence is crucial to the country's security and that its participation
would send the “wrong message".
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- Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Japan's
national security is the primary reason it will not participate as an observer
at the conference, which starts Monday in New York.
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- “Under the severe security environment, nuclear
deterrence is indispensable to defend the people's lives and assets, as well as
Japan's sovereignty and peace,” Hayashi told reporters.
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- Japan's participation as an observer at the conference
would “send a wrong message about the Japanese policy (supporting) nuclear
deterrence and interfere with our effort in security, peace and safety”.
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- The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was
approved in 2017 and went into force in 2021 following a decades-long campaign
aimed at preventing a repeat of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki at the end of World War II.
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- Japan, despite being the only victim of the nuclear
attacks, has refused to sign the treaty, saying its goal is not feasible
without the participation of any of the nuclear weapons states.
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- Hayashi said participating as an observer would also
interfere with Japan's ongoing effort to gain support for strengthening the
non-proliferation treaty and hinder nuclear disarmament.
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- He did not give further details about Japan's next steps.
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- Japanese officials have said they share the ultimate goal
of achieving a nuclear-free world but that Japan needs to be realistic amid
growing global conflicts. Atomic bombing survivors and their supporters have
criticized Japan's government for making a hollow promise while clinging to the
US nuclear umbrella.
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- The survivors and their supporters have urged the
Japanese government to participate in the conference as an observer amid
growing global attention after Nihon Hidankyo, the atomic bombing survivors'
grassroots organisation, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
