Japan continues to ignore nuke ban treaty

October 15, 2018

Japan to ignore nuke ban treaty again in resolution seeking elimination of nukes

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20181015/p2a/00m/0na/026000c#cxrecs_s

TOKYO -- The government of Japan plans to continue last year's practice of ignoring the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in its draft resolution seeking the elimination of nuclear weapons to be submitted to the First Committee (disarmament) of the United Nation's General Assembly as early as Oct. 18, according to people familiar with the decision.

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Japan is under the nuclear umbrella of the United States, and has not signed the treaty out of consideration of the U.S. position against the international accord. Tokyo has explained that it is trying to serve as "a bridge" between nuclear and non-nuclear weapons states, but not mentioning the treaty in the upcoming resolution could be viewed as the government's unwillingness to tackle nuclear disarmament head-on.

Japan has submitted a draft resolution seeking the elimination of nuclear weapons to the United Nations every year since 1994. The speech reflects Japan's policy to try to reach that goal through gradual disarmament by nuclear weapons states while maintaining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). This agreement allows five countries -- the U.S., Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China -- to maintain their nuclear arsenals but urges them to commit themselves to nuclear disarmament while banning other signatories from possessing the weapons of mass destruction.

This year's draft resolution will again focus on the importance of confidence building measures and the strengthening of cooperation between nuclear weapons states and other countries. It will also give credit to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula agreed upon at a summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. In contrast to last year's resolution accusing Pyongyang of posing "grave and imminent threats to the peace and security of the region and the world," and presenting "grave challenges to the regime centered on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons," this year's resolution will call for North Korea to return to the NPT regime.

Including a reference to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in the proposed resolution, said an individual linked to the government, "will prevent the U.S. and other nuclear weapons states from supporting the resolution."

Last year, support for Japan's resolution, also lacking a reference to the treaty, garnered support from 144 countries, 23 less than the previous year, as many non-nuclear states reacted negatively to Tokyo's position, saying Japan is under the nuclear umbrella extended by Washington and therefore is closer to nuclear weapons states. The government of Japan, therefore, hopes to increase the number of supportive countries by trying to persuade them that the resolution represents both the stances of nuclear and non-nuclear weapons states.

(Japanese original by Muneyoshi Mitsuda, Political News Department)