Visit A-bombed cities and realise...

May 14, 2015

Hiroshima, Nagasaki angered at wording on NPT draft

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201505140055

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki objected to the removal of a call by Japan for world leaders to visit their A-bombed cities in a draft of a nuclear disarmament treaty review.

“To be exposed to the reality of the destruction and deeply understand the inhumanity of the action is the first step for the debate with regard to nuclear weapons," Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue said in a statement issued May 13. "A proposal to visit the A-bombed cities is appropriate.”

Representatives of countries participating in the ninth conference to review the U.N. Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) are meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York through May 22.

The first draft of the review, dated May 8, encouraged world leaders and young people from around the globe to visit the cities and witness firsthand the reality of the August 1945 atomic bombings.

The proposal was initially made by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, who is from Hiroshima, during a speech at the U.N. conference on April 27.

But Japan's proposal was deleted from the second draft issued on May 12 after China asked that it be removed.

China admitted to having requested that the proposal be deleted.

At least 12 countries, including South Korea, expressed support for China's request.

Fu Cong, Chinese ambassador for disarmament affairs, told reporters May 12 that he does not accept the fact that the Japanese government is trying to portray Japan as a victim of World War II, rather than as an aggressor nation.

Commenting on the matter at a news conference a day later, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “The review conference of the parties to the NPT is now in a crucial stage. We hope parties concerned … avoid introducing complicated and sensitive factors.”

With regard to China’s assertion that Japan is trying to portray itself as a victim of the war, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on May 13: “(The proposal) has nothing to do with historical issues. We cannot possibly understand (China’s) action.”

Taue, the mayor of Nagasaki, delivered a speech on May 1 at the conference encouraging heads of nuclear states to “come to Hiroshima and Nagasaki” and “see the truth of exposure to nuclear weapons with your own eyes.”

Taue also sent a request through the U.S. Embassy in Japan to President Barack Obama to visit the two cities.

“I hope this argument will proceed without making Hiroshima’s wish a political issue,” Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said at a May 13 news conference.

Matsui also criticized China for its objection to the proposal.

“It was a reaction that completely ignores the feelings of hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors),” he said.