JCP:

JCP: Weapons inspections must be continued and problem resolved peacefully within U.N. framework

In a published statement concerning the U.N. weapons inspectors' report on their findings in Iraq, Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo called for U.N. inspections of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to be continued with a view to peacefully resolving the question within the U.N. framework. Copies of the statement have been sent to the governments of 55 countries, including United Nations Security Council member countries and Islamic countries in Asia and the Middle East.

The text of the statement follows:

On January 27, United Nations weapons inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission gave a report on their findings in Iraq. It provides nothing that shows any material evidence that Iraq maintains weapons of mass destruction. It also points out that Iraq has failed to cooperate with the inspections fully.

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei stated, "However, our work is steadily progressing and should be allowed to run its natural course. With our verification system now in place, barring exceptional circumstances, and provided there is sustained proactive cooperation by Iraq, we should be able within the next few months to provide credible assurance that Iraq has no nuclear weapons programme. These few months would be a valuable investment in peace because they could help us avoid a war." Hans Blix, UNMOVIC executive chairman, said, "Iraq has on the whole cooperated rather well so far with UNMOVIC in this field," but he also gave some points in which Iraq's cooperation was in fact not adequate. ElBaradei stressed the effectiveness of the inspection, and showed the commission's policy of continuing with the inspection.

The need now is for the international community to continue to strive for the inspections to be carried on for a necessary and sufficient period of time, so that the present problem can be resolved peacefully within the U.N. framework. This is what many governments and peoples of the world earnestly desire.

To achieve this, we demand Iraq's strict compliance with U.N. Security Council resolution 1441 requiring Iraq to unconditionally cooperate with U.N. inspectors.

We also urge the United States to give up its plan for the possible unilateral use of force in disregard of the United Nations. Concerning the U.N. inspection team's report, U.S Secretary of State Colin Powell on January 27 stated, "Iraq continues to conceal vast quantities of highly lethal material and weapons to deliver it," and warned, "If the international community, through the U.N., when the time comes, does not wish to use force, the United States reserves its right, as a sovereign nation, to make a judgment, within this clear record of violation, to use force alongside like-minded nations who might wish to be part of such a coalition." On January 28, U.S. President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address said, "If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, ... we will lead a coalition to disarm him."

At a time when the United Nations is making every effort to verify the existence or nonexistence of weapons of mass destruction, the unilateral and arbitrary U.S. judgment that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction and its declared plan to unilaterally use force in disregard of the United Nations interferes with the international community's on-going efforts to resolve the issue through inspections. Such an attitude, which is in violation of the U.N. Charter and U.N. resolutions, must not be condoned.

Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro must clearly express Japan's opposition to the U.S. unilateral use of force which will go against the United Nations and refuse any cooperation with it, instead of evading expressing his position on the grounds that the U.S. use of force is a hypothetical issue. (end)