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JCP representative's speech at International Meeting

Ogata Yasuo, the director of Japanese Communist Party International Bureau and a House of Councilors member, made the following statement on August 2 at the International Meeting of the 2005 World Conference against A & H Bombs:

Let me first take up the situation and tasks after the 7th NPT Review Conference in May. The U.S. government not only broke the ﾒunequivocal undertakingﾓ it had made on the elimination of nuclear weapons, but is promoting qualitative modernization of its nuclear weapons and developing new usable types. It is also pushing ahead with its preemptive attack strategy, which even embraces the use of nuclear weapons, thus bringing a serious threat to world peace.

U.S. nuclear policy and unilateralism in defiance of the recognized rules of international politics and no self-examination of its war on Iraq, are illegitimate and dangerous, putting the greatest obstacle in the way of creating a world without nuclear weapons and wars. The United States has increasingly been isolated, and opposition forces are rapidly expanding their influence. What is strongly required today is for us to raise our voices to make the United States abide by the recognized rules of international politics, to rid the earth of nuclear weapons at the earliest possible date, and to expand and strengthen forces for building a just and peaceful world.

This will be achieved by stepping up the struggle to hold fast to the objectives and principles of the UN Charter and to establish an international order sustaining peace, a struggle which has rapidly advanced in recent years. In the struggles against the war on Iraq developed within the United Nations as well as in every corner of the world, we heard the vociferous appeal, ﾒAbide by the UN Charter!ﾓ Today struggles for reclaiming the United Nations and for achieving ﾒpeace and justiceﾓ are gaining momentum. Winning a leap forward for these struggles has become a very important task for 2005, the year of the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings and of the founding of the United Nations.

From a global point of view, peace currents have gathered steam. The New Agenda Coalition is actively working in response to the aspirations of the world's people to ensure that "nuclear weapons and humanity must never be allowed to co-exist." Its concrete activities calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons are highly valued by anti-nuclear peace forces worldwide.

The Non-Aligned Summit Conference held two years ago in Malaysia, and its ministerial conference in South Africa last summer, both of which I attended as a guest, declared, "The total elimination of nuclear weapons is the only absolute guarantee against the use or threat of nuclear weapons," reconfirming its position for the elimination of nuclear weapons. It is to be noted that Gensuikyo is registered as a Non-Aligned conference guest organization. At the NPT Review Conference, the NAM group along with the New Agenda Coalition has taken important initiatives.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has repeatedly called for the "total elimination of nuclear weapons," stressing that "the doctrine of nuclear deterrence is obsolete, and all must be done to free the world from nuclear weapons." The concrete manifestation of this spirit is found in the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone, and the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), what you may call a ﾒnon-aggression pact.ﾓ They are extremely important as the embodiment of peace and justice. The TAC has been joined by many countries out of the area, and with the participation of India, China, Japan and New Zealand it has become a source of peace, representing 53% of the world's population, or 3.4 billion people.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Central Asia where U.S. troops are stationed, as well as the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone. In addition to the entry of six countries including China, Russia and Kazakhstan, along with the participation of India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia as observers, it is developing into a large regional organization representing 2.8 billion people.

These organizations are upholding the settlement of disputes through dialogue as well as the elimination of nuclear weapons on the basis of the UN Charter. They have become extremely significant organizations for multilateral cooperation to promote world peace.

In addition to these positive developments, the Soviet-led military alliance was dismantled in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, a party to confrontation with nuclear weapons, while NATO is now said to be dysfunctional. With this as a background, some people say there are no longer any multinational military alliances functioning fully. Also, nuclear-weapon-free zones for preventing nuclear weapons from being brought in are stretching out to every continent. Historically speaking, military alliances have either been dismantled or have ceased to function fully, becoming outdated as vestiges of former times.

Both in the industrialized countries and in Asian, African and Latin American countries, currents for non-aligned neutrality have gained strength, giving rise to unprecedented waves of progress for an international order sustaining peace and justice.

I am confident that the World Conference against A and H Bombs, with its 50 year-history and its own tradition and culture nurtured during this period, has in this situation a new historic mission: it will be a joint movement to open up a bright future for humanity, supported by all forces including integrated regional organizations, governments, municipalities, NGOs and citizens across the world, who get together at the A-bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In this A-bombed country, the Japan-U.S. military alliance is being reinforced, through the reorganization of U.S. military bases and Japan's participation in U.S. missile defense, and Japan is increasingly subordinate and dependent on the dangerous U.S. nuclear strategy. At the same time, the Japanese government, with its view of history, refuses to recognize the facts that Japan waged a war of aggression and to reflect on the war, which has recently caused friction with Asian nations. The post-war international order was established on the basis of condemnation of fascism and militarism represented by Japan and other countries. Therefore, the question involved here is a very fundamental one: what kind of country we are going to build, or what kind of international relations we are going to form. That Japan's prime minister visits Yasukuni Shrine, which glorifies the war of aggression, runs counter to the currents for the international order sustaining peace, which is tantamount to declaring that Japan is trying to turn the clock back against the main currents of the world.

There is no doubt the main reason that we have seen no foreign soldier killed by Japan and no Self-Defense Forces member sacrificed in the past 60 years since the warﾕs end is Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. Protecting Article 9 is a struggle for all the peace-loving Japanese people, as the article was born of the sacrifice of the Asian peoples.

Let me conclude my speech by expressing my firm determination in this 60th anniversary of the warﾕs end, that joining hands with the peoples of Asia and the world, we will make utmost efforts to further strengthen solidarity and cooperation with them. Thank you.

(Ogat Yaso is also a member of the Committee of Chairpersons of the Organizing Committee of World Conference against A and H Bombs.)