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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

U.S. Bush administration goes against international demand for peace: JCP Ogata

Ogata Yasuo, Japanese Communist Party vice chair, spoke in the second session of the International Meeting of the World Conference against A & H Bombs on August 2. The gist of his speech is as follows:

The World Conference against A and H Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in recent years has rallied national governments, local governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), peace movements, and citizens from around the world under the common banner calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

This is a new form of global movement that connects national and local governments with popular movements, symbolizing the demand for peace in the 21st century.

The U.S. administration which led the NPT Review Conference in May 2005 to a breakdown, published this year its Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) making it clear that it will "maintain a robust nuclear deterrent, which remains a keystone of U.S. national power."

Since last year, there have been reports that the Pentagon is making a new "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations" that calls for the integrated use of nuclear and conventional weapons, lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. It stresses the need to further develop this policy in order to have the United States acquire "global strike" capabilities as follows:

"For prompt global strike, capabilities will be available to attack fixed, hard and deeply buried, mobile and re-locatable targets with improved accuracy anywhere in the world promptly upon the President's order. Nuclear weapons will be accurate, safe and reliable, and tailored to meet modern deterrence requirements."

Clearly, the Bush administration's blatant pursuit of hegemony backed by the overwhelming nuclear force of the only remaining superpower is totally irrational in the 21st century because the world is moving toward establishing the international peace. This view is confirmed by the actual developments we have seen during the past year in the Iraq War.

Faced with these realities, the Bush administration has been repeatedly stressing that the United States is in the midst of a "long war." It has revised the Bush Doctrine to involve its allies in the "long war" while maintaining "unilateralism" and the "preemptive attack" strategy.

In Europe, many countries are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In June, a draft resolution calling for U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe to be removed by the end of this year was submitted in the European Parliament.

In Northeast Asia, North Korea's missile test-fire in July became the region's major security concern. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum (ARF) last month urged North Korea to return to the Six-Party Talks and to continue its moratorium on missile tests. This reconfirmed the regional group's endorsement of the unanimous resolution of the U.N. Security Council calling for the peaceful settlement of North Korea's nuclear and missile issues.

Precisely when the international community had a serious discussion on how to deal with North Korea's missile launches, Japan's foreign minister said, "We should thank Kim Jong-Il." What an irresponsible remark! Clearly, he intended to use North Korea's missile launches as the pretext for Japan's military buildup that includes the earliest possible deployment of the missile defense system and the upgrading of the Defense Agency to a ministry, along with the abolition of constitutional provisions for peace.

Although Japan has become a major military power in violation of its Constitution, it has been unable to deploy troops abroad or take part in military action outside of Japan because of the constitutional principles of peace. Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution is an invaluable treasure established due to the horrendous costs of war in Japan and throughout Asia. Advocates of the adverse revision of the Constitution are calling for a change that goes against friendship with Asian countries, the path that Japanese militarism once took. They shall not succeed.

Japanese public opinion strongly calls for peace and friendship. Let us further develop our struggles for peace against nuclear weapons in solidarity with peoples in Asia and throughout the world.
- Akahata, August 4, 2006