JCP lawmaker urges government to press nuclear powers to reaffirm promise to eliminate their nuclear arsenals

Japan Press Weekly

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JCP lawmaker urges government to press nuclear powers to reaffirm promise to eliminate their nuclear arsenals

A Japanese Communist Party representative in the Diet asked the government to do its part as the government of the only atomic bombed country in persuading nuclear-weapons countries to fulfill the commitment they made at the 2000 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.

Kasai Akira at the House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on May 8 questioned Prime Minister Aso Taro regarding the next NTP Review Conference slated for 2010, referring to the recent declaration by U.S. President Barack Obama that a "world without nuclear weapons" is a national goal of the United States.

He also cited JCP Chair Shii Kazuo's recent letter to U.S. President Obama requesting that the United States take concrete steps to eliminate nuclear weapons.

Aso said, "It is an extremely important and positive move that he (Obama) has made clear his stance to lift nuclear disarmament efforts to a new phase because this could be a historical turning point."

Kasai demanded that the government of "the A-bombed country make every effort" in preparation for the NPT Review Conference next year to urge nuclear-weapons countries to reaffirm their promise of an "unequivocal undertaking" to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.

He also said, "Japan should display initiative in efforts to start international negotiations aimed at concluding a treaty banning nuclear weapons."

Aso replied, "We will do our utmost to produce a positive result at the NPT Review Conference," but stopped short of touching upon the call for international negotiations on an international treaty. He just said, "Japan has called for concrete measures for nuclear disarmament."

Kasai went on to say, "If measures for nuclear disarmament are pursued with the goal of achieving the abolition of nuclear weapons, these measures will help achieve 'a world without nuclear weapons'."

- Akahata, May 9, 2009