May 24, 2024

Japanese Communist Party Chair Tamura Tomoko on May 23 met with leaders of the newly-formed “Japan Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons” at the House of Councilors members’ office building.

Kawasaki Akira, executive director of the organization, stated that the new group was launched in April with the “Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (JANA)” as its parent organization.

Kawasaki explained that the Campaign plans to hold a political party debate on August 5 in Hiroshima City and will call on the Japanese government to participate as an observer in the third Meeting of State Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) slated for next March in New York. He said that he hopes to exchange information with the JCP regarding efforts to have Japan sign and ratify the treaty.

Welcoming the Campaign, Tamura responded, “Ahead of the third Meeting next March, our party intends to press the government to ratify the treaty.”

She said, “Japan has enough knowledge of how to support A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha), but the government refuses to show up for meetings of State Parties to the treaty. In order to eliminate nuclear weapons, Japan must break with its adherence to the theory of ‘nuclear deterrence’.”

JCP member of the House of Representatives Kasai Akira who was present at the meeting said, “The recent U.S. subcritical nuclear test and Russia’s tactical nuclear exercise have proven that ‘nuclear deterrence’ is ineffective.” He added, “Japan should first sign and ratify the treaty and then call on all nuclear-weapon states to join it as well.”