November 28, 2018

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Inoue Satoshi on November 27 at a House of Councilors committee meeting criticized a Japan-sponsored UN resolution for suggesting to shelve the abolition of nuclear weapons for a later date.

At the meeting of the Upper Houser Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, Inoue took up the Japan-sponsored resolution regarding the abolition of nuclear weapons which was submitted early this month to the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. He pointed out that in the resolution, the Japanese government not only said nothing about the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons, but also put the need to improve the security environment before moving toward the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Inoue noted that Japan’s resolution in its preamble only calls for the improvement of the international security environment as the way to achieve a world without nuclear weapons. He said this shows that Japan holds the same position as the major nuclear weapon-possessing states.

The JCP lawmaker cited the U.S. call for “creating the conditions for nuclear disarmament”, and said that based on this initiative, the U.S., together with four major nuclear-weapons states, in October published a statement which calls for creating the “international environment more conductive to further progress on nuclear disarmament” while at the same time opposing the UN nuclear weapons ban treaty.

Inoue referred to the fact that the Austrian Ambassador to the UN expressed his disappointment in regard to Japan’s resolution by saying that to wait for the conditions to be ripe for nuclear disarmament is like travelling on an endless road. Inoue urged the government to stop supporting the major nuclear powers’ position, adding that as the only A-bombed nation, Japan should join the anti-nuclear UN treaty and take a lead in working for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Past related articles:
> Nagasaki Hibakusha urge Abe to join UN nuclear weapons ban treaty [August 10, 2018]
> PM Abe ignores Hibakusha’s demand for signing antinuke UN treaty [August 7, 2018]