May 23, 2021

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Inoue Satoshi on May 21 attended an online event hosted by the Asia Europe People’s Forum, and exchanged views on how to achieve an Asia and Europe without nuclear weapons with the utilization of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

Inoue pointed out that amid the increasingly fierce arms competition between the U.S. and China, if Japan decides to get rid of relying on the U.S. nuclear deterrent, this will contribute to breaking the vicious cycle of increasing tension in East Asia. He said, “The shortest way to achieve this is to replace the Liberal Democratic Party-led government with a new government established through united efforts of opposition parties and concerned citizens.”

In addition to Inoue, Vicky Reynaert, member of the former Flemish Socialist Party (currently Forward) in the Belgian federal parliament, also attended the event. Belgium belongs to NATO and is a nuclear umbrella state like Japan. The nation has a coalition government of seven political parties.

Reynaert reported that the seven political parties in their coalition agreement accepted the TPNW, but some of the coalition partners have shown reluctance to sign and ratify the treaty. She said that her party is working to push the government to attend the TNPW states parties meeting as an observer.

Together with Japanese and Belgian parliamentarians, representatives of the peace movement in South Korea and the U.K. participated in the online event.

From South Korea, Lee Jun Kyu, senior researcher at the Institute for Unification and Peace Policy, Hanshin University, expressed his view. Referring to the U.S.-China arms race, he said that the establishment of international guidelines, especially with the ratification of the TPNW, play an important role in realizing a nuclear weapon-free Korean Peninsula.

The General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Kate Hudson, reported that the U.K. government seeks to build a network of its allies in the Indo-Pacific region to oppose China. She also reported that the CND recently launched a campaign to strongly criticize the present nuclear arms race for violating international law.

Past related article:
> AEPF calls for participation of nuclear-weapons states in TPNW [April 18, 2021]