Japan Press Weekly

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2017 October 11 - 17 TOP3 [PEACE]

Shii and ICAN official agree to jointly push Japan to sign UN nuclear weapons ban treaty

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on October 11 met with Kawasaki Akira of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize laureate International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) at the JCP head office in Tokyo. They agreed to cooperate to pressure the Japanese government to join the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons.

Last week, ICAN was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for its contribution to realizing of the nuclear weapons ban treaty.

At the beginning of the meeting, Shii shook hands with Kawasaki and expressed his congratulations for ICAN’s receiving of the prize. Shii said, “The majority of the UN member nations supported the nuclear weapons ban treaty. The international community is steadily proceeding to demand a world free of nuclear weapons.” He also pointed out that the Japanese government has opposed the treaty and so far has made no comment on the awarding of the Nobel Prize to ICAN. Shii talked about his recent experience in the ongoing election campaign. At a street speech, when he called for the creation of a government willing to sign the UN treaty, he was applauded by the audience.

In response, Kawasaki stressed that the Nobel committee chose the ICAN as the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize laureate in recognition of Hibakusha and the organization’s efforts. He said that it will be very meaningful for global anti-nuke movements if ICAN’s winning of the prize helps boost public movements in Japan to demand that the Japanese government sign the N-ban treaty.

Kawasaki said, “The international community is angry at the Japanese government for its stance.” Noting that the general election campaign is underway, he hoped that many candidates who support the UN treaty will win seats in the coming election. He went on to say, “Japanese people are disappointed and angry by the Abe government’s refusal to sign the treaty. This should be a major issue in the general election campaign.”

Shii said that he will call on other opposition parties to take up this matter in the election campaign. He reaffirmed his determination to work hard to replace the Abe government with its negative stance toward the treaty.