Japan Press Weekly

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2008 November 12 - 18 [ANTI-N-ARMS]

JCP in Diet urges government to press U.S. to fulfill commitment to eliminate nuclear weapons

Japanese Communist Party representative Kasai Akira used his time for questioning at the November 12 House of Representatives Committee meeting to urge the government to press the U.S. to eliminate its nuclear weapons as agreed upon unanimously at the 2000 NPT Review Conference.

Foreign Minister Nakasone Hirofumi said that the government will “carefully consider the matter.”

The 2000 NPT Review Conference in its final document called for “an unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear-weapon states to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals.” However, at the 2005 Conference, the U.S. Bush administration broke the promise and refused to hold talks aimed at eliminating nuclear weapons. The Japanese government has supported the Bush administration’s stance.

Kasai reminded the government that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has said that he will make the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons a “central element of U.S. nuclear weapons policy” and that the 2005 NPT Review Conference proved to be an “embarrassing failure” because of the Bush administration’s rejection.

Kasai said that the government, representing the only A-bombed country, should press the U.S. to reconfirm its obligation to fulfill the “unequivocal undertaking” and help to accelerate the process of fulfilling it.

Foreign Minister Nakasone answered, “You’re right.”

Pointing out that the public movement led by Hibakusha (atomic-bomb survivors) is influencing U.S. policy, Kasai said, “Japan should call for the earliest possible start of talks aimed at concluding an international treaty banning and abolishing nuclear weapons.”

“The government should end the present policy of depending on nuclear deterrence and emphasize the abolition of nuclear weapons as a major component of Japan’s foreign policy,” Kasai stressed.