Japan Press Weekly

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2024 May 22 - 28 [PEACE]

Shii: Abandonment of nuclear deterrence theory key to realizing nuclear weapons-free world

Japanese Communist Party members of the House of Representatives Shii Kazuo and Kasai Akira on May 22 attended an opinion exchange meeting between cross-party parliamentarians’ leagues on nuclear disarmament and the International Group of Eminent Persons for a World without Nuclear Weapons (IGEP) which was initiated by the Japanese government.

At the meeting held in the Diet building, Shii pointed out that the nuclear deterrence theory is an argument based on the assumption that the threat to use nuclear weapons in the event of emergency can serve as a tool to maintain national security, which means that under this argument, when an emergency arises, a country is allowed to inflict a humanitarian catastrophe such as was unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He said that to negate such a theory is a key to realizing a “world without nuclear weapons”.

Shii noted that the IGEP was set up under the initiative of Japan, the only A-bombed nation, and called on the IGEP to give consideration to the following themes; the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons; criticism of the nuclear deterrence theory; positive assessment about the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW); and the implementation of obligations and agreements under Article 6 of the NPT by nuclear weapon states in a sincere manner.

Participants in the meeting were lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties and 13 IGEP members including IGEP Chair Shiraishi Takashi (Special Professor Emeritus at Prefectural University of Kumamoto), Angela Kane (Former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs of the United Nations), Gustavo Zlauvinen (President of the 10th NPT Review Conference), and Raden Mohammad Marty Muliana Natalegawa (Former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Indonesia).