Japan Press Weekly

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2015 February 18 - 24 [POLITICS]

Abe remains disinclined to move to start negotiations for nuclear ban convention

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has hinted that Japan at this year’s UN assembly will again abstain from voting on a resolution calling for the start of negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention.

He made this remark at a plenary session of the House of Councilors on February 18 in response to interpellation by Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Yamashita Yoshiki.

Yamashita took up the issue regarding Japan’s continuing abstention from the UN vote on the resolution.

The JCP lawmaker pointed out that to realize a world without nuclear weapons is Japanese people’s earnest desire and a pressing task for the survival of humanity. He noted that over two-thirds of UN member countries have affirmed their support for the launch of negotiations for an international treaty banning nuclear weapons and that 155 nations in the world have expressed their support for a joint statement denouncing the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and calling for the elimination of such weapons.

Prime Minister Abe, however, gave a negative response, arguing that as many countries, including nuclear weapons states, have yet to reach a consensus on making a pact to abolish nuclear weapons, saying it is too early to start talks on such a pact.

Criticizing the PM’s remarks as shameful, Yamashita said that Japan, as a nation suffering from the indescribable devastation of the atomic bombings, should take a lead in the global movements working for a nuclear-weapon-free world.