Japan Leads Debate on Nuclear Disarmament & Non-Proliferation

April 27, 2011

Building on a consensus reached at the 2010 NPT Review Conference

The world has seen major changes in the global situation regarding nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation since U.S. President Barack Obama's speech in Prague in April 2009. The U.S. and Russia, which possess an overwhelmingly large portion of nuclear arsenals that exist in the world, signed the New START Treaty to reduce strategic nuclear weapons. The treaty entered into force in February 2011. The Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (hereinafter referred to as the NPT Review Conference) was held in May 2010 amid severe confrontation between nuclear-weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states. The conference, considered a watershed in maintaining the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, successfully adopted a final document that included an action plan.

In the meantime, however, the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, based on the NPT that witnessed the 40th anniversary in 2010 since its entry into force, continues to confront grave challenges such as the nuclear problems of North Korea and Iran, threats of nuclear terrorism, and the growing necessity to tighten control on nuclear materials in the wake of expanding use of nuclear power.

Seeking to Realize a "World without Nuclear Weapons"

Japan, the only country in the world to have suffered the devastation caused by the use of atomic bombs, is determined to play a leading in the debate on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation by the international community toward the realization of "a world without nuclear weapons." Based on this thinking, Japan has been taking concrete actions, calling on all nuclear-weapon states to take steps for nuclear disarmament while improving transparency in their nuclear arsenals. At the 2010 NPT Review Conference, Japan and Australia jointly made joint proposals that later served as the basis of the final document, making an important contribution to the success of the meeting.

In September 2010, the Foreign Ministers of Japan and Australia co-hosted the "1st Foreign Ministers Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation," launching a new, cross-regional group. The new group aims at putting into practice the action plan specified in the final document of the NPT Review Conference, making a substantial contribution toward steady reduction in nuclear risks in cooperation with like-minded states. (Please refer to Attachment for the joint statement by the group's Foreign Ministers [PDF].) In December 2010, Japan, together with 89 other co-sponsor countries, the largest number in history, submitted a significantly enhanced draft resolution on nuclear disarmament, built on the NPT Review Conference in May, to the U.N. General Assembly. The resolution was adopted with an overwhelming majority.

Japan considers it vitally important to steadily take realistic steps, including those mentioned above, toward "a world without nuclear weapons." As a first step toward that goal, the early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and immediate commencement of negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) are the tasks of utmost urgency, allowing the international community no room for delay.

On April 30, the "2nd Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation" is scheduled to take place in Berlin, Germany. Japan, together with member states of this cross regional initiative, is set to jointly take concrete actions in order to achieve tangible progress towards a world without nuclear weapons.

Japan Contributing to Efforts in Broad Range of Areas

Japan is also playing a leading role in international efforts for disarmament in the field of weapons of mass destruction other than nuclear weapons such as biological and chemical weapons, and in the area of conventional weapons such as small arms, landmines and cluster bombs, which are challenges of urgency that span various fields including humanity and development, through such measures as contribution to implementation and universalization of related treaties and international norms, and assistance for on-the-spot projects.

Japan is also tackling the task of strengthening and making more efficient the safeguards system of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that constitutes a core measure of the nuclear non-proliferation regime. Furthermore, Japan is proactively participating in and contributing to efforts for export control regimes, which represent a framework for cooperation in export control, and for the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), which is an initiative intended to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Enthusiasm and interest on the part of civil society are indispensable if the Government is to promote diplomacy for disarmament and non-proliferation. In particular, Japan has the obligation to hand down from generation to generation the tragic consequences and realities of the use of nuclear weapons. Japan is determined to rigorously promote disarmament and non-proliferation education, through such initiative as the nomination of a "Special Communicator for a World without Nuclear Weapons" launched last year, in partnership with civil society.

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