Japan should take up the issue of abolishing nuclear weapons at G8 Summit: JCP Inoue

Japan Press Weekly

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Japan should take up the issue of abolishing nuclear weapons at G8 Summit: JCP Inoue

At the House of Councilors Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on April 8, Japanese Communist Party representative Inoue Satoshi urged the government to use its initiative for the upcoming G8 Summit at Toyako Town in Hokkaido to take up the issue of abolition of nuclear weapons.

Inoue said that noteworthy changes are taking place in connection with the task of implementing "an unequivocal undertaking to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals," an agreement of the 2000 Review Conference of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a goal set toward the 2010 NPT Review Conference.

He particularly cited the statements issued in 2007 and 2008 by four former statesmen, including former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, that states, “It is an open question whether nuclear deterrence theory has ever had real credibility,” and which calls for nuclear weapons to be eliminated as the essential way to achieve the goal of the NPT.

Foreign Minister Komura Masahiko said, “The statements set forth a good direction.”

Inoue drew attention to the German foreign minister’s speech at the Munich International Security Conference in February, in which he called on nuclear weapons states to take “concrete steps to inject new momentum into nuclear disarmament.”

Pointing out that Komura did not mention nuclear disarmament issues in this same conference, Inoue urged him to fulfill his duty as a representative of the only A-bombed country which should play its part in the emerging international situation.

The JCP lawmaker pointed out that generally, Summit agreements have been bound by the “non-proliferation” framework and that the agenda for the upcoming Toyako Summit only refers to the implementation of the goal of the NPT.

“As the G8 Summit host nation, Japan should include nuclear disarmament issues in the Summit agenda and take the initiative to organize summit events that will help the world better understand the realities of the damage and after-effects of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by inviting, for example, Hibakusha to the Summit meeting,” Inoue said.

- Akahata, April 9, 2008