Tokyo, 26 January, /AJMEDIA/
Lawmakers from Japan’s ruling parties may attend a convention of signatories to a U.N. nuclear weapons ban treaty in New York this March, but no government representatives will attend, government sources said Saturday.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba plans to skip the event to be held ahead of the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this year.
The plan comes as Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese atomic bomb survivors’ group, which won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s coalition partner Komeito have urged the prime minister to participate in the convention as an observer.
Ishiba, who became prime minister in October, remains cautious about participating in the third gathering of signatories to the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Japan is not a party to the international agreement, which took effect in 2021, and the government has skipped the first two meetings. All countries classified as nuclear weapon states under the treaty are also not party to it.
The LDP and the Komeito party hope that sending a lawmaker to participate in discussions at the convention will support their efforts to realize a world free of nuclear weapons, the sources said.
The minister believes that Japan, which relies on the nuclear deterrence provided by the United States, needs to take a realistic approach to realizing a world free of nuclear weapons, the sources said.
“It is very unfortunate. It would have been the best opportunity to do so now, but (the government) may be gauging America’s stance,” said Terumi Tanaka, the co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo.
The organization, also known as the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, asked Ishiba to attend the convention in New York during its meeting with him earlier in the month.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki have also made a similar request.
Ishiba has underscored the importance of nuclear deterrence in the face of nuclear threats from North Korea, China and Russia.
He hopes to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance and his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump at a bilateral summit meeting expected in early February.
Japan aims to act as a bridge between nuclear powers and those without nuclear weapons and has supported the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which is also backed by the United States.
U.S. atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the final days of World War II in August 1945, killing an estimated 214,000 people by the end of that year and leaving numerous survivors grappling with long-term physical and mental health challenges.
