Watch Report No.29 February 4, 2021
The Letter of Request and names of 21 organizations are reproduced below.
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To:
Prime Minister SUGA Yoshihide
Foreign Minister MOTEGI Toshimitsu
Recommendation on Japan’s Nuclear Weapons Policy
--- At the Time of the Entry into Force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, We Urge an Intensive Study of the Possible Establishment of a Northeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone with a View to Abandoning its “Nuclear Umbrella” Policy ---
In a world in which the number of Covid 19 victims has reached 100 million, it is vividly clear that military forces, especially nuclear weapons, do not contribute to “Human Security”. To promote human security, it is necessary that the enormous amount of resources devoted to the military, including nuclear weapons, should be reallocated to ensuring citizens' life and safety.
On January 22, 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) came into effect, a long-held accomplishment by world citizens including hibakusha, the atomic bomb victims. As everyone knows, nuclear weapons can kill large masses of people in one stroke without discrimination. If nuclear strikes follow in reprisal, there is the potential to destroy all humanity. The TPNW renders illegal the possession and the use of these horrific weapons under international law. Thanks to the TPNW, awareness of the inhumanity and illegality of nuclear weapons will spread the world over. As a result, this historic treaty will impact even the public in countries that do not join the Treaty.
This applies especially to Japan, the only country bombed by nuclear weapons in wartime, causing the disasters of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Despite such experience, Japan's government does not recognize the significance of the TPNW and continues to refuse to sign it. This refusal puts increasingly in question the contradiction between, on the one hand, the Japanese government verbally acknowledging nuclear weapons' inhumanity and asking for their abolition, and, on the other hand, refusing to sign the TPNW.
In order for Japan to overcome this contradiction and join the Treaty, it is necessary for it to renounce its policy that relies upon a “nuclear umbrella”, that Clause e of Article 1 of the TPNW renders illegal. The recommendations that follow advocate the creation of a Northeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (NEA-NWFZ) presented as a realistic policy alternative to abandon the “nuclear umbrella” policy.
1. Immediate Actions:
(1) To declare in-principle support for the TPNW, which prohibits nuclear weapons because of their inhumane nature
The Government of Japan has reiterated that it shares the goal of nuclear abolition with the TPNW. Also, Japan’s Foreign Minister has frequently said in his remarks at the Diet, that as the only nation bombed by atomic weapons in wartime, Japan understands better than any other country the inhumanity of these weapons. Nevertheless, he refuses to participate in the TPNW as he thinks the approach of the TPNW is different from that of Japan. Now that Japan agrees to the eventual elimination of inhumane nuclear weapons, the goal of the TPNW, and disagrees only with the approach represented in the TPNW, we urge the Government of Japan to send a clear message to the world that it supports the TPNW in principle.
(2) To Participate as an observer in the TPNW State Party meeting
The TPNW stipulates that the first State Partiy meeting be held within one year after entry into force of the Treaty. Reportedly, the Government of Japan is cautious about the possibility of its participation in the meeting. On the one hand, it talks about its intention to play a bridging role between the proponents of the Treaty and its opponents, toward a nuclear weapon free world. It needs to understand the two sides' stances and build relations with both if it wants to play such a role. Participation as an observer in the State Parties’ meeting would allow Japan the opportunity to deepen mutual understanding with the State Parties of the TPNW. It is the necessary pre-condition for Japan to play the bridging role.
2. Intermediate Timed Actions – Getting Rid of the “Nuclear Umbrella” Policy
(1) To not undertake actions that will lead to the deterioration of the security environment in Northeast Asia
The Government of Japan justifies its “nuclear umbrella” policy and refuses to join the TPNW by arguing that the severity of the security environment surrounding Japan compels it to adopt such policies. However, Japan shares the responsibility for the severe security environment in the region, in the past, as well as at present. For example, Japan is considering the pursuit of the military capability to strike foreign bases against its constitutionally mandated exclusively defensive defense policy. Also, it deploys Maritime Self Defense Force ships to the South China Sea to join the US Navy’s show of force in the area. In 2018, it did not seize the historic opportunity to calm the tension on the Korean Peninsula. Instead, it continued to impose autonomous sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) beyond those imposed by the UNSC. Japan must undertake diplomatic initiatives to improve the security environment in the region in order to build a more positive one.
(2) To request that the US Biden administration to restart the US-DPRK talks in order to break the stalemate on the denuclearization and the peace process on the Korean Peninsula
The US-DPRK Joint Statement at the summit meeting in Singapore in June 2018 is a ground-breaking document. In the Joint Statement, both countries express their fundamental agreement, which remains vitally important at this moment, that they will establish new US-DPRK relations for peace and prosperity, overcoming the long history of hostility and that they will build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. In that context, the DPRK commits to complete denuclearization and the US commits to provide security guarantees to the DPRK.
It is essential for the denuclearization and alleviation of tension in Northeast Asia that the new US administration reaffirm the significance of the Singapore Joint Statement, and take initiatives to resume US-DPRK talks in order to implement the agreement. Such resumption of US-DPRK talks will also contribute to Japan’s efforts to reduce its dependence on nuclear weapons in its security policy.
We urge the Government of Japan to request that the Biden administration take this important step.
(3) To consider seriously the policy option to establish a NEA-NWFZ, which would enable Japan to abandon its “nuclear umbrella”, and subsequently join the TPNW
The Government of Japan has been arguing that, short of developing its own nuclear arsenals, it needs to depend on the US extended nuclear deterrence, the US “nuclear umbrella”, to deal with nuclear threats facing Japan. However, the overwhelming number of countries in the world neither have nuclear weapons, nor live under a “nuclear umbrella”. They ensure their security against nuclear threats by means of establishing a NWFZ Treaty, through diplomatic efforts and the legal force of international law. Those countries are the crucial driving force in promoting the TPNW.
Realistically, Japan can do the same by making efforts to establish a NEA-NWFZ, to abandon its dependence on the “nuclear umbrella” and to become a State Party of the TPNW.
The way forward to a NEA-NWFZ will be greatly advanced if Japan not only supports the denuclearization process on the Korean Peninsula, which started in 2018 with inter-Korean Panmunjom Declaration and US-DPRK Joint Statement in Singapore, but also proposes to extend the process to denuclearize the entire North Eastern Asian region by including Japan with its existing Three Non-nuclear Principles. In this arrangement, three states, Japan and North and South Korea, constitute a geographical zone free from nuclear weapons, and three nuclear weapon states, the US, China, and Russia provide security assurances to the zone, not to use nor threaten to use nuclear weapons against it. A NEA-NWFZ with a verification mechanism would make the “nuclear umbrella” unnecessary. As a result, Japan could join the TPNW and fulfill the mission afforded to it by being the sole nuclear-bombed state to lead the global efforts to abolish nuclear weapons.
We strongly urge the Government of Japan to examine the possibility of establishing a NEA-NWFZ at this critical moment of the entry into force of the TPNW.
February 2, 2021
Peace Depot, Inc.
Citizens’ Watch for a Fair Implementation of Korean Peninsula Denuclearization Agreements
AYUS International Buddhists Cooperation Network
Citizens Association against Revising Constitution
Citizens' Nuclear Information Center (CNIC)
Femin: Women's Democratic Club
Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (HANWA)
Japan Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms
Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace
Japan Congress Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs
Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Commission
Japan-Korea People’s Solidarity Japan Network
Nagasaki Global Citizens' Assembly for Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
National Christian Council (NCC) in Japan; Peace and Reconciliation Committee on East Asia
Network Against Japan Arms Trade (NAJAT)
Peace Boat
Physicians Against Nuclear War
Religions for Peace (RfP) Japan
United Church of Christ in Japan Kotobuki Chiku Center in Kanagawa District
World Federalist Movement of Japan
YWCA of Japan
