Statement by H.E. Chinami Nishimura Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Conference on Disarmament

http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/un/disarmament/arms/statement100304.html

Mr. President,

It is my great honour to be given the opportunity today to address this august body of the Conference on Disarmament of Geneva. With the forthcoming Global Nuclear Security Summit and NPT Review Conference, this year is a critical juncture towards the realization of "a world without nuclear weapons". Japan believes that nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation should be globally tackled in a focused and practical way, and we are determined to play an active role in this area.

(Expectations for the Conference on Disarmament)

Mr. President,

It should be applauded that last year the Conference on Disarmament, which is the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community, overcame 11 years of paralysis and adopted a programme of work. The international community pinned great hopes on this move. It was regrettable, however, that after this development, agreement could not be reached on implementing the programme of work that the Conference itself had adopted. To ensure concrete progress in the Conference on Disarmament, the CD member states should concentrate their efforts on an early adoption of a programme of work based on last year's agreement through serious discussions among the member states and through the spirit of cooperation. For dealing with the current situation, Japan hopes the six presidents of 2010 will continue to take initiatives, which we will provide our utmost support to assist.

(Japan's efforts)

Mr. President,

While the current international community is under the threat of nuclear weapons development and the risk of nuclear terrorism, it is critical for the whole world to advance steady efforts in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. At the UN Security Council Summit last September, Prime Minister Hatoyama talked of Japan's moral responsibility as the only country that has ever experienced atomic bombings and expressed our determination to take the lead in the pursuit of the elimination of nuclear weapons.

In this connection, let me note some of Japan's activities in the pursuit of this goal. At the General Assembly last year, we submitted a resolution on the elimination of nuclear weapons with 87 co-sponsor countries and it was adopted with the support of an overwhelming majority. We have promoted the early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and contributed to the technical aspects associated with the setting up of its verification system. We have been active in reinforcing the International Atomic Energy Agency's safeguards system and taken initiatives to universalize the Additional Protocol. Japan has also promoted disarmament and non-proliferation education in civil society. Furthermore, we launched the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament as a joint initiative with Australia, which issued its report last December. Japan has rendered its highest support to the Commission.

full-statement http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/un/disarmament/arms/statement100304.html

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

March 05, 2010

Statement by President Obama on the 40th Anniversary of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty

Forty years ago today, in the midst of a Cold War, the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) entered into force, becoming the cornerstone of the world’s efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Today, the threat of global nuclear war has passed, but the danger of nuclear proliferation endures, making the basic bargain of the NPT more important than ever: nations with nuclear weapons will move toward disarmament, nations without nuclear weapons will forsake them, and all nations have an “inalienable right” to peaceful nuclear energy.

Each of these three pillars -- disarmament, nonproliferation and peaceful uses -- are central to the vision that I outlined in Prague of stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and seeking a world without them.

To promote disarmament, the United States is working with Russia to complete negotiations on a new START Treaty that will significantly reduce our nuclear arsenals. Our forthcoming Nuclear Posture Review will move beyond outdated Cold War thinking and reduce the number and role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, even as we maintain a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent. In addition, we will seek to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and negotiate a treaty to end the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons.

To prevent proliferation, we will build on the historic resolution that we achieved at the United Nations Security Council last September by bringing together more than 40 nations at our Nuclear Security Summit next month with the goal of securing the world’s vulnerable nuclear materials in four years. At this spring’s treaty review conference and beyond, we will continue to work with allies and partners to strengthen the NPT and to enforce the rights and responsibilities of every nation, because the world cannot afford additional proliferation or regional arms races.

Finally, to ensure the peaceful use of nuclear energy, the United States seeks a new framework for civil nuclear cooperation among nations, including an international fuel bank and the necessary resources and authority to strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency. For nations that uphold their responsibilities, peaceful nuclear energy can help unlock advances in medicine, agriculture and economic development.

It took years of focused effort among many nations to bring the NPT into force four decades ago and to sustain it as the most widely embraced nuclear agreement in history. On this 40th anniversary, the United States reaffirms our resolve to strengthen the nonproliferation regime to meet the challenges of the 21st century as we pursue our ultimate vision of a world without nuclear weapons.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-obama-40th-anniversary-nuclear-nonproliferation-treaty

Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010

Diet members send Obama nuclear letter

By MASAMI ITO

Staff writer

A group of nonpartisan Diet members sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday him to strive to limit the role of America's atomic weapons to that of nuclear deterrence.

The request doesn't call for a total ban on the use of nuclear weapons but is intended to be a small but realistic step toward nuclear disarmament.

The letter asked Obama to state that the role of nuclear weapons should be limited to deterrence and asked that the U.S. nuclear policy not violate Japan's three nonnuclear principles of not possessing, producing or permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons into the country.

With the Obama administration expected to submit the Nuclear Posture Review to Congress in March and the upcoming nuclear security summit in April, the lawmakers expressed hope that the letter may influence the nuclear policy of the U.S.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100220a3.html

"Nuclear disarmament is the only sane path to a safer world" (Ban Ki-moon)

United Nations, New York, 24 September 2009: The Secretary-General spoke at the opening of the meeting welcoming the first Security Council Summit on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. He said that the need for action on those two fronts is clear.

The Secretary-General stressed that we need new ways to increase transparency and openness regarding the weapons programmes of the recognized nuclear-weapons states. He added that we must make the best use of the UN's disarmament machinery. And he encouraged nuclear weapon states to consider additional measures to enhance security as a way of leading to total elimination.

I welcome the resolution which was adopted by consensus at the Security Council Summit meeting on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Nuclear Disarmament. This summit was an historic event that has opened a new chapter in the Council's efforts to address nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. I commend the vision and leadership of President Obama who convened the meeting.

Global nuclear non-proliferation stands at a critical juncture. Despite some progress, much remains to be done to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. Against this backdrop, this summit was especially timely. I had proposed a Security Council summit meeting on nuclear disarmament in my 5-point action plan last year. I underscore the need to sustain this initiative in the Council and beyond, at the highest possible level.

I hope that the international community seizes and builds on this momentum towards advancing nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament in general and achieving success at the 2010 NPT Review Conference in particular. I will spare no effort to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and achieve success for the sake of global peace and security.

Webcast video:http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/ondemand...

Obama presided historic UN Security Council Summit on Nuclear Disarmament

Ban Ki-moon: "New momentum for world free of nuclear weapons"

United Nations, New York, 24 September 2009: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks to the Media following the opening session of the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

United Nations, New York, 24 September 2009: Informal comments to the Media by the President of the Security Council and Representative of the United States of America, Ms. Susan E. Rice, on nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament following the Summit of the Security Council and on the situation in Honduras.

Susan E. Rice: "We just completed an historic Summit level meeting of the UN Security Council"

EDITORIAL: Nuclear disarmament

Japan and Australia, both under the U.S. "nuclear umbrella," took a significant step Sunday toward nuclear disarmament. Their foreign ministers met in Perth and agreed to deepen discussions on reducing the role of nuclear weapons in national security strategy.

Japan has advocated an elimination of nuclear weapons, but has refrained from openly challenging the U.S. nuclear strategy. This self-restraint on Japan's part undoubtedly owed to its being under the U.S. nuclear umbrella, and it has certainly put a crimp in the nation's nuclear disarmament diplomacy.

But Katsuya Okada, who became foreign minister upon the change of government last year, broke from tradition, which resulted in Sunday's joint statement with his Australian counterpart, Stephen Smith.

According to the joint statement, the ministers "found worthy of consideration such ideas as enhancing the effectiveness of security assurances not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states, or retaining nuclear weapons solely for the purpose of deterring others from using such weapons, as a first step toward a world without nuclear weapons, and decided to deepen discussions on these issues."

Okada and Smith did not go as far as to demand the world's nuclear weapon states accept and act on the "negative security assurance" and "sole purpose" concepts. Still, we believe the decision by these two countries under the nuclear umbrella to review nuclear strategies has created an opening for future discussions on nuclear disarmament.

The International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (ICNND), which is a joint initiative of the governments of Japan and Australia, released its final report last December.

The report proposes that all nuclear weapon states effectively declare, by 2012, that the "sole purpose" of possessing nuclear weapons is to deter the use of such weapons against their own states and their allies. The ICNND report also called for legally binding "negative security assurance" by nuclear weapon states not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states.

We hope Japan and Australia will deepen the discussions and map out a diplomatic strategy aimed at realizing those proposals.

In his note to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last December, Okada expressed his hope that Tokyo and Washington would jointly explore the possibility of applying the "sole purpose" and "negative security assurance" concepts to practical policy.

Washington is currently in the process of a "nuclear posture review" (NPR), and the concepts of "sole purpose" and "negative security assurance" are apparently being discussed. Under President Barack Obama, who has pledged to aim for a world free of nuclear weapons, we truly hope the United States will contribute to reducing the role of nuclear weapons.

In response to Obama's call for a nuclear-free world, efforts to change the current situation by political means are now being made not only in the Asia-Pacific region but also in Europe.

Spearheading efforts in Europe is German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who is demanding the removal of U.S. nuclear weapons deployed in Germany. During his visit to Japan last month, Westerwelle and Okada confirmed that their countries must lead the world in the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Historically, nuclear disarmament has advanced whenever some determined political leader takes steps to change the world substantively. We hope Okada will take advantage of the positive results of his meetings with his Australian and German counterparts and, working closely with other world leaders, use his political initiative to step up his disarmament diplomacy.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 23

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201002230337.html

Obama to Seek Ratification of Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Thursday that it would ask the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, more than a decade after President Bill Clinton failed to convince the treaty’s opponents that the American arsenal could deter adversaries without ever setting off nuclear explosions.

The effort to move ahead with the treaty — one of the steps the administration wants to take to convince the world that the United States is committed to reducing and ultimately eliminating its arsenals — was announced by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.Speaking at the National Defense University, he was introduced by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, the only cabinet holdover from the Bush administration, and the man the White House believes will help provide political cover for what promises to be another bruising rematch over national security.

Over the next two weeks, President Obama is expected to make several critical decisions about nuclear policy, so Mr. Biden’s speech avoided some of the most contentious issues,

including whether the United States would make a vow of “no first use” of a nuclear weapon. Mr. Obama’s decisions will complete what is known as the Nuclear Posture Review, conducted by each new administration. Officials say that for the first time the review will include American policy for dealing with nuclear threats from terrorists and other nonstate actors.

Mr. Biden, who spent years as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will be a crucial player in the effort to win passage of the treaty. In a way, its approval would change very little: the United States has not conducted a nuclear test in two decades, since they were halted by President George Bush.

To overcome objections to signing the treaty, the administration has pledged to greatly increase the budget of the nation’s three weapons laboratories.

“Unfortunately, during the last decade, our nuclear complex and experts were neglected,” Mr. Biden said. He noted that many of the facilities now in use for making uranium and plutonium “date back to the days when the great powers were led by Harry Truman,Winston Churchill and Joe Stalin.”

He acknowledged that there would be major political fights ahead. “Some in my own party may have trouble reconciling investment of $7 billion in our nuclear complex with a commitment to arms reductions,” he said, arguing that the investment was necessary to make sure that weapons are safe and reliable even without physical testing. “Some in the other party may worry we’re relinquishing capabilities that have kept our country safe.”

Mr. Biden made the case that new technology had solved the problems that concerned critics of the treaty about a decade ago. “The test ban treaty is as important as ever,” he said.

But at a moment that Mr. Obama is struggling to get his domestic agenda through Congress, it is unclear when he will try to move ahead on the treaty, and Mr. Biden offered no timetable for the effort.

The core of the administration’s argument for the treaty is that Washington will never succeed in stopping other countries from seeking, and testing, nuclear arms unless it significantly reduces its own stockpile and agrees to a permanent ban on testing. Opponents maintain that the United States should never tie its hands, and they argue that computer simulations of nuclear tests do not have the demonstration effect of a real test.

“The administration’s agenda is essentially to make the country safer,” said Stephen Young, who follows the issue for the Union of Concerned Scientists, which favors passage of the treaty. “But they face an enormous challenge in gaining the support of cold warriors in the Senate without alienating their traditional allies.”