Japan won’t join UN meeting on nuclear weapons ban, citing support for US deterrence

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TOKYO (AP) — Japan will not attend a U.N. conference on the treaty banning nuclear weapons, a top government official in Tokyo said Monday, noting U.S. nuclear deterrence is crucial to the country’s security and that its participation would send the “wrong message.”

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Japan’s national security is the primary reason it will not participate as an observer at the conference, which starts Monday in New York.

“Under the severe security environment, nuclear deterrence is indispensable to defend the people’s lives and assets, as well as Japan’s sovereignty and peace,” Hayashi told reporters. Japan’s participation as an observer at the conference would “send a wrong message about the Japanese policy (supporting) nuclear deterrence and interfere with our effort in security, peace and safety.”

The U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was approved in 2017 and went into force in 2021 following a decades-long campaign aimed at preventing a repeat of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.

Japan, despite being the only victim of the nuclear attacks, has refused to sign the treaty, saying its goal is not feasible without the participation of any of the nuclear weapons states.

Hayashi said participating as an observer would also interfere with Japan’s ongoing effort to gain support for strengthening the non-proliferation treaty and hinder nuclear disarmament.

He did not give further details about Japan’s next steps.

Japanese officials have said they share the ultimate goal of achieving a nuclear-free world but that Japan needs to be realistic amid growing global conflicts. Atomic bombing survivors and their supporters have criticized Japan’s government for making a hollow promise while clinging to the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

The survivors and their supporters have urged the Japanese government to participate in the conference as an observer amid growing global attention after Nihon Hidankyo, the atomic bombing survivors’ grassroots organization, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is a defense expert and vocal supporter of nuclear deterrence who has called for a more open debate about the role of U.S. extended deterrence in the region. Japan has also expressed more openly its desire to ensure “extended deterrence” by U.S. nuclear weapons in recent years amid growing tensions with China.