Japan’s prime minister still cautious on nuclear weapons ban treaty
Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s mayors press for Japan to observe November’s first treaty review and retain its three non-nuclear principles.
- The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki met with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to request that Japan take an observer role at the first meeting of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
- Prime Minister Takaichi reaffirmed her cautious approach to the treaty, not committing to the mayors' request.
- Takaichi justified her caution by stating a need to consider what would be effective for both Japan's security and the advancement of nuclear disarmament.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki pressed the government to uphold Japan’s three non-nuclear principles at a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Friday (October 30).
The two atomic-bombed cities also sought an observer role for Japan at the first review meeting of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in November.
The request was presented in writing during their meeting at the prime minister’s office.
Takaichi appears eager to review the principles.
She sidestepped a direct answer to the mayors’ appeal to preserve them, turning instead to Japan’s international role in nuclear disarmament.
She described leading the international drive towards a world without nuclear weapons as a mission for Japan, the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks in wartime.
On the treaty, Takaichi reaffirmed her cautious approach, telling the mayors: “We need to consider what would be effective for ensuring Japan’s security and advancing nuclear disarmament.”
Suzuki told reporters after the meeting that he hoped Japan would soon join the treaty, stressing that it reflected “the long-standing wishes of hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors)”.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
