Photo/Illutration The 2015 review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty held at the U.N. headquarters in New York (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The stakes may never be higher for a review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The nearly month-long gathering that kicks off Aug. 1 at the U.N. headquarters in New York is being held in the shadow of threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Putin alluded to the use nuclear weapons if Western nations became directly involved in the conflict by trying to thwart Moscow’s goals.

The United States labeled Russia an irresponsible nuclear power and will seek to further isolate Moscow at the NPT review conference.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said it was “critical that the world come together to strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.”

The official added that Washington would work with other nations to advance “our common interest in reducing nuclear risk.”

Attention will be paid on the role Japan plays at the review conference because Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be the first Japanese leader to attend. Past review conferences have usually involved Cabinet ministers. Kishida attended the last conference in 2015 when he was foreign minister.

This year’s conference was delayed two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kishida is a strong supporter of a world without nuclear powers due to his roots in Hiroshima, the Japanese city that was leveled in the first-ever use of an atomic bomb in 1945.

However, it remains to be seen what specific steps he will outline at the NPT review conference.

Speaking at the Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-la Dialogue, held in Singapore in June, Kishida called for early enactment of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the United States has yet to ratify. He also proposed working to encourage the United States and China to engage in bilateral dialogue in nuclear disarmament and arms control.

Survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as experts in the field of nuclear disarmament have pushed the government to play a stronger role in serving as a bridge between the nuclear powers and nations that have ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

For example, the Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition submitted a request to the government on July 20 asking that it lobby the review conference for inclusion of wording in the final accord regarding the significance of the TPNW.

Akira Kawasaki, a member of the NGO network as well as a key official of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, said the government should work “to open a window of dialogue with nations that have ratified the TPNW.”

The TPNW was enacted in 2017 due to concerns held by nonnuclear nations that the NPT was no longer an effective tool for nuclear disarmament and the nations that have ratified the TPNW will likely cast a very critical eye at the nuclear powers at the NPT review conference.

The 2015 review conference failed to reach a final accord on what steps should be taken to ensure nuclear nonproliferation. If a similar result occurs this year, the viability of the NPT itself could be called into question.

(This article was written by Gakushi Fujiwara in New York, Ryo Kiyomiya in Washington, Tabito Fukutomi and Tomoyoshi Otsu.)

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