Photo/Illutration The 9th review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is held at the U.N. headquarters in New York in April 2015. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which has served as the norm for promoting nuclear disarmament and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons for more than half a century, is facing a crisis.

The number of nuclear warheads around the world could increase for the first time since the end of the Cold War.

Russia has threatened to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine, a non-nuclear country, provoking anger and anxiety among many countries.

With the risk of nuclear war becoming real, it is urgent for the international community, particularly nuclear powers, to make serious efforts to re-establish the NPT regime.

The 10th NPT review conference will start on Aug. 1 at the U.N. headquarters in New York.

The signatories meet every five years to review compliance with the 1970 treaty.

The conference, originally scheduled for 2020, has been delayed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The NPT is fraught with inequality. Only five countries--the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China--are allowed by the treaty to possess nuclear weapons.

In exchange, non-nuclear states are granted the right to peaceful use of atomic power, and the nuclear powers are obliged to negotiate for reducing atomic weapons.

As many as 191 countries, almost all U.N. members, have acceded to the treaty because they accepted the framework as a realistic approach.

The treaty’s long-term viability hinges on efforts for nuclear disarmament. The nuclear powers should be keenly aware of their heavy responsibility.

The thaw in the Cold War led to some encouraging developments, such as agreements between Washington and Moscow to eliminate intermediate-range missiles and reduce strategic arms.

In recent years, however, nuclear powers have started modernizing their arsenals and developing “usable” smaller nuclear weapons as the U.S. relationships with Russia and China have become more prickly.

The NPT review conferences have been greatly affected by the changing security environment.

The final document of the 2000 conference referred to “an unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear-weapon states to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals.”

A specific action plan was included in the final document of the 2010 conference.

But the previous conference in 2015 failed to adopt a document amid wrangling over banning nuclear weapons in the Middle East and frustration at stalled efforts for nuclear disarmament.

Th upcoming conference is also expected to be beset by discord.

One potential fault line will be between the countries that have ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the nuclear powers and their allies, which have turned their backs on the treaty that came into force last year.

The meeting will also be overshadowed by conflict between the countries that have denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and pro-Moscow countries.

If the review conference fails to produce a result again, the foundation of the treaty will take a massive hit.

The signatories should remind themselves of the “need to make every effort to avert the danger of (a nuclear war),” which is specified at the beginning of the treaty.

They should seek to reach an agreement to make a fresh commitment to the treaty’s principal goal of promoting nuclear disarmament and preventing nuclear proliferation.

The nuclear powers should take swift and concrete actions in line with their pledge of an “unequivocal undertaking” to eliminate nuclear weapons.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be the first Japanese prime minister to attend the conference.

Japan did not participate in the first meeting of the signatories to the nuclear ban treaty in June even as an observer. The decision caused disappointment among non-nuclear countries.

Kishida’s words and actions will be closely monitored as a measure of his commitment to serving as a “bridge” between the nuclear and non-nuclear camps.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 31

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