Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida holds a paper crane addressing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference session on Aug. 1 at the U.N. headquarters in New York. (Nobuo Fujiwara)

NEW YORK--Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged that Japan would act as the “guardian” of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty when he unveiled what he called his Hiroshima Action Plan here on Aug. 1.

Kishida was addressing the NPT review conference that kicked off the same day at the U.N. headquarters, making him the first Japanese leader to do so.

Speaking in English, Kishida touched upon fears of an increased risk in the use of nuclear weapons due to Russian threats in relation to its war in Ukraine.

“The path to a world without nuclear weapons has become even harder,” Kishida said. “The NPT has served as the cornerstone of the international nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation regime in realizing international peace and security. Japan is determined to firmly uphold the NPT as its guardian.”

Kishida said his five-point Hiroshima Action Plan would serve to link the “ideal” of a world without nuclear weapons to the “reality” that is the current harsh international security situation.

He said the first prong is to share awareness of the importance of “continuing the record of non-use of nuclear weapons” since the end of World War II in 1945, when the last of two atomic bombs used against Japan was dropped on the city of Nagasaki.

The second point is to increase transparency with regard to the nuclear arsenals of the major nuclear powers, and the third is to maintain the momentum for reductions in nuclear warheads.

Kishida also called for promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy as a means to secure nuclear nonproliferation and said efforts would be made to further spread global understanding of the horrors of nuclear warfare.

The prime minister said Japan would host a summit meeting in September involving the leaders of Australia, Germany and other nations on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session to discuss the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty that has not yet taken effect.

Kishida also vowed that Japan would contribute $10 million (1.3 billion yen) to the United Nations for a fund to be used to send future leaders to Japan to work toward nuclear disarmament.

He added that the first session of an international conference of political leaders would be held in Hiroshima in November to heighten momentum toward nuclear disarmament.

Kishida said he planned “to demonstrate our firm commitment from Hiroshima to never repeat the catastrophe of atomic bombings” at next year’s Group of Seven summit meeting that will be held in that city.

He did not touch on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which Japan refuses to ratify because its defense policy relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Japan’s position has been criticized by non-nuclear states and hibakusha survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The review conference is being held for the first time in seven years. The global pandemic delayed holding the meeting by two years. It remains to be seen if a final accord on nuclear nonproliferation measures can be reached since the last review conference in 2015 ended in an impasse.

(This article was written by Tomoyoshi Otsu and Gakushi Fujiwara.)

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