Weeks of strenuous work at an international conference to avert a human catastrophe have gone down the drain because of one nuclear power’s self-righteous behavior.

The country’s outrageous conduct deserves to be criticized in the strongest language possible. 

The latest review conference for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty failed to adopt a joint statement as Russia’s opposition in the final stage of the process threw a monkey wrench into the effort to build the unanimous consensus required.

The NPT has been the cornerstone of the international rules concerning nuclear weapons since the Cold War. To preserve the effectiveness of the treaty, officials from 191 countries and areas spent four weeks on discussing key issues.

But the latest conference failed to turn out a consensus document as did the previous one, held in 2015.

The failure has smashed the hopes of the international community and survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. It has furthered darkened the prospects for progress toward a future without nuclear arms.

Moscow’s representatives at the conference reportedly objected to language in the agreement that raised concerns about the nuclear power plant in Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.

In addition to the illegal aggression against Ukraine and threatening to use nuclear arms in the war, Russia has committed another appalling act by torpedoing an important agreement in a vital international conference on nuclear arms.

But the history of the NPT shows Russia is not solely responsible for the dysfunction of the nuclear nonproliferation regime.

While allowing the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China to continue possessing nuclear weapons, the treaty commits them to undertaking effective measures toward nuclear disarmament. But these five nuclear powers have been moving toward modernizing and expanding their nuclear arsenals in recent years.

In the latest NPT review conference, these leading nuclear powers showed clear aversion to being bound by any restrictions on their nuclear arms strategies.

Non-nuclear-weapon states demanded that they commit themselves to the so-called “no first use” principle, which means they will not use nuclear weapons except in retaliation to a nuclear attack, and called for other restrictions on the use of nuclear weapons.

But these proposals were struck down by the nuclear weapon states one by one.

Critics say the conference would have been a failure anyway even if it had agreed on a wishy-washy document.

Experts warn the risk of nuclear warfare is higher now than even during the Cold War. The world cannot afford to sit idly for four years until the next review conference.

In January, the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China issued a joint statement saying “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”

The draft agreement for the latest NPT conference included this passage. The nuclear powers should recall their responsibility they have recognized themselves and fulfill their obligation to move toward nuclear disarmament.

In particular, the United States and Russia, which together have 90 percent of all the nuclear warheads in the world, have a special responsibility. They should push forward their negotiations for a new nuclear arms reduction framework to replace the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (STRAT), which is set to expire in 2026.

Non-nuclear-weapon states need to persuade more countries to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which came into force last year, to ramp up international pressure on the nuclear-armed nations.

Even after the review conference ended in failure, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida argued that the NPT is the only realistic way to promote the cause of nuclear disarmament. But Japan should not look away from the grim reality that this framework has become dysfunctional.

The Japanese government should recognize the value of the nuclear ban treaty, which offers another path to a future without nuclear weapons, and pursue a multilayered strategy for pushing the world toward the elimination of nuclear arms.

The first meeting of the new “International Group of Eminent Persons” for nuclear disarmament is scheduled to be held in November in Hiroshima, which will also host next year’s summit of the Group of Seven leading democratic powers in May.

Narrowing the gap between nuclear-armed countries and non-nuclear nations to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons requires ardent efforts for building a consensus in the arena of international politics.

Kishida, who has pledged to promote nuclear disarmament as his life-long mission, needs to make serious and effective efforts to contribute to the cause.

The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 30