Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at the Lower House Budget Committee meeting on Dec. 10. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba congratulated the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Japan Federation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization (Nihon Hidankyo) but said Japan will remain under the protection of the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

“Their efforts over the years to send out messages toward nuclear abolition have paid off,” Ishiba said at the Lower House Budget Committee meeting on Dec. 10, the day of the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo.

“It is difficult to decide whether to say ‘congratulations’ or ‘thank you for your hard work,’ but I really appreciate their efforts,” he said.

At the same time, Ishiba made clear that it would be “extremely difficult” for Japan to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Japan, which relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella to deter attacks, has taken a negative stance toward the treaty on grounds that no nuclear weapon state has joined the treaty.

Ishiba, noting that Japan is currently surrounded by the nuclear powers of North Korea, China and Russia, said, “I do not hold the view that we should deny the extended deterrence” provided by U.S. forces and their nuclear weapons.

He also remained cautious on calls for Japan to attend the Meeting of States Parties to the treaty scheduled in March 2025 as an observer nation.

“There is no participation or non-participation without considering what role (Japan) can play,” Ishiba said.

Also on Dec. 10, foreign relations and defense officials from Japan and the United States began three-day talks on “extended deterrence.”

The discussions in Japan are intended to confirm the importance and certainty of the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

The fact that the talks began on the same day as the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony was “coincidental and the result of schedule coordination,” according to a senior Defense Minister official.

“It is impossible to abandon the nuclear umbrella in the current security environment,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said.

(This article was written by Taro Kotegawa and Nobuhiko Tajima.)

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