Photo/Illutration Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya speaks at a news conference in Munich on Feb. 15. (Sotaro Hata)

Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya officially announced on Feb. 18 that Japan will not attend an anti-nuclear weapons meeting at the United Nations in March, drawing indignation from the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had considered dispatching some ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers to the third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), instead of attending the meeting as an observer state.

However, the LDP announced on Feb. 4 that it would not send anyone, infuriating junior coalition partner Komeito.

Komeito plans to send its lawmakers to the anti-nuclear weapons meeting, just as it did for the past two gatherings.

Iwaya told reporters at a news conference on Feb. 18 that Japan is currently facing the most severe security environment since the end of the World War II.

“Nuclear deterrence is indispensable,” he said. “The TPNW is incompatible with nuclear deterrence. If our country attends the meeting as an observer nation, it could send a wrong message about our country’s nuclear deterrence policy and cause problems in securing peace and security.”

This is the third consecutive time the Japanese government has not participated in the meeting.

Iwaya emphasized that nuclear disarmament under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), to which nuclear powers have signed, is “more desirable.”

He also said there is a “division” between countries that reject nuclear deterrence and nuclear powers and countries under the nuclear umbrella.

Japan’s participation as an observer nation would “make it difficult to gain widespread support for NPT efforts amid such a division,” Iwaya said.

‘HIBAKUSHA’ FURIOUS

Iwaya’s remark that “nuclear deterrence is indispensable” angered “hibakusha” survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

Satoshi Tanaka, a senior official of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), rejected Iwaya’s explanation.

“Under the NPT framework, which is favorable to the nuclear powers, nuclear disarmament has not made progress,” he said.

Nihon Hidankyo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.

At his news conference, Iwaya mentioned the work of Nihon Hidankyo.

“Together with hibakusha, we will make further efforts to promote an understanding of the realities of what it is like to be exposed to the atomic bombings,” he said.

The foreign minister’s comment baffled Tanaka.

“I wonder what he would do together with us, even though he is unwilling to listen to hibakusha,” Tanaka said. “With a nuclear crisis approaching, what the Japanese government should do now is sign the TPNW and create a bridge between the nuclear powers and the nations that oppose nuclear weapons.”

Miho Tanaka, 30, a member of citizen youth group Kakuwaka Hiroshima based in Hiroshima, was also upset by Iwaya’s announcement.

“I can’t hide my disappointment. I believe the government’s discussions weren’t enough to reach such a conclusion,” she said.

She also criticized the government’s attitude.

“They’re too concerned about the United States. I can’t feel that the Japanese government has any intention of deviating from this course.”

She also mentioned that NATO allies, such as Germany and Norway, which are under the nuclear umbrella in the same way as Japan, have participated in past TPNW meetings.

“I wanted our government to respond in that way,” Miho Tanaka said.

Two members of the youth group plan to visit the United States at the same time as the TPNW meeting in March.

They will meet with victims of nuclear weapons tests from around the world, such as the Marshall Islands and Kazakhstan, to exchange opinions on how to abolish nuclear weapons.

Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui also criticized the government’s stance on TPNW. They both issued statements calling on the government to join the treaty.

(This article was written by Nen Satomi, Akari Uozumi, Yuhei Kyono and Hayashi Yanagawa.)

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