According to a recent report by Global Net, after Honduras acceded to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the number of countries that have acceded to the treaty has reached 50, and the UN considers that the agreement has met the “starting conditions” and will come into force on January 22, 2021. But at the crucial moment, the Japanese government made its position clear. A government spokesman said Japan would not accede to the U.N. Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a move that raised international alarm, while protests erupted in Japan demanding that the country join the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Abe was afraid that he was not expecting the protests that erupted in Japan after Kan took over as prime minister. On October 26, local time, people, including atomic bombing survivors, held a rally in the city of Hiroshima, calling on the Japanese government to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The top spokesperson of the Japanese government said on October 26 that Japan will not accede to the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons and reiterated its position that it is in line with the United States.
According to the UN, the treaty has been welcomed by many countries calling for a ban on nuclear weapons, but some nuclear powers, such as Japan and Israel, have clearly disagreed with the agreement, and Japan’s refusal to accede to the treaty will cause discontent among most anti-nuclear countries.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a news conference, “We believe that in light of the increasingly severe security environment around Japan, it is appropriate to make steady and realistic progress on nuclear disarmament while maintaining and strengthening our deterrence capability to respond to threats.” He said: “Japan’s goal of abolishing nuclear weapons is consistent with the goals of this treaty, but we will not be a signatory to the agreement due to our differences on how to approach this issue.”
As the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack, Japan has been trying to demonstrate its leadership in international efforts for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. But contradictory situations have also emerged for the Japanese government, with popular protests in Hiroshima on the one hand, and Japan’s reliance on the U.S. nuclear umbrella on the other, which prevents it from endorsing a total ban on the production, use and stockpiling of nuclear weapons.
The U.N. nuclear ban treaty, which bypasses the P5 and is set to enter into force on Jan. 22, 2021, has put pressure on Japan to join. No nuclear power, including the P5, has yet endorsed the treaty, and survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the U.S. and other anti-nuclear activists, unhappy with the government’s resolution, have protested strongly, urging the Kan administration to sign the historic and largely symbolic treaty.
But in refusing to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the Japanese government also made a commitment to join the coalition for environmental protection. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres recently said he was “very encouraged” by Prime Minister Kan’s commitment to reduce Japan’s greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.
According to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a conversation with Guterres that lasted about 10 minutes, Kan told Guterres that Japan would join the Climate Ambition Coalition, a group of countries, cities, companies and other entities supported by the United Nations chief executive officer, which is committed to achieving zero carbon emissions. This is a group of countries, cities, companies and other entities, backed by the chief executive of the United Nations, which is committed to the goal of zero carbon emissions.
The day after the Diet made its commitment in its first policy speech, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said it would accelerate the process of creating a “virtuous circle of environmental and economic growth” through innovation and continue to play an active role in realizing the carbon-free society sought by the Paris agreement. After taking office in mid-September, Kan added that Japan would continue to work with the UN to support measures to address the neo-crown virus pandemic.
However, Kan’s policy speech lacked concrete measures to meet the emissions target beyond saying Japan would do its utmost to introduce renewable energy, and his pledge comes as a growing number of countries seek to go carbon-free.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a regular news conference: “We must review regulations and make arrangements to make it easier for renewable energy projects with high potential, including offshore wind power, to proceed.” The top government spokesman added: “It is important to make renewable energy a major source of electricity through deregulation.”
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