Kishida to call for keeping non-use of nukes principle at NPT confab

The World is in a mess, it's inevitable that something is going to blow up sooner or later.

Agree. Keep your heads down.

So.... he's okay with them being used against nuclear states? He's only against them being used on non-nuclear states? And I don't remember any of this during Hiroshima visits -- I think I recall Kishida talking about an end to nuclear weapons, not "possess them if you want, but just please don't use them on non-nuclear states". I guess he's getting tired of being called up on the hypocrisy of calling for an end to nuclear weapons and then in the same sentence saying they won't ratify a ban on them.

Japan signed and agreement recently to not use chemical and biological weapons but then it was discovered that Japan had Sarin gas and gave the excuse it was for defense purposes only.

Sadly, it's not so much simply an academic issue as it was in the past. Some are afraid Russia will use tactical nukes as they lose their war in Ukraine.

PM Kishida is 100% correct.

Nuclear weapons should never be used. At the very least, they should never be used against defenseless, non nuclear-armed nations as Kishida states. As a Hiroshima native, he knows only too well the tragedy of nuclear attack.

If anyone can revive the dwindling anti-nuclear weapons movement, it is Japan.

The World is in a mess, it's inevitable that something is going to blow up sooner or later.

Although I wouldn’t write our chances off just quite yet, it does seem increasingly likely that some kind of cataclysmic wake up call is on the horizon. If it does come to that, let’s hope it’s nowhere near as bad as our worst fears and that as a catalyst for positive change, better than anything we could have hoped.

Cleaver. I like it! Add in some 1-time financial incentives for denuclearization for existing countries (but not for anyone new).

Wonder what Lil' Kim and Iran have to say. ;)

Lot of talk going on from KISH this week.

Has he actually accomplished anything this month?

All I see are multiple articles about him just talking about stuff.

A good endeavor on the part of Japan, the only country that suffered atomic bombings. In the same vein, why shouldn't Japan call on nations to emulate its war-renouncing constitution, incorporating an Article 9-like provision into their constitutions?

@fighto

Hiroshima native

Kishida isn't a Hiroshima native !

That's ridiculous !

Japan signed and agreement recently to not use chemical and biological weapons but then it was discovered that Japan had Sarin gas and gave the excuse it was for defense purposes only.

I think you will find just about every military has samples of different nerve and biological agents that could be used against their troops in a war. They are indeed used for testing equipment designed to protect their troops in the event an enemy does use one of these chemical and biological weapons against them. They are also used to test neutralizing agents for external wash down of vehicles, equipment and the protective gear soldiers are wearing before they are removed, and for testing drugs to protect personnel exposed to these agents.

why shouldn't Japan call on nations to emulate its war-renouncing constitution, incorporating an Article 9-like provision into their constitutions?

Such a plea would fall on deaf ears. Harsh but true and you probably already know that. Chinese and Russian leaders ( a some European leaders too ) would nod politely and later in private roll their eyes.

In an interview before he attends the conference in New York for the first time as Japan's leader, Kishida said he wants to unveil a road map toward realizing a world free of nuclear weapons.

The problem that will always and forever prevent complete nuclear disarmament is the ease of cheating. If all but one nation honestly disarm, all it takes is one cheater hiding a half dozen nuclear weapons, something that is well within the realm of possibility, to hold the rest of the world hostage. Consider that Sweden in the 1950s and 1960s had a clandestine nuclear weapons program that culminated in ten small underground tests that nobody detected or even suspected. Even to this day nobody outside a very few in Sweden who aren't talking knows if the detonations were subcritical or critical. Only when the Swedish PM went on national TV and told Sweden that it was ending its nuclear weapons program and renouncing nuclear weapons did the rest of the world become aware. So, does anybody really think Sweden got rid of all her nuclear materials and know how? Could there be a nuke or three stashed away in a cave for a rainy day? Nobody outside of a small circle in Sweden can say. Now imagine the possibility of a nation as vast as China, Russia or the US being able to hide a few nukes, you know, just in case. Could any disarmament team say with certainty that every nuclear weapon was identified and disposed of?

I think the best we can hope for is a very large reduction in nuclear arsenals to a point were cheating wouldn't grant the cheater the ability to hold anyone hostage.

The principle is a good idea, but not realistic. Does anyone think that a homicidal maniac in possession of nuclear weapons can be trusted not to use them, if he thinks he can get away with it?

Desert Tortoise (Today  08:38 am JST),

Of course, I am fully aware that my proposal will fall on deaf ears. But efforts must be made anyway because that's the only and shortest way to realize genuine world peace. But the U.S. seems encouraging Japan to take a reverse course, which conservatives in Japan are jumping at, taking it as a boon.  

China, on the other hand, seems to make the most use of it, abusing Japan while it's weak militarily albeit at face value.

China, on the other hand, seems to make the most use of it, abusing Japan while it's weak militarily albeit at face value.

I'm just curious if you are aware of the three new ICBM fields the Chinese are building in the desert regions of their northwest? Hundreds of new silos for presumably new ICBMs. And there are two new reactors being built to produce the nuclear materials for these new weapons. Sadly for you China is not interested in peace. They are intent on rearranging international laws in their favor and controlling all the nations in Asia, essentially resurrecting the Middle Kingdom of old were all the peripheral states pay tribute to Beijing and obey its commands, or else. Your dream of peace is the laughing stock of Beijing, but naive souls like you become useful tools for them. Nobody in the west wants to conquer China. Rather we are genuinely afraid they are going to try to conquer us.

Desert Tortoise,

Nobody in the west wants to conquer China. Rather we are genuinely afraid they are going to try to conquer us.

Haven't Western powers invaded and conquered China, if not all, and subjugated it as a servile state? There's a memorial on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, commemorating Chinese coolies who lost their lives, having mutinied against the slave ship's captain.

@fighto

You said the USS Emmons was sunk 80 years ago

That's incorrect the USS Emmons was sunk April 7 1945 - 77 years ,3 months , 3 weeks and 3 days.

World war 2 ended 77 years ago not 80 years ago !

Haven't Western powers invaded and conquered China,

Dude, no western nation has any interest today in the year 2022 of invading China. None. Rather the fear today is China invading neighboring states. They have already done so taking islands from Vietnam in the early 1980s and from the Philippines in the past five years, along with making claims to Japanese territory in your prefecture, including Okinawa itself. Are you really as blind to reality as you seem?

Desert Tortoise,

Dude, no western nation has any interest today in the year 2022 of invading China. None.

No name calling, please. You're right when you say no western nation has any interest of invading China today. But they used to have, actually occupying it and enslaving its people. That's an indelible fact that makes people in the West fearful of their retaliation. Will China attack Western powers for retaliation? I doubt it.

Territorial matters are different in nature and should be discussed on a different plane.

But they used to have, actually occupying it and enslaving its people. That's an indelible fact that makes people in the West fearful of their retaliation.

Dude isn't "name calling". It's not even offensive.

You still don't understand the problem and take it seriously. The west worries about China stealing intellectual property on a grand, highly organized scale, an effort promoted by the CCP and run primarily by the 2nd Directorate of the PLA General Staff Directorate. It is no different than a bunch of thieves breaking and entering a corporate headquarters and stealing their paper plans, drawing, and other intellectual property, only now China does it electronically instead of the old fashioned way. In a practical, legal and more sense it is no different, outright theft of what is not theirs. The Chinese also steal the business plans and financial data of wester firms and use this against them to undercut their business. They steal business secrets left and right. Imagine being in a negotiation with a Chinese company and the Chinese spying is telling the Chinese what you are talking about, like they have someone sitting in the room with your own people as they discuss their next move. The west is concerned about unreported, unregulated illegal fishing by China, fishing that is depriving coastal nation's fishermen of their livelihoods. The west is concerned about China buying up new tech firms in order to control the tech these new firms possess and deny it to others including the nations the tech originates from. The west also worries that all the rules that were developed in the wake of WWII designed to prevent another world war and promote economic development are being undercut by a greedy CCP that has no interest in being an equal partner with anyone or following the rules other nations agreed to follow.

Territorial matters are different in nature and should be discussed on a different plane.

I disagree. The territorial claims in the South China Sea and the Ryukyus are all part of China's attempt to control resources and turn other nations into tributary states, just like the old days of the Middle Kingdom. China wants to control all the South China Sea and claim the oil, gas, sea floor minerals and fish for themselves at the exclusion of all the other nations bordering that sea. Likewise they want the oil and gas off the Senkaku Islands. They also want to control the entire Ryukyu chain including your home for military/strategic reasons.