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CBRN Brief
Japan & Nuclear Disarmament: Looking through the US Umbrella
Tomoko Kiyota
Former Intern, IPCS
CBRNIB14-Tomoko-Japan.pdf
 

On 27 April 2009, the Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Hirofumi Nakasone, issued a statement, titled “Conditions towards Zero-11 Benchmarks for Global Nuclear Disarmament.” This was made as a follow up to President Barack Obama’s speech at Prague on 5 April, where he said that the “US government will take concrete steps towards a world without nuclear weapons.”

However, if the Japanese nuclear policy is studied carefully, one will notice that the Foreign Minister’s speech does not signify any change in Japan’s policy towards nuclear weapons, unlike Obama’s speech. While the foreign minister’s declaration requires other countries to disarm, he was also articulate in mentioning the importance of US nuclear umbrella for Japan.

This essay aims to examine the paradoxical nature of Japan’s nuclear policy and its implications for India. As long as the Japan seeks a nuclear umbrella from the United States, the goal of ‘zero’ will  remain just a dream.


 
 
 
 

The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) is the premier South Asian think tank which conducts independent research on and provides an in depth analysis of conventional and non-conventional issues related to national and South Asian security including nuclear issues, disarmament, non-proliferation, weapons of mass destruction, the war on terrorism, counter terrorism , strategies security sector reforms, and armed conflict and peace processes in the region.

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