Japan is set to completely revise a nuclear disarmament draft
resolution it submits annually to the UN General Assembly, by
simplifying the document and underscoring priority to restore
confidence in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Kyodo News
reported Thursday.??
As this year marks the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings
of Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US in World War II, the
revised draft resolution will declare determination to completely
eliminate nuclear weapons and call on all nuclear powers to reduce
their nuclear arms, including tactical nuclear weapons, in an
irreversible manner.
Japan has submitted the draft resolutions on nuclear
disarmament, titled "A Path to the Total Elimination of Nuclear
Weapons", to the UN General Assembly annually since 1994.
According to Kyodo, while partial amendments were made yearly, a
comprehensive revision will be made for the first time in five
years in response to the significant changes in the international
security environment since the September 11 terrorist attacks in
the US in 2001.
The government plans to ask European and other countries to
co-sponsor the draft and will submit it to the first committee of
the assembly in early October, Kyodo said.
The draft will urge other countries to ratify the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to facilitate its early entry into force,
even though the US is refusing to ratify it.
The draft will also call for the continuation of moratoriums on
nuclear tests and for immediate negotiations on a proposed Fissile
Material Cutoff Treaty.
Last year's resolution was adopted at the UN General Assembly in
December with the support of 165 countries, the largest number so
far.
But with opposition expected from Washington, which is opposed
to CTBT ratification, it remains unclear how much impact this
year's resolution will actually have on facilitating disarmament
diplomacy.
(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2005)