STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. MARI AMANO

AMBASSADOR, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF JAPAN

TO THE CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT

THE 1261^TH PLENARY MEETING　OF THE CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT

Effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States

against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons

GENEVA, 12 JUNE 2012

Mr. President,

I would like to briefly state Japan’s position on the agenda item under discussion today, namely negative security assurances (NSA).

Mr. President,

In our official statement delivered on the occasion of signing the NPT in 1970, my country underscored that “the nuclear-weapon states must not have recourse to use of nuclear weapons or threaten to use such weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states.” That position remains unchanged, and Japan lends its basic support to the concept of NSA.

As such, we believe that it is fundamentally important for all states possessing nuclear weapons to diminish the role of nuclear weapons in their national security strategies. We should recognize, in this connection, that negative security assurances can make a significant contribution to reducing the role of nuclear weapons.

Mr. President,

NSAs are in the legitimate interests of non-nuclear-weapon states. Nuclear-weapon states should make their existing NSA pledges credible to the rest of the world and should provide stronger assurances to non-nuclear-weapon states that comply with the NPT. In this regard, we commend the Nuclear Posture Review of the United States and the Strategic Defense and Security Review of the United Kingdom, the importance of which was recently acknowledged by the NATO’s Deterrence and Defence Posture Review adopted at the NATO Chicago Summit. They provide strengthened assurances not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states that are party to the NPT and in compliance with their nuclear non-proliferation obligations.

Mr. President,

We also believe that the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones, where appropriate, is a practical step to promoting and realizing legally binding security assurances.

In this connection, Japan is pleased with the successful conclusion of negotiations last November between the ASEAN countries and the nuclear-weapon states on the Protocol of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty. Japan strongly hopes the five nuclear-weapon states sign and ratify the Protocol at an early date. Nuclear-weapon-free zones have also been established in the South Pacific, Africa, and Central Asia, and Japan appeals to all the parties concerned to work together constructively in order to bring about the expeditious entry into force of the respective protocols of each zone.

I thank you, Mr. President.