(94.09.01)柳沢政務次官ＣＤ（一般演説）

　 Let me, first, offer you my warmest congratulations on your assumption of the Presidency of the Conference on Disarmament at this important time, when the Conference is about to conclude its work of the 1994 session. I should like, also, to avail myself of this opportunity to pay tribute to Mr. Petrovsky, the Secretary-General, and Mr. Bensmail, the Deputy Secretary-General, for so ably heading a Secretariat that is doing such very intensive and useful work for this year's Conference session.

　 I feel honoured to address the Conference -- which the Japanese Foreign Ministers, Mr.Shintaro Abe and Dr. Taro Nakayama, addressed in 1984 and 1991, respectively -- at this time, when the Conference is engaged in such intensive and important discussion of disarmament issues in the post-Cold War era, in particular a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty (CTBT), a task of the most historic significance. It gives me very great pleasure to convey to the Conference their best wishes for success in its endeavours of Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama and Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, both of whom stressed to me the importance of stressing to the Conference the disarmament policy of the Government of Japan and the interest in and desire for disarmament of the Japanese people.

　 Forty-nine years have passed since the Second World War ended. World War II brought terrible suffering and tragedy to a great number of people throughout the world. Because of this, after the war, motivated by profound and sincere regret for the past, Japan, desiring to ensure that the tragedy of war should never happen again, determined never again to make war, and adopted its peace Constitution. Ever since, Japan has both limited its self-defence forces to a minimum and striven to promote world disarmament. Also, Japan, the only country to have been the victim of nuclear attack, has strictly adhered to its three non-nuclear principles of not possessing, not manufacturing, and not introducing into Japanese territory nuclear weapons, and has sought to convince the international community of the need to promote disarmament, especially nuclear disarmament, with the goal of the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons.

　 The end of the Cold War has drastically reduced the possibility of a world-scale war, but the danger of the outbreak or spread of regional conflicts, arising out of ethnic, tribal or religious hostility, has grown, as has the danger of the proliferation and transfer of weapons, including those of mass destruction and the means of delivering them. Given these facts, the international community needs to address the issue of the non-proliferation of such weapons as a task of the highest priority. The question of nuclear weapons development by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and other issues relating to the transfer and proliferation of nuclear weapons which have emerged in the post-Cold War era, are extremely serious, and the need to maintain and strengthen the non-proliferation regime, whose central pillar is the NPT, is felt more acutely than ever. Japan once again strongly urges countries not yet parties to the NPT to accede to the treaty at the earliest possible date. Japan strongly supports the indefinite extension of the NPT at the 1995 NPT Extension Conference.

　 We must strive to attain non-proliferation. We should, also, in no way relax our efforts for nuclear disarmament, given the fact that there still exist nuclear weapons enough to destroy all the world and human civilization. Japan, which desires to see the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons, welcomes the START agreements between the United States and the Russian Federation and hopes that they will be implemented soon. In addition, Japan welcomes especially the fact that negotiations on a CTBT are being intensively conducted in the Conference on Disarmament. Japan considers extremely valuable the moratoria on nuclear testing announced by the United States, the Russian Federation and France, and the de facto suspension of nuclear testing by the United Kingdom, which together created a favourable environment for the commencement of the CTBT negotiations, and greatly hopes that China will follow suit. This year, remarkable progress has been made on the CTBT negotiations, under the very effective guidance of Ambassador Marin-Bosch of Mexico, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, and a rolling text, which will be the basis for subsequent negotiations, has been worked out. These developments deserve to be evaluated very highly. The Committee has decided to continue negotiations after the formal conclusion of the 1994 CD session, and Japan hopes that further, and accelerated, progress will be made in those negotiations. Japan ardently desires to see agreement reached on the CTBT, and Ambassador Tanaka and the members of his delegation have been instructed to make every possible effort to that end.

　 Japan has participated actively in the work of the Ad Hoc Group of Scientific Experts to Consider International Cooperative Measures to Detect and Identify Seismic Events (GSE), for example, sending Dr. Shigeji Suehiro, formerly Director-General of the Japan Meteorological Agency, Japan's leading authority in the field of seismology, to the GSE meetings from the outset, believing that Japan can make a valuable contribution in the field of verification of a CTBT, especially in seismology, an area extremely relevant to the implementation of the treaty. Japan annually receives about 30 trainees in seismic engineering from developing countries in the training course of the Japan International Cooperation Agency. I am happy to be able to say that some of the experts representing their countries in the GSE today are "graduates" of that course. Japan is determined to continue to provide various kinds of technical and human resources contributions in that area.

　 Along with the CTBT, Japan attaches great importance to the issue of the prohibition of the production of fissile materials for nuclear explosive purposes (the so-called "Cut-Off" ) as a global nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation measure. The adoption of the Cut-Off resolution by consensus in last year's UN General Assembly, supported by all UN members, including all the nuclear weapon States, was indeed a very important event.

　 It is truly regrettable that, notwithstanding the consensus reached thanks to the efforts of Ambassador Shannon of Canada, Special Coordinator on Cut-Off, to launch negotiations in the CD, there is as yet no agreement on the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee, because of the question of its mandate. Although there are very few days left to the end of the 1994 session, Japan continues to hope that we shall see negotiations on Cut-Off based on a mandate reflecting the content of the UNGA consensus resolution begin at once.

　 The issue of security assurances for non-nuclear weapon states is one that has been addressed by the Conference for many years. This year, there has been useful discussion of various aspects and possibilities under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Baron Guillaume of Belgium. Japan hopes that, as the 1995 NPT Extension Conference approaches, there will be further progress in the direction of measures acceptable to all countries.

　 Conflicts are still taking place in various parts of the world. Tragically, the degree of "militarization" of those conflicts, their scale and intensity, has grown markedly recent years. Particularly notable, and tragic examples are to be found in Africa, with the vast amounts of small arms that have been introduced into the region making civil wars very much more destructive than they might otherwise be. Japan firmly maintains its "Three Principles on Arms Exports", part of a rigorously enforced policy of strict control of exports of weapons. Japan considers it essential for peace and stability of the world for the leading arms producing countries to greatly restrict their exports of weapons in order not to aggravate instability in regions. The building of an international framework of export control covering the transfer of conventional weapons is a task of great urgency for the international community. Japan has consistently worked for the establishment of such a framework and will continue to strive for the early creation of an effective framework. The implementation of measures for transparency in armaments (TIA) is extremely important as the first step to the arms control and disarmament in the area of conventional weapons. Successive Prime Ministers of Japan have made clear the great importance they attach to TIA. Japan welcomes the very promising response to the UN Arms Register, established in 1992 as a result of a joint initiative by Japan and the EC, with more than 80 countries currently participating. Japan hopes that the Register's coverage will be steadily expanded and its effectiveness will continue to grow.

　 I should, next, like to refer to the meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Bangkok in July. That meeting of the ARF was of historic significance, establishing a framework for political and security dialogue covering the whole Asia-Pacific region. We find that good start extremely encouraging. Foreign Minister Kono, who represented Japan at the meeting, stressed the importance of disarmament, and advocated "information sharing" measures to enhance transparency of the defence policies of the countries in the region as part of "Mutual Reassurance Measures". The Chairman's Statement issued at end of the meeting states that it had been agreed to promote the eventual participation of all ARF countries in the UN Register. These developments in the ARF are to be welcomed as an important step for confidence building in this region.

　 Japan has since 1989 been host to a UN Disarmament Conference six times, three times in Kyoto, twice in Hiroshima and once in Sendai. Senior government officials from many countries, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, several of the Ambassadors present here, representatives of NGOs and many other people, from both Japan and other countries, participated in those Conferences, at which there were very useful discussions. Japan believes that those Conferences provided valuable stimulus in the deliberations on arms control and disarmament issues in both the CD and the United Nations. Next year, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, Japan will host another UN Disarmament Conference, in Nagasaki.

　 In conclusion, Japan ardently hopes that, pooling and making fruitful the wisdom and experience of humanity, the CD will continue to contribute to the well-being of our children in the 21st century. I can assure the Conference that Japan will continue to make every possible effort for the promotion of arms control and disarmament.