nuclear-news

Nuclear disarmament – a realistic and achievable goal

NAGASAKI PEACE SYMPOSIUM: Nuclear disarmament not Utopian thinking, say experts  Asahi Shimbun August 04, 2012 By HIROSHI MATSUBARA/ AJW Staff Writer NAGASAKI–Most of us probably cannot imagine a time when the world will be nuclear-free.

But experts say the disarmament process itself is a “realistic” political option that makes sustainable global peace achievable.

That is the message that came out of the International Symposium for Peace 2012, held here July 28. The event drew experts of international politics and nuclear weapons issues from Japan, China and the United States. The annual symposium, first held in Hiroshima in 1995, now meets every other year in Nagasaki.

It offers a venue for experts to discuss ridding the world of nuclear arsenals with citizens of two cities that lived through the August 1945 atomic bombings.

Following are summaries of opening remarks. They were abridged and
reorganized by The Asahi Shimbun, which co-sponsors the event with
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The panel members were Bruce Blair, president of the World Security
Institute and co-founder of Global Zero, an international non-partisan
group of 300 world leaders, and Shen Dingli, a professor of
international politics at Fudan University in China.

Other speakers were Nobumasa Akiyama, an associate professor of
international politics and nonproliferation expert at Hitotsubashi
University and researcher with the Independent Investigation
Commission on the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Accident, and Keiko
Nakamura, a nuclear disarmament expert at Nagasaki University.

The session was coordinated by Toshiaki Miura, The Asahi Shimbun’s
editorial writer.

***

BLAIR: REDUCING NUCLEAR ARMS “FEASIBLE, ESSENTIAL AND URGENT”…..
CHENG: NUCLEAR WEAPONS, BURDEN FOR CHINA…….
AKIYAMA: POLITICS NEED TO REFLECT REALITY……
NAKAMURA: JAPAN MUST PART FROM OLD “REALISM”…. we have to address a
question that would be raised by “realists,” which is how Japan can
secure its safety in this complex geopolitical situation in East Asia
while contributing to the world’s efforts to achieve nuclear
disarmament.

I believe working toward signing a multinational treaty to make East
Asia a nuclear-free zone is a realistic starting point.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/opinion/AJ201208040009

“Realists” may say that it is impossible to denuclearize the region
unless North Korea abandons its nuclear ambitions, but I believe here
we need to reverse our way of traditional thinking.

As we learned from six-party talks (on the North Korea nuclear issue),
it is reasonable to assume that starting talks to denuclearize the
region will help us forge mutual trust and eventually push Pyongyang
to abandon its nuclear programs.

In this sense, talks on disarmament represent a realistic option to
bring about sustainable peace.

August 4, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general