Policy Recommendations

Urgent Proposals toward Sustaining Non-Use of Nuclear Arms and Maintenance of Nuclear Order—Ahead of the 2024 Japan-U.S. Summit—

May 23, 2024

The Study Group on New Nuclear Arms Control and Disarmament Initiatives (chaired by Professor Tatsujiro Suzuki, Nagasaki University), established by the Security Studies Program of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, has published a set of policy recommendations entitled "Urgent Proposals Toward Sustaining Non-Use of Nuclear Arms and Maintenance of Nuclear Order: Ahead of the 2024 Japan-U.S. Summit.”

This study group was created to look at ways to reduce the risk of using nuclear weapons and achieve new nuclear arms control and disarmament amid the unprecedented heightening of the risk of nuclear arms use in light of Russia’s nuclear intimidation in its invasion of Ukraine, China’s rapid nuclear arms expansion, North Korea’s attempts to accelerate its development of nuclear weapons and missiles, and other ongoing changes.

Under these circumstances, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was invited to the U.S. for a state visit and held a summit meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in April 2024. Based on the study group’s discussions and research, we took this opportunity to make these urgent proposals first in Japanese to outline concrete measures that the Japanese government can take to reduce the risk of nuclear weapons use and find a new path toward nuclear arms control and disarmament. In order to make the purpose of this proposal known not only to the Japanese government but also to international organizations and government officials around the world, the report has also been made available in English.

Click here to download the recommendations.

Description

Date of Publication

March 2024

Content

Proposal 1：Reconfirm the importance of sustaining non-use of nuclear arms and maintenance of nuclear order, spearhead summit diplomacy for concrete measures to reduce risk of nuclear arms use

The world is currently facing the risk of nuclear arms use. The upcoming Japan-U.S. summit should reconfirm the importance of “sustaining non-use of nuclear arms” and declare that this common principle should be shared by all nuclear powers and nuclear umbrella nations . Furthermore, with the arms control treaties between the U.S. and Russia virtually losing their efficacy and the disruption of the international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime, how to maintain the international nuclear order has become an urgent issue. Japan should actively conduct summit diplomacy and engage in candid discussions with leaders of the nuclear and non-nuclear nations on concrete steps to be taken for sustaining non-use of nuclear arms and maintenance of the nuclear order.

Proposal 2: Promote multitiered dialogue to encourage negotiations on nuclear arms control by the nuclear powers

Negotiations on arms control have stagnated, and the involved countries are instead moving toward expanding the role of nuclear weapons. While there are various factors behind this, it is precisely in a situation like this that dialogue among the nuclear powers is of crucial importance. Particularly in Northeast Asia, it is necessary to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations between the U.S. and China on nuclear strategy. Now is the time when a multitiered mechanism needs to be built to ease tensions among nuclear powers. In the case of the U.S. and China, Japan can play a special role because it is an ally of the U.S. and at the same time, it also has a mutually beneficial strategic relationship with China. In order to support negotiations by the nuclear powers on nuclear arms control for the future, the Japanese government should cooperate with civil society, promote “Track 2 Nuclear Dialogues” focusing on nuclear issues with the involved nations in the region, and build a mechanism for the results of the dialogues to be reflected in intergovernmental discussions.

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