Takeshima issue should be solved through diplomacy: JCP chair

Hiroshima Rally
2012 World Conference against A&H Bombs

SHII KAZUO
Executive Committee Chair
Japanese Communist Party

Friends from all over Japan and the world! Konnichiwa

I am Shii Kazuo from the Japanese Communist Party. It is my great honor to be given this opportunity to express my solidarity with all the participants in the World Conference against A & H Bombs.

Friends,

It is already clear that the overwhelming majority of countries and people of the world are demanding a realization of a Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC).

At the U. N. General Assembly, 130 countries voted for a resolution calling for a commencement of negotiations of a Nuclear Weapons Convention. According to an NGO's estimate, 146 countries, or 81% of the world population, including those countries that did not vote for but support the idea of a Nuclear Weapons Convention, stand together for the commencement of negotiations of a Nuclear Weapons Convention. The Japanese government, which defies this great trend and still believes in the dogma of nuclear deterrence and nuclear umbrella, should be ashamed of its continuous abstention from this resolution. I urge the government to change its attitude to one worthy of the government representing the only A-bombed country in the world. We will therefore make utmost efforts to abrogate the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, a de-facto nuclear military alliance, and to create a nuclear-free, peaceful, and independent Japan.

Friends,

Towards the next NPT Review Conference, let us develop our joint efforts together with the United Nations, national and local governments, Hibakusha, and grassroots movements, and get the NWC negotiation started in order to open a door of a "world without nuclear weapons."

Friends,

Having experienced the Fukushima accident, one of the worst-ever nuclear disasters, the movement to establish a “Japan without nuclear power plants” is flourishing at an unprecedented scale. Hundreds of thousands of people have raised their voices in Friday-night demonstrations surrounding the prime minister’s office and the July 19 “Sayonara (Goodbye) Nuclear Power rally”. These are fantastic developments full of hope, which could change the course of history of Japan.

The two movements for a “world without nuclear weapons” and a “Japan without nuclear power plants” should advance together in solidarity, being united in the common demand not to create any more nuclear victims of any kind. I express my strong commitment to do our best in those movements.

Thank you.