Hiroshima, Nagasaki urge Japanese govt to uphold non-nuclear principles

Tokyo: The city assemblies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have adopted statements urging the Japanese government to adhere to the country’s Three Non-Nuclear Principles, Kyodo News reported.

The Hiroshima City Assembly unanimously adopted its statement on Friday, pointing out that the ruling party’s attempt to revise the non-nuclear principles has caused concern, and strongly urging the Japanese government to take the feelings of people in the atomic-bombed cities seriously and to uphold the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, the report said.

The Nagasaki City Assembly passed its statement on Thursday by a majority vote, noting that successive Japanese governments have regarded the Three Non-Nuclear Principles as a national policy. It said the ruling party’s intended revision of the principles while amending the country’s security documents is totally unacceptable.

On August 6 and 9, 1945, in an effort to force Japan, which had launched a war of aggression, to surrender as soon as possible, the US military dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Three Non-Nuclear Principles, not possessing, not producing and not allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons into Japanese territory, were first declared by then Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1967 and formally adopted by the parliament in 1971, establishing them as Japan’s basic nuclear policy. The National Security Strategy, one of the three documents approved by the Cabinet in 2022, states, “The basic policy of adhering to the Three Non-Nuclear Principles will remain unchanged in the future.”

Japanese media have previously reported that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is considering reviewing the third of The Three Non-Nuclear Principles, which prohibits nuclear weapons from entering Japan’s territory, when updating related documents.

Earlier on December 24, a Japanese civil body had submitted a petition to the country’s foreign ministry, calling on the government to clearly reaffirm its commitment to the Three Non-Nuclear Principles as a national policy.

IANS