Nuclear Disarmament and Nuclear Test Ban (Archives)

2020/5/7
日本語

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a pivotal treaty concerning nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation that bans all nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions. Japan, as the only country that has suffered atomic bombings, attaches great importance to the promotion of the Treaty and its verification regime and thus gives top priority to the Treaty’s early entry into force through its ratification by the remaining eight “Annex 2 States”*, as well as the establishment and sustainment of the Treaty’s verification regime that would reliably detect nuclear testing by North Korea. To promote its early entry into force, Japan actively engages in and/or supports the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the CTBT, the “Friends of the CTBT” ministerial meetings and initiatives by the Group of Eminent Persons (GEM), while also conducting bilateral talks on the CTBT. Regarding the verification regime, Japan maintains 10 monitoring and laboratory facilities of the International Monitoring System (IMS) within the country and actively contributes to strengthening the regime through capacity building of future station operators around the world and provision of voluntary contributions to the CTBTO.

Japan has played an increasingly active role in this area in recent years. Former Ambassador Ozawa of the Japanese Mission in Vienna assumed the chairmanship of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO from January to August 2014. In September 2015, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan co-presided the 9th Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the CTBT with Foreign Minister Erlan A. Idrisov of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and since then, Japan, together with Kazakhstan, has served as a Co-Coordinator to promote the Treaty’s entry into force for a period of two years (until September 2017). In Vienna, Ambassador Kitano of the Japanese Mission co-presides related meetings with Ambassador Sarybay of the Kazakhstan Mission. Moreover, Foreign Minister Kishida chaired the 7th CTBT Ministerial Meeting in New York in September 2014 and co-chaired the 8th CTBT Ministerial Meeting in New York in September 2016 with Australia.

Japan, together with Kazakhstan, issued a joint statement on the CTBT at the summit level in October 2015, which was followed by the issuance of another joint statement in March 2016 on the occasion of the Nuclear Security Summit. Furthermore, Ambassador Kitano actively contributed to many symposiums held throughout the commemorative year of 2016 that marked the 20th anniversary of the CTBT’s opening for signature and thereby raised public awareness about the Treaty.

Notably, Japan is the second largest provider of assessed contributions to the CTBTO budgets. In addition, Japan made significant voluntary contributions, including a contribution of USD 455,000 in December 2013 to strengthen the verification regime and contribute to the activities of the GEM. Furthermore, Japan greatly supported the IFE14 (Integrated Field Exercise 2014) held in Jordan from November to December 2014 through Ambassador Kitano’s high-level visit and Japan’s provision of an in-kind contribution.

Japan will make continued efforts to promote the early entry into force of the Treaty and further strengthen the Treaty’s verification regime.

* China, Egypt, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Israel, the United States of America (signed but not ratified); Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Pakistan (not signed and not ratified)

Statements

2016

 

2015

 

Archived Statements 2012-2014

Activities

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