Can Japan jumpstart action on nuclear disarmament?
Nuclear weapons continue to pose global dangers. Their elimination is a global enterprise that requires renewed leadership, dialogue, and action on the part of all the world’s nations. Unfortunately, 70 years after the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, progress on disarmament is stalled and several states are expanding or modernizing their nuclear arsenals. China, India, and Pakistan are all pursuing new ballistic missile, cruise missile, and sea-based nuclear delivery systems. North Korea continues its nuclear pursuits in violation of its earlier denuclearization pledges. These arsenals, although smaller in number, are dangerous and destabilizing. Leaders in Beijing, New Delhi, and Islamabad profess support for disarmament and “minimum” deterrence, but their actions suggest otherwise. Chinese officials suggest they will act only if and when there are deeper U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons cuts. (By Daryl Kimball for Kyodo News)
[source: Kyodo News]