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Opinion

Editorial: No mention of “world without nuclear weapons” in US State of Union address

When U.S. President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union address, an explanation of political policy for the upcoming year, the contents were surprisingly inward-looking with little time devoted to foreign policy. Most noticeable was the address’s confrontational stance toward China.

Mr. Biden called for bipartisan cooperation when he said, “Winning the competition [with China] should unite all of us.” While reacting sharply against the recent discovery of suspected Chinese spy balloons, the address failed to outline concrete measures to ease tension with the adversary country.

With Japan and China facing each other across the sea, we cannot help but feel concern.

President Biden, who is halfway through his term at the age of 80, recounted his administration’s achievements over the past two years, including job creation and the enactment of the CHIPS and Science Act. There is no doubt he has his sights on the U.S. presidential election scheduled for 2024.

However, the second half of his term is sure to be full of obstacles. The Democratic Party lost a majority of seats in the House of Representatives in the recent midterm election, and cooperation with Republicans, many of whom take a hardline approach toward China, is essential. That reality could be behind Mr. Biden’s stance toward China. However, his protectionist-tinged speech could be perceived as “America first” even by U.S. allies.

Imbued with a struggle for hegemony in such areas as military, the economy, and advanced technology, confrontation between the United States and China will only intensify. Mr. Biden stated that the United States would defeat China, a country they consider to be their sole competitor, emphasizing cooperation with Japan and other allies would give that country an advantage in the competition.

The United States also showed its focus on support for Ukraine in that country’s struggle against Russia’s invasion. It seems obvious that the United States wants Japan to play a role in the Taiwan Strait issue, but Mr. Biden did not refer to that element in his address.

In response to such expectations, in a Cabinet meeting at the end of last year, three security-related documents were adopted with the aim of strengthening Japan’s defense forces centered on the acquisition of the capability to strike enemy bases.

The joint statement made after the Japan-U.S. summit at the beginning of the year indicated that the two nations’ “security alliance has never been stronger.” Nevertheless, we cannot simply wipe away the impression that aspect is simply the flip side of a deteriorating U.S.-China relationship.

If Japan were to be fully integrated into U.S. strategy, it would lose its diplomatic identity. How should Japan deal with China, Japan’s neighbor with which it has significant economic ties? Because world development without stability between the United States and China would be non-existent, a long-term strategy emphasizing dialogue between Japan and China is necessary.

The A-bombed city of Hiroshima watched for any mention of U.S. nuclear policy, but the address lacked any indication. Considering that Mr. Biden inherited former U.S. President Barack Obama’s idea of a “world without nuclear weapons” and showed willingness to diminish the role of nuclear weapons, his speech was not satisfactory from our perspective.

Mr. Biden was once considering a “sole purpose” declaration that laid out how the use of nuclear weapons should be limited to preventing, or countering, nuclear attacks by an enemy. However, Russia’s repeated threats to use nuclear weapons led to the president’s policy reversal. In last year’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), a guidelines for U.S. nuclear strategy, he stressed that nuclear deterrence continues to be “a top priority for the U.S.,” setting a double standard in which providing a “nuclear umbrella” for allies is considered the responsible and right thing to do. Over the past two years, not only have concrete results in nuclear disarmament not been achieved, the United States continues its allocation of an enormous budget to modernize the country’s nuclear forces.

The summit meeting of the G7 (Group of Seven industrialized nations) will be held in Hiroshima in May. Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is prepared to draw the participating nations into deliberations about the abolition of nuclear weapons. At the Japan-U.S. summit, when he called for “communicating to the world a vow that the tragedy of nuclear weapons would never be repeated,” Mr. Biden expressed his agreement. Isn’t that because he believes humankind would be saved and the world stabilized by the elimination of nuclear weapons?

It is still not too late. As the leader of the democratic world, Mr. Biden must make progress toward the abolition of nuclear weapons.

(Originally published on February 10, 2023)

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