×

News

Symposium held in Hiroshima: “From Confidence-building to Nuclear Abolition”

by Rie Nii, Staff Writer

On August 2, an international symposium titled “From Confidence-building to Nuclear Abolition: Toward the 2015 NPT Review Conference” was held at the International Conference Center Hiroshima in Naka Ward. At the symposium, sponsored by Hiroshima City University, Nagasaki University’s Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (RECNA), and the Chugoku Shimbun, panelists discussed ways to promote confidence-building in East Asia and a road map for the abolition of nuclear weapons amid growing tensions between Japan, South Korea, and China.

Jong Won Lee, professor of international relations in East Asia at the graduate school of Waseda University, and Ian Mitchell, head of the External Co-operation Section of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), gave keynote speeches before an audience of about 210 people. Mr. Lee said it was essential to create a road map in which nations with different systems can cooperate while co-existing with their own systems, an approach based on the undertakings pursued in Europe, where nations worked hard to ease tensions between East and West during the Cold War era. Mr. Mitchell stressed that the process of confidence-building requires time and patience.

Following the keynote speeches, Chang Soo Jin, director of the Japan Center of the Sejong Institute, spoke on relations between Japan and Korea, saying that the two nations should reformulate their diplomatic efforts by separating historical perceptions from security issues. Shingo Yamagami, deputy-director general of the Foreign Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, pointed out that abiding by international laws, pursuing political solutions, and making broad human exchange efforts, from top leaders to members of the general public, should all be part of the road map for promoting confidence-building. 

From the A-bombed cities, Tatsujiro Suzuki, the vice director of RECNA, emphasized the importance of outlawing nuclear weapons and denuclearizing Northeast Asia. Yumi Kanazaki, a staff writer at the Chugoku Shimbun’s Hiroshima Peace Media Center, criticized the Japanese government for clinging to the U.S. “nuclear umbrella” when nuclear arms are increasingly seen by the international community as inhumane. Two junior writers for the Chugoku Shimbun also spoke, stressing that human beings have created nuclear weapons so only human beings can abolish them.

In the panel discussion, five experts--Professor Lee, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Chang, Professor Suzuki, and Kazumi Mizumoto, vice president of the Hiroshima Peace Institute of Hiroshima City University--discussed such topics as challenges in promoting confidence-building in East Asia and the abolition of nuclear weapons, and the role of the A-bombed places.

(Originally published on August 3, 2014)

Archives