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Opinion | Japan’s history and G7 presidency make it an ideal champion of denuclearisation
- As the only country to be the victim of a nuclear attack and then have constitutionally underpinned pacifist values, Japan is in a unique position to lead the global discourse on the dangers of nuclear rhetoric and the consequences of a potential nuclear attack
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Why you can trust SCMP
The United States and the Soviet Union started developing fusion weapons after US atomic bombs destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Nuclear stockpiles peaked in 1986 with more than 64,000 warheads. Today, the US and Russia own around 90 per cent of all nuclear warheads.
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The US, Russia, China, France, Britain, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea combined hold close to 13,000 nuclear weapons. An additional 27 countries “endorse” nuclear armament by allowing the potential use of nuclear weapons on their behalf as part of defence alliances.
The B83 gravity bomb – the world’s most potent weapon currently in service – is about 80 times more powerful than the “Little Boy” bomb which killed tens of thousands of people in Hiroshima.
Nuclear disarmament has taken wavering directions since 1945. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was created in 1957 to ensure the peaceful use of nuclear technology. The United Nations established the framework of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which the US, Soviet Union and Britain signed in 1968.
Non-proliferation improved with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, with Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine giving up their nuclear weapons by 1992. Other important developments include North Korea’s withdrawal from the NPT and Iran’s uranium enrichment programme. India’s race to the Nuclear Suppliers Group also raised questions as, unlike other members, it is not an NPT signatory.
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Nuclear weapons are humanity’s most dangerous weapon. They can destroy lives and ecosystems, creating a nuclear winter and food shortages as the spread and duration of radioactivity is uncontrollable. There are no mechanisms or agencies equipped to deal with the catastrophic effects of a nuclear war.
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