TASK SETTING

TASK 1 (Efforts to convene a five state conference)

              There is a need to expand negotiations on nuclear arms reductions, which are currently carried out only bilaterally between the US and Russia, to all of the five nuclear-weapon States. China, the UK and France have suggested that they would not participate in a conference of this type until the US and Russia have cut their arsenals down to levels similar to theirs. India and Pakistan, from the perspectives of the Non-Aligned Movement, say that multilateral discussions in the CD are desirable. Israel’s stance is unclear.

              Some possibilities could include holding a five state meeting limited to cuts in non-strategic nuclear weapons, or a preparatory meeting by the five states for a verification system prior to talks on arms reduction.

EVALUATION

              Japan failed to propose a paragraph calling for a nuclear disarmament process engaging the five nuclear-weapon States in its UNGA resolutions of so-called “Ultimate Elimination” up to 1999. It appears that Japan had the intention to include such a paragraph, but US opposition blocked it. However, Japan included such content clearly in the 2000 Path Resolution, based on the 2000 NPT agreement on the thirteen steps, and continued the inclusion in the 2001 resolution.

              Despite this, there have not been any active efforts so far by the GOJ, as we set for TASK １ above. We should keep our eyes on the future behavior of the GOJ in the face of the Bush administration, which is avoiding multilateral conferences as much as possible.

              Since there have not been any concrete efforts on the task, we give the GOJ a D grade.