Volume 15 - 1 edits.qxd - Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

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FOUNDATIONACTIVITIESMoving Beyond Missile DefenseThe fourth conference in the Moving Beyond MissileDefense project cosponsored by the International Networkof Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation (INESAP)and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation was held inHiroshima, Japan from October 8-11, 2004. The conferencefocused on the implications of missile defense onNorth East Asian security and took place at the HiroshimaMemorial Peace Museum. It brought together experts andactivists from nine countries: Canada, China, Germany,India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and theUnited States. The conference was convened by theHiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, the Hiroshima PeaceInstitute, INESAP, Mayors for Peace, the Nuclear Age PeaceFoundation and the Peace Depot.An inspiring opening to the conference was provided byTadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima and President ofMayors for Peace. Mayor Akiba discussed the Mayors forPeace Emergency Campaign to Eliminate Nuclear Weaponsby 2020. A prominent sentiment that underlay the discussionsduring the meeting was the suffering experienced by thesurvivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima andNagasaki, the hibakusha, and their courage and determinationin their efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.Despite the efforts of the hibakusha and the efforts of millionsof other people for more than half a century to eliminatenuclear weapons, over twenty thousand remain deployedworldwide. Under the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT), China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and theUnited States agreed to negotiate for the elimination of theirnuclear arsenals. Unfortunately, there are no such negotiationsin progress or even on the horizon for further nuclearreductions. Entry into force of the Comprehensive Test BanTreaty also remains an unrealized goal, in no small part dueto the refusal of the United States to ratify the Treaty.North Korea has announced its withdrawal from the NPT,and that it has developed nuclear warheads. It justifies thisdecision partly because the United States government haslisted North Korea as a potential nuclear target. NorthKorea also cites other implied United States threats to useforce against it, manifested by the continued deployment ofpowerful US military forces in the region.The United States and Japan are also proceeding with jointballistic missile defense research, claiming a need to countera North Korean missile threat. Missile defense deployment,and the possibility that it could be extended further toTaiwan, is viewed with great concern by China, and by othergovernments and peace movements throughout the Asia-Pacific region.The United States is pursuing ambitious programs for themodernization of its nuclear forces, from its missiles and thewarheads they deliver to the systems used to plan and executenuclear strikes. China and Russia, the major nuclear powersin the region, also continue to modernize some elements oftheir nuclear arsenals, although at afar slower pace than the US. In addition,the United States continues todevelop new kinds of high technologyconventional weapons, includingincreasingly accurate and long-rangeconventionally armed missiles. Agrowing proportion of US militaryforces are being deployed in the Pacificregion.All countries in North East Asia andthe surrounding region have a stronginterest in a stable and peaceful environment.The development anddeployment of dangerous weapons systemsin the region undermines thisgoal.Pictured (left to right): Regina Hagen, Miyuki Sasaki, Carah Ong, Yoshie Ozaki. Photo by Juergan Scheffran.12 Waging Peace Report
Conference: The Challenge of Hiroshima2004 Moving Beyond Missile Defense conference participants.After extensive discussions, the conference participants concluded:• Every available diplomatic means should be employed toresolve the current standoff between the United States andNorth Korea, ranging from the existing six-party talks betweenNorth Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the UnitedStates, to bilateral negotiations between North Korea and theUnited States.• Joint ballistic missile defense research by Japan and theUnited States complicates the relationship between the threemajor nuclear powers in North East Asia, and furthers proliferationof sophisticated military technologies. Missile defense developmentwill make a regional arms race more likely. Therefore,joint ballistic missile defense development should not proceed,and the United States should not deploy anti-ballistic missile systemsin the region.• Normalization of diplomatic relations between North Koreaand Japan and between North Korea and the United Statesshould be encouraged.• China, Russia, and the United States, the three nuclearweapons states with forces in the region, should actively pursueglobal negotiations for the elimination of all nuclear arsenals,consistent with their disarmament obligations under the NPT.These negotiations should involve all nuclear weapons states,including those not party to the NPT.As a way forward, the conference participants agreed that the sixpartytalks should be considered a starting point for long-term discussionsto address further regional security-enhancing measures,including:• the withdrawal of missiles to such locations as would reduceperceived threats to countries in the region;• limitations and reductions of missiles in the region;• the creation of a North East Asia Nuclear Weapons FreeZone; and• the withdrawal of foreign military forces based in the region.The conference participants recognized that regional security alsodepends on the global security environment. They were particularlyconcerned about the weaponization of Space, and wide-rangingUS plans for Space dominance and the use of Space for warfighting. The conference participants recommended the beginningand early conclusion of negotiations for a treaty banningthese developments.The participants agreed that the outcome of the 2005 NPT ReviewConference will be critical for the future of non-proliferation anddisarmament. The cry of the hibakusha – No more Hiroshimas! Nomore Nagasakis! – must be taken up by the people of the world,strongly enough this time that the governments finally must listenand act to fulfill their legal obligations for the total elimination oftheir nuclear weapons.Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 13
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