Hiroshima officials yesterday urged world leaders to stop relying on nuclear weapons as deterrence and take immediate action toward abolishment — not as an ideal, but to remove the risk of a nuclear war amid conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and rising tensions in East Asia.
They commented as Hiroshima remembered its atomic bombing 79 years ago at the end of World War II.
The memorial comes days after Japan and the US reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to “extended deterrence,” which includes atomic weapons, to protect its Asian ally.
Photo: Kyodo News via AP
That is a shift from Japan’s past reluctance to openly discuss the sensitive issue as the world’s only country to have suffered atomic attacks.
Hiroshima Prefecture Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki said that nuclear-armed nations and supporters of atomic deterrence “deliberately ignore ... the fact that once people invented a weapon, they used it without exception.”
“As long as nuclear weapons exist, they will surely be used again someday,” Yuzaki said in his address at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
Photo: Kyodo via Reuters
“Nuclear weapons abolition is not an ideal to achieve far in the future. Instead, it is a pressing and real issue that we should desperately engage in at this moment since nuclear problems involve an imminent risk to human survival,” he said.
Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said Russia’s war on Ukraine and the worsening conflict between Israel and Palestinians are “deepening distrust and fear among nations” and reinforcing a view that use of force in settling conflict is unavoidable.
The atomic bomb dropped by the US on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroyed the city, killing 140,000 people. A second bomb dropped three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and Japan’s nearly half-century aggression in Asia.
About 50,000 people at the ceremony observed a minute of silence with the sound of a peace bell at 8:15am, the time when a US B-29 dropped the bomb on the city. Hundreds of white doves, considered symbols of peace, were released.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who attended the ceremony, said global conflicts and divided views over approaches to nuclear disarmament make achieving that goal “all the more challenging,” but pledged to do his utmost in pursuing “realistic and practical measures” to build momentum within the international community.
His critics say it is a hollow promise, because Japan relies on the US nuclear umbrella for protection and has been rapidly expanding its military.
Japan, the US and other regional allies have been stepping up security cooperation in response to a more assertive China and the growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.
Japan has sought stronger US protection by its nuclear capability.
Many survivors of the bombings have lasting injuries and illnesses resulting from the explosions and radiation exposure and have faced discrimination in Japan.
As of March, 106,823 survivors — 6,824 fewer than a year ago, and now with an average age of 85.58 — are certified as eligible for government medical support, the Japanese Health and Welfare Ministry said.
Many others, including those who say they were victims of the radioactive “black rain” that fell outside the initially designated areas of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are still without support.
Hiroshima officials called on Kishida’s government to do more to provide support and address their wishes.
The aging survivors, known as “hibakusha,” continue to push for a nuclear arms ban as they desperately campaign to have their effort kept alive by younger generations.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
RSS