Kishida’s Dual Track Nuclear Diplomacy

Abstract

The international security environment is worsening with Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, the worsening strategic confrontation between the United States and China, and North Korea’s strengthening nuclear capability. In this context, the role of nuclear weapons is once again highlighted, while calls for nuclear abolition are growing stronger, dividing the international community. Japan pursues a world without nuclear weapons based on the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while maintaining extended nuclear deterrence by the United States as an important element of its security policy. These positions may seem contradictory at first glance. However, to fulfill the responsibility to protect its citizens from the nuclear risks they face in the short term and to pursue the ideal of a world without nuclear weapons in the long term, without stopping there, are both indispensable for Japan, and the international community must assume these responsibilities. Japan should lead in this pursuit.