JCP Chair on Russia's decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus

In response to the Russia's decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on March 26 issued a statement. The full text of the statement is as follows:

Strongly calling for the Withdrawal of Russia's Tactical Nuclear Weapons Deployment Plan to Belarus

March 26, 2023

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair, Shii Kazuo

1. On March 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus, its ally, and to build storage facilities in the country by July 1. Russia has already strengthened its attacks on Ukraine and repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons, and this decision not only violates the prohibition on nuclear threats and deployments to other countries stipulated in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; It also contradicts Putin's own position expressed in the joint statement signed with China a week ago (March 21), which stated that "All nuclear powers must not deploy nuclear weapons outside their national territories and must withdraw all their nuclear weapons placed abroad."
   
   Our party strongly demands the immediate withdrawal of this decision to deploy nuclear weapons, which intensifies international tensions and increase the risk of nuclear use.
   
   
2. Putin cites the US deployment of nuclear weapons to the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) countries, along with the Belarusian government's request, as the reasons for this decision. The US action violates the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which prohibits the direct, or indirect, transfer or acceptance of nuclear weapons, and is unacceptable. However, this does not justify Russia's deployment of nuclear weapons outside its national territory at all. We must strongly point out that Russia's nuclear deployment to Belarus, which joined the NPT as a non-nuclear-weapon state after the collapse of the Soviet Union, will further undermine trust in the NPT regime.
   
   
3. Putin's decision reaffirms that nuclear disarmament is the only guarantee for a world without the threat of using nuclear weapons and the danger of nuclear war. As the chair of the upcoming G7 Hiroshima Summit, the Japanese government should not only call for the withdrawal of Russia's decision, but also work towards signing and ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, aimed at a world without nuclear weapons, rather than justifying its dependence on US extended deterrence.