Statement

On July 16, U.S. President Trump released a Presidential Message on the 75th Anniversary of the Trinity Nuclear Test held in New Mexico.

Referring to the Manhattan Project which produced the atomic bombs, the Message says that it “helped end World War II and launch an unprecedented era of global stability” and “Our nuclear deterrent has also greatly benefitted our Nation and our allies”. This is a laudatory statement trying to justify the current nuclear buildup and modernization program promoted by the Trump Administration.

We strongly protest against his attempt to justify the production of the atomic bombs, rather than shifting to the elimination of nuclear weapons in the 75th year of the atomic bombing, which blatantly betrays the aspiration of the Hibakusha and challenges the world public opinion in support of the elimination of nuclear weapons.

The atomic bomb attack was made on Hiroshima and Nagasaki when both Germany and Italy had surrendered and Japan had lost its war potential completely though it had yet to make a decision to surrender. It was the attack against undefended cities, where most of the victims were non-combatants. It was an unprecedented scale of mass destruction, which cannot be justified even in the light of international law in those days.

Furthermore, President Trump’s pretense that the development and use of atomic bombs have brought global stability or economic prosperity is too crazy to deal with. In the wake of the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the massive nuclear arms race between the U.S. and Soviet Union started, which divided the world and brought humanity to the brink of annihilation. It was triggered by the production and use of nuclear weapons by none other than the United States.

We cannot overemphasize the fact that current U.S. nuclear build-up and modernization poses grave danger not only to the safety of humanity but of the citizens of the U.S. and its allies.

Under the direction of President Trump, the U.S. has abandoned some existing treaties for nuclear arms control and is now stepping out for a new nuclear arms race with Russia.

However, the deepening crisis over COVID-19, by which the U.S. people have suffered the greatest sacrifice, shows that what is most needed now is global cooperation and efforts for peace based on the U.N. Charter, disarmament and elimination of nuclear weapons, not inciting further confrontation or division.

In the present world, whether over the question of nuclear weapons prohibition, climate change, pandemic, poverty and social gap or gender equality, overwhelming majority of countries are working hand in hand with the civil society in creating a major trend toward solving these problems, focusing on the “human security”.

We strongly call on the United States to reflect on its own history of having caused the crisis of annihilation of humankind, and change its course towards prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons and achieving a peaceful and just world.