Japan Should Serve as Bridge between Nuclear, Non-nuclear States, Says Ex-PM Kishida

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, April 25, 2026

Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed hope that Japan will serve as a bridge between states with nuclear weapons and those without, in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun in Tokyo on April 15.

A review conference for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons opens on Monday. Kishida became the first Japanese prime minister to attend a review conference in 2022.

The question is whether the parties to the treaty will be able to agree on nuclear disarmament amid disruptions in the international community, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and tensions in the Middle East.

Parties to the treaty are supposed to gather every five years to review the treaty’s implementation. Five countries are officially recognized as nuclear-weapon states: the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China. At the conferences, both states with nuclear weapons and those without discuss nuclear disarmament. A total of 191 states have joined the treaty so far. At the upcoming meeting, the parties aim to adopt documents that will include a future course of action, but the previous two review conferences failed to do so as negotiations broke down.

As for Japan’s role at the conference, Kishida said, “It will be important to seek actions from other parties so that nuclear-weapon states and non-nuclear-weapon states will be able to find common ground.”

With China’s nuclear buildup and the Middle East situation in mind, Kishida said the global nuclear situation has become far more serious since 2022. “The idea of nuclear deterrence has become essential” to nations exposed to nuclear threats, including Japan, he said.

Kishida also spoke of realizing a world without nuclear weapons. “It is [Japan’s] mission as the only nation to have been hit by nuclear bombs in a war to continue showing to the international community how the world can approach” this goal, he said.

The former prime minister also touched on the expiration of the New START Treaty between the United States and Russia in February. He noted the need for a new disarmament framework covering the United States, Russia and China.

He also spoke about Iran, which is suspected to be developing nuclear weapons. “The country is still a party to the non-proliferation treaty. As a member, it must fulfill its accountability to the international community,” he said.

Senior official to be sent

The review conference will take place at the U.N. Headquarters in New York and run through May 22. Parties to the treaty will hold discussions on three themes: nuclear disarmament, nuclear nonproliferation and peaceful uses for nuclear energy.

The government is planning to dispatch State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ayano Kunimitsu to the meeting. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi are unlikely to attend the meeting.