New START: The Beginning of Nuclear Abolition

Published in Nishinippon Shimbun
(Japan) on 6 February 2011
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Tom Derbish. Edited by Alexander Anderson.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), a landmark nuclear disarmament treaty between the United States and Russia, has finally taken effect. Between them, the two countries control 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, and the treaty will now set significant limits on the total.

Genuine cooperation between the world's two nuclear superpowers will set the minimum standard of disarmament for every nation that possesses nuclear weapons. The treaty aims to improve relations between the two former Cold War adversaries, and to function as a global security guarantee going forward. While some residual dissatisfaction and antagonism remains on both sides, that an agreement has finally been reached and ratified represents genuine progress.

As North Korea and Iran continue to flout international rules regulating the development of nuclear weapons, the world faces growing new threats of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. The U.S. and Russia must seize the opportunity to stand at the forefront and lead the world toward nuclear arms reduction. They must urge international cooperation on non-nuclear proliferation treaties and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Such international cooperation would open the door to a "security framework that does not rely on nuclear weapons” and will go a long way to realizing U.S. President Barack Obama’s call for a “Nuclear-Free World.”

The new treaty states that within seven years, the U.S. and Russia must reduce their deployed strategic nuclear weapons to fewer than 1,550 warheads, and limit their long-range ballistic missiles, strategic bombers and other means of nuclear delivery to 800. In December 2009, the original START treaty lapsed, ending mutual nuclear weapons inspections. The new treaty will restore those inspections and allow the U.S. and Russia to oversee and verify the process of nuclear reduction.

This is the first nuclear arms reduction treaty in nearly 25 years to have the force of a joint U.S.-Russian commitment. But while the treaty should be highly valued in its own right, it is not the ultimate objective. The nuclear weapons that it will eliminate are nothing more than one part of the world’s total nuclear arsenal. Both the U.S. and Russia must see the new treaty as a milestone on the road toward a “Nuclear-Free World.”

They also have a responsibility to reduce their overall nuclear arsenals, including medium-range tactical nuclear weapons. Both nations should present a road map to total nuclear abolition, and to make clear to the rest of the world their goal of nuclear disarmament. If such actions are not taken, the historic significance of the new treaty will be lost.

However, the U.S. and Russia cannot achieve nuclear disarmament alone. The new treaty must be used as leverage to create a multilateral nuclear disarmament system. Equally indispensable is the cooperation of Great Britain, France and China, the other signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) who currently deploy nuclear weapons.

The key to the success of the process will be how to deal with China, which continues to rapidly expand its military capabilities. India and Pakistan must also be reined in, given that they both possess nuclear weapons but are not bound by the NPT. Likewise, Japan, Europe and Australia must participate, or else a multilateral nuclear disarmament system will be impossible.

The effects of the New START treaty must not be limited to the United States and Russia. Rather, the international community must work together to make this a starting point to building a “security framework that does not rely on nuclear weapons.”


米ロ新条約発効 核廃絶へ踏み出す起点に


米国とロシアの新しい核軍縮条約「新戦略兵器削減条約(新START)」が発効した。世界の核兵器の95%を保有する両国が、戦略核の新たな削減に乗り出す意義は大きい。

 二つの核超大国が核兵器の削減で協調することは、核保有国として核軍縮の最低限の責任を果たすことになる。

 同時に、条約は核軍縮を通じて戦略的に両国関係の安定を図る狙いがあり、世界規模の安全確保にも資する。

 互いに不満や対立を残しながらも、米ロ両国が新たな核軍縮条約の批准書交換にこぎ着けたことは評価したい。

 世界はいま、国際ルールを無視したイランや北朝鮮などの核開発で、核兵器の管理・不拡散体制は腐食し、新たな核拡散や核テロの脅威に直面している。

 だからこそ、米ロは新条約発効を機に世界の先頭に立って核兵器削減を進める必要がある。それが、核の拡散防止や包括的核実験禁止条約(CTBT)の発効に向けた核軍縮の国際協調を促す。

 そうした国際協調が「核に依存しない安全保障体制」づくりに道を開き、結果的にオバマ米大統領が提唱する「核兵器のない世界」の実現という遠大な目標を引き寄せる力にもなる。

 新条約の発効で、米ロは7年以内に戦略核弾頭の配備数をそれぞれ1550発以下に減らし、長距離弾道ミサイルや戦略爆撃機など核兵器の運搬手段も800以下に制限する。

 一昨年12月の第1次戦略兵器削減条約の失効で途絶えていた核兵器の相互査察も復活し、核削減プロセスを米ロが互いに監視・検証できるようになる。

 約四半世紀ぶりに米ロが結んだ実効性を伴う核削減条約である。それは評価すべきだが、条約自体が目標であってはなるまい。この条約で削減される核兵器は世界の核兵器の一部にすぎない。

 米ロ両国は新条約をあくまで「核なき世界」への一里塚と位置づけ、中短距離型の戦術核を含む「核戦力」全体の一層の削減に努める責任がある。

 両国は核廃絶に向けた行程表を示し、核軍縮を主導する意思と姿勢を世界に明確にすべきだ。そうでなければ、新条約の歴史的意義は損なわれる。

 また、核軍縮は米ロだけで進むものではない。新条約を多国間の核軍縮体制づくりへの「テコ」にできないものか。

 それには、核拡散防止条約(NPT)の下での核保有国である英仏中との協調は不可欠だ。とりわけ、軍備拡張を続ける中国をどう取り込むかが鍵を握る。

 NPTの枠外で核を保有するインドやパキスタンも引き込む必要がある。もちろん、日本や欧州、オーストラリアなど有力な非核国の協力なしに多国間核軍縮体制の実現は不可能だろう。

 新条約の発効を、米ロの核兵器削減だけでなく、ほかの核保有国と国際社会が共同して「核に依存しない安全保障の枠組み」を模索する出発点にしたい。
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