By DPA,
New York : Japan’s new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday his government will act as a bridge between nuclear and non-nuclear states because Japan has suffered the devastation of atomic bombs in 1945.
Hatoyama also said Japan will play the same role in economic fora, where the formulation of regulations dealing with financial markets are needed, including summits of the world’s 20 richest economies (G20).
Hatoyama attended meetings at United Nations headquarters in New York and spoke with the UN Security Council on nuclear disarmament and in the UN General Assembly, whereas his predecessors had mostly shunned UN meetings.
His Democratic Party of Japan last month toppled the liberal party that dominated politics in the country for more than five decades.
“The new Japan will need to respond appropriately to globalisation,” Hatoyama said in an address to the 192-nation assembly. Japan became a UN member in 1956 under prime minister Ichiro Hatoyama, Yukio’s grandfather.
“Japan can speak with the greatest persuasiveness in urging nuclear weapon-states towards nuclear disarmament and non-nuclear states to avoid the temptation to acquire nuclear weapons,” he said.
Hatoyama told the UN climate change summit Tuesday that Japan will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 at 1990 levels, which drew praise from the UN because it was the only country to announce such a plan.
“Japan announces such an ambitious pledge because it wishes to serve as a ‘bridge’ among countries with varied interests and to preserve the planet for future generations,” he said.
Japan is the second largest financial contributor to the UN, behind the US. It is seeking a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and expanded responsibilities in the UN administration.