Disappointment to Expiration of START

The only existing treaty over controlling nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia, or New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), was expired on February 5th. It is concerned that arms race over nuclear weapons will not only be accelerated between two major nuclear powers, but be complicated with participation of China which is ambitious to obtain hegemony in Asian region. Sufferers of atomic bombs in Japan have expressed their anxiety on unleashed nuclear powers. 

Following Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) I in 1972 and II in 1979, START was signed by leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1991 and took effect in 1994. The treaty capped two countries’ possession of nuclear warheads at 6,000 each. The treaty was renewed in 2011 after it had been expired in 2009, mandating both governments to reduce their nuclear warheads through 2026.

 

Referring to Russia’s nuclear power since its aggression to Ukraine in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s suspension of participation in START in 2023. U.S. President Donald Trump has been skeptical about effectiveness of START, arguing that the framework did not include China. However, Trump had made no viable effort to establish a treaty which would cover those three major nuclear powers.

 

The expiration of New START disappointed Japan which identifies itself as the only country ever having suffered from nuclear bombs. “It is important to grapple with arms control and disarmament that include related countries including the U.S., Russia and China,” said Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Kei Sato. “As the only country in the world having suffered from nuclear weapons during a war, we promote realistic and practical efforts for the world without nuclear weapons.”

 

Communities against nuclear weapons in Japan protested reluctancy of nuclear powers to reduce the inhumane weapons with mass destruction. Leaders of civil groups of nuclear sufferers in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are concerned with possibility of unlimited nuclear arms race accelerated with expiration of the START. “Japanese government needs to sincerely appeal to the nations with nuclear weapons, based on the notion that nuclear weapons should not be used,” saidTerumi Tanaka, one of the leaders of Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations that was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 2024.

 

There has supposedly been a conceptual basis that nuclear weapon is unusable among the nations with nuclear weapons. The civil groups against nuclear weapons are worried about nuclear powers losing their momentum to eliminate nuclear weapons, which has been a driving force for nuclear disarmament. For them, the leaders of major nuclear powers look like demonstrating their hegemonic power through possession of nuclear warheads and missiles. They urge those leaders to rebuild anti-nuclear framework with a new treaty that would replace START.

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