Japan is set to completely revise a nuclear disarmament draft resolution it submits annually to the UN General Assembly, by simplifying the document and underscoring priority to restore confidence in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Kyodo News reported Thursday.  

As this year marks the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US in World War II, the revised draft resolution will declare determination to completely eliminate nuclear weapons and call on all nuclear powers to reduce their nuclear arms, including tactical nuclear weapons, in an irreversible manner.

Japan has submitted the draft resolutions on nuclear disarmament, titled "A Path to the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons", to the UN General Assembly annually since 1994.

According to Kyodo, while partial amendments were made yearly, a comprehensive revision will be made for the first time in five years in response to the significant changes in the international security environment since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US in 2001.

The government plans to ask European and other countries to co-sponsor the draft and will submit it to the first committee of the assembly in early October, Kyodo said.

The draft will urge other countries to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to facilitate its early entry into force, even though the US is refusing to ratify it.

The draft will also call for the continuation of moratoriums on nuclear tests and for immediate negotiations on a proposed Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty.

Last year's resolution was adopted at the UN General Assembly in December with the support of 165 countries, the largest number so far.

But with opposition expected from Washington, which is opposed to CTBT ratification, it remains unclear how much impact this year's resolution will actually have on facilitating disarmament diplomacy.

(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2005)