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Barack Obama goes to Hiroshima while Australia stops worrying and loves the bomb
By Daniel Flitton
A fresh drive to declare nuclear weapons illegal is gathering international momentum ahead of a historic visit by Barack Obama to the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Friday.
But Australia stands as a key part of the "weasel group" of countries opposed to banning the bomb - a stance Indonesia's former foreign minister has warned undermines the chances for nuclear disarmament.
Mr Obama's visit to Hiroshima will be the first for a serving US President. The city was the first to suffer nuclear attack, after the US dropped an atomic bomb in the last days of World War II, killing more than 140,000 people.
Mr Obama has ruled out any official apology for the Hiroshima bombing, but anti-nuclear campaigners and Japanese survivors from the 1945 bombing hope his visit will draw attention to the catastrophic human cost of atomic weapons.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (right) has warned US President Barack Obama (left) and other G7 leaders gathered in Japan on the state of the global economy. Credit: Jacquelyn Martin
A growing number of nations are pushing for a new global treaty that would outlaw the very existence of nuclear weapons - with negotiations potentially to begin as early as next year.
Indonesia threw its weight behind a ban this month at a United Nations meeting in Geneva, urging "political will" in the face of technical obstacles.
But Australia is prominent among a small group of countries that do not own nuclear weapons but see the bomb as central to security, what is commonly referred to as a nuclear umbrella.
Tilman Ruff, a University of Melbourne professor and founding chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, attended the Geneva talks and said the "weasel" label started as a joke among activists but had been quickly and informally adopted by diplomats from countries pushing for a ban.
An Allied correspondent stands in the rubble of Hiroshima a month after the first atomic bomb was dropped by the US. Credit: AP/File
Japan's government also opposes making nuclear weapons illegal - despite being the only nation to suffer a nuclear attack - as does South Korea and most of the NATO alliance members.
Indonesia's former foreign minister Marty Natalegawa told Fairfax Media such support of nuclear weapons only served to undermine longstanding calls by the same countries for disarmament.
Central Hiroshima, this month.Credit: Bloomberg
Dr Natalegawa has pushed for Indonesia to play a leading role in negotiations on a ban.
"Even a discussion on a treaty to ban nuclear weapon, setting aside for a moment its actual achievement, would I believe help create positive dynamics and norms that help delegitimise nuclear weapons," he said.
Pictures of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings on display.Credit: AP
Indonesia joined Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil in a group of nine countries calling for a summit in 2017 to begin negotiations on a treaty to ban nuclear weapons - similar to existing prohibitions on chemical and biological weapons.
Many of the dwindling group of Japanese survivors from the 1945 bombing have set aside demands for an apology and instead want to see the world rid of nuclear weapons.
A growing number of countries, but not Australia, are joining a push to ban nuclear weapons under international law. Illustration: Jim Pavlidis
"Their biggest wish is that they don't want anybody to go through this again," Hiroshima governor Hidehiko Yuzaki told Reuters.
The proposed ban on the bomb has the potential to flare as a local election issue in Australia, with Labor pledging it "firmly supports" negotiations of a global treaty. The Greens also support a ban.
But the Coalition has dismissed a ban as emotionally appealing but impractical.
Mr Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 in part for promoting a world without nuclear weapons, but the US and other countries with nuclear arsenals are fiercely opposed to a ban.
Countries pushing to declare atomic bombs illegal believe such a move would add pressure in the long frustrated efforts for disarmament.
Akira Kawasaki from the Japanese anti-nuclear group, Peace Boat, told Fairfax Mr Obama's call for a nuclear weapons free world was deceptive without support for a ban.
"Visiting Hiroshima is good indeed, but is not enough. The US should join the talk, and Japan should shift its position to support a ban," Mr Kawasaki said.
But Australia's diplomats at the Geneva meeting called for "a practical way forward" and engaging countries that possess nuclear weapons.
The UN will decide in September at the annual General Assembly whether to pursue the ban.