Japan urges India's nuclear disarmament

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Japan's top government spokesman on Wednesday refused to acknowledge India as a nuclear weapons state, demanding the South Asian nation join the international nonproliferation treaty. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki also urged India to abandon its atomic weapons program, denying a newspaper report Wednesday that Tokyo was mulling acknowledging India's nuclear possession. "Japan and the global community have valued the international system of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation based on the NPT," he said, referring to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. "We will continue to seek the admission of India into the NPT as a non-nuclear weapons state." India's External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna declined comment in New Delhi.