Foreign ministers of Japan and New Zealand have agreed to hold disarmament and nonproliferation talks amid growing fears of Russia using nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to issue a message towards a nuclear-free world from the city of Hiroshima, which was devastated by a US atomic bomb in August 1945, during the Group of Seven summit in May. The talks between Japan and New Zealand will begin from a working level, but no specific time frame was given by New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta during a joint news conference with her Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi.
The two foreign ministers also expressed their commitment to the free and open Indo-Pacific vision.
Mahuta described Moscow’s “illegal and unprovoked invasion” as a “serious threat” to the two countries’ shared interests. Meanwhile, Russia has shown no signs of stopping military attacks on Ukraine since its invasion on February 24, 2022.
