Komeito releases policy vision for peace, proposes regional security body

May 10 , 2025

Saito took to the podium announcing the Komeito’s Peacebuilding Vision at a press conference on May 9Saito took to the podium announcing the Komeito’s Peacebuilding Vision at a press conference on May 9

On May 9, Komeito Chief Representative Tetsuo Saito unveiled his party’s Peacebuilding Vision that features policy areas it will prioritize over the next ten years. Guided by the tenets of human security and comprised of 17 proposals, the Vision aims at the building of the foundations for peace and identifies actionable measures as well as calls for augmenting soft power initiatives.

Of the 17 proposals, three are key: to establish a framework enhancing security and cooperation through dialogue in Northeast Asia; to facilitate the abolition of nuclear weapons; and to implement regulatory oversight of AI advances.

Of those three, the tentatively titled the Northeast Asia Security Dialogue and Cooperation Organization lies at the Vision’s core. Komeito maintains that such an organization should be permanent—just as is the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)—and meet routinely to discuss outstanding issues. Its primary purpose is to build confidence among the state-parties through persistent discourse to preemptively prevent the possibility of an armed clash.

As for the abolition of nuclear arms, the Vision calls for the adoption of negative security assurances and no-first-use pledges by nuclear-weapon states. It further underscores the importance of carrying forward the testimonies of hibakusha, in which they share the horrors of a nuclear attack, to youth and world leaders. As for AI, Komeito endorses its manifold peaceful uses but categorically rejects the adoption of fully autonomous systems for destructive military actions.

Saito explained that the Peacebuilding Vision was issued as the need to redirect conflict and confrontation toward conciliation and cooperation was more urgent than ever. Komeito’s proposal, he said, should be viewed as viable solutions to an increasingly contentious world, demonstrating Japan’s commitment to peace to the rest of the international community.

The Vision’s release comes after 80 years since the end of World War II, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the UN’s founding.

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