Vehement Chinese opposition resulted in the omission of a reference to Hiroshima and Nagasaki as atomic-bombed cities in a draft U.N. resolution calling for a legally binding framework to ban nuclear weapons prior to its adoption last December, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.
The move is thought to have been another attempt by Beijing to thwart Tokyo's campaign to raise awareness of the horror of nuclear weapons through Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Last May, China stood in the way of Japan's proposal to include a call for global leaders to visit the two cities in an outcome document for the U.N. conference on nuclear disarmament, with Chinese Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs Fu Cong accusing Japan of trying to distort the history of its wartime aggression. The call ended up being removed.