Japan's annual diplomatic effort to demonstrate its anti-nuclear credentials and create momentum for disarmament has run into a major obstacle in the form of its most important ally, as well as an atmosphere of division between states possessing atomic weapons and those without them.

A draft resolution recently proposed by the government of Japan to the United Nations General Assembly was dramatically watered downed under diplomatic pressure from the United States, government sources have revealed to Kyodo News.

Japan, the only nation devastated by nuclear weapons, in the U.S. attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 72 years ago, has proposed a series of draft resolutions on nuclear disarmament to the General Assembly since 1994.

Last year, its proposed resolution was adopted at the assembly's plenary session with support from 167 nations, including the United States, while China, North Korea, Russia and Syria opposed and 16 other nations abstained.

In the middle of October this year, Japan submitted a resolution it had drafted, titled "United action with renewed determination toward the total elimination of nuclear weapons."

Close examination of the text by Kyodo News has found a few major changes from past resolutions.

Since 2010, Japan had drafted a resolution each year by including the same sentence which emphasizes "deep concern at the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons."

The phrase, "the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons," has been a keyword for international movements pursuing a world without nuclear weapons in recent years.

In July, this anti-nuclear campaign culminated in the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations. It is the first international law which prohibits state parties from developing, testing, possessing and using nuclear weapons in any manner including "threat of use."

In the most recently proposed resolution, the government of Japan deleted the word, "any," from the frequently used phrase, "the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons." The text expressed "deep concern at the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons use."

It seems a minor rhetorical change, but the deletion of "any" has raised concerns and sparked severe criticism from nuclear disarmament specialists in Japan.

"The omission of the word 'any' implies there could be a case of nuclear weapon use that would not cause inhumane consequences and therefore this type of use might be permitted," Professor Tatsujiro Suzuki, who is director of the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition at Nagasaki University, told Kyodo News.

"It can't be helped if Japan will be regarded (by the international community) as an unfit advocate for the abolition of nuclear weapons," Suzuki said.

"The Japanese draft resolution looks like one proposed by the United States or any other nuclear weapon states," said Akira Kawasaki, an International Steering Group member of ICAN, or the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

ICAN will receive the Nobel Peace Prize at the end of this year in Oslo for its worldwide grass-roots campaign for the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

During a recent interview with Kyodo News, Kawasaki said "the deletion of 'any' is so problematic" that several nations, which have supported Japan's annual resolutions in the past, may not become a co-sponsor of the resolution this year.

Such a development would be a serious setback for Japan which has taken a leading position in the international disarmament field based on its strong anti-nuclear weapon credential.

The governmental sources suggested that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump opposes including the word "any" in the draft resolution, and that Japan made a concession in order to get Washington's support for the document.

Trump has indicated a desire to accelerate the modernization of U.S. nuclear weapons against the backdrop of the ongoing crisis involving North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile development. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been deepening security cooperation with the United States and repeatedly requested the U.S. security assurance for Japan including "nuclear umbrella."

Another conspicuous change in the latest Japanese resolution is that it urges only North Korea to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) without delay, rather than eight nations as requested in the previous resolutions to ratify.

Japan is a key advocate of an early entry into force of CTBT, which requires ratification by the eight nations including North Korea, China and the United States. The U.S. Republican party is widely known as a strong opponent of CTBT.

"Our new draft resolution is the result of policy considerations for creating a common ground between nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapons states for furthering a practical approach (toward nuclear abolition)," said one official of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs without specifically explaining why they decided to make the noticeable changes in the draft resolution.