Japan submitted an anti-nuclear resolution to a panel of the United Nations on Thursday, with the text making no direct references to a U.N.-adopted nuclear ban treaty likely to go into effect early next year.

Opting not to mention the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which is expected to cross the needed threshold of ratifications soon and take effect 90 days later, apparently reflects Japan's ties with the United States, its key security ally which opposes the pact and provides security assurances to Japan under its so-called nuclear umbrella.

U.N. Web TV screengrab shows the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Sept. 22, 2020. (Kyodo)

Japan's stance on the matter remains unaltered after the first change of the country's leadership in nearly eight years, with Yoshihide Suga replacing Shinzo Abe as prime minister last month.

As the only country in the world to have suffered atomic bombings, Japan has submitted an anti-nuclear resolution to the United Nations every year since 1994. The most recent versions of the annual resolution since the nuclear ban pact was adopted in 2017 make no mention of it.

So far, 47 countries and regions have completed ratification procedures for the nuclear ban treaty, with a total of 50 ratifications needed for it to take effect.

In addition to the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- all nuclear powers -- Japan also opposed the nuclear ban pact.

Japan's latest resolution preserves weaker phrasing from last year about the devastating humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons, as compared to previous versions which until 2018 expressed deep concern on the matter.

The resolution is likely to pass the U.N. General Assembly's First Committee on disarmament issues by early November before being adopted at the General Assembly by the end of the year.