United States President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima in Japan on Friday was a politically bold and sensitive move that will hopefully energise the world to dismantle nuclear weapons.

Anyone who watched the event could not help but be moved by the sincerity of President Obama’s address as he renewed his call for a nuclear-free world that he first articulated in a speech in Prague in 2009 that led to him being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

“…among those nations like my own that hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them,” Mr Obama said.

“We may not realise this goal in my lifetime, but persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe. We can chart a course that leads to the destruction of these stockpiles. We can stop the spread to new nations and secure deadly material from fanatics,” he added.

More than 200,000 people were killed after US warplanes dropped atomic bombs, first on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and on Nagasaki three days later.

Within six days Emperor Hirohito, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb” announced Japan’s unconditional surrender in World War II.

To this day, debate still rages about the justification of the use of atomic bombs, even as no one challenges the fact that Japan drew first blood in the conflict with its unprovoked attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, killing more than 2,000 American soldiers and sailors.

But amidst that debate stands the alliance and friendship forged between the United States and Japan that President Obama spoke to and which, he rightly pointed out, has won far more for both nations than they could ever claim through war.

That example of former adversaries turned friends should give the world hope that conflict can best be resolved through discussion and diplomacy.

Indeed, President Obama was on point as he stated that nations need to view their “growing interdependence as a cause for peaceful co-operation and not violent competition”; to define themselves not by their capacity to destroy, but by what they build, and perhaps above all, “reimagine our connection to one another as members of one human race”.

We acknowledge that achieving that ideal will not be easy, as the world is littered with people who have nothing but evil intentions. Some cloak themselves in religion, others in racism, or in supposed nationalism to justify their actions.

It is hardly likely that we will rid ourselves of those demented minds. However, there is hope in united action and co-operation among the world’s majority who, we believe, uphold the principle that every life is precious and worth protecting, and that all men are created equal.