The United Nations General Assembly has voted to start negotiations on a treaty that would ban nuclear weapons.

113 countries supported the resolution, which calls on countries to start negotiations in March with the aim of creating a legally binding treaty.

All nuclear powers, except China and India, opposed the resolution.

Japan also voted against it. The government says disarmament should occur in stages, with the cooperation of both nuclear and non-nuclear states.

Japan has been calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, while under the US nuclear umbrella.

The resolution was proposed by more than 50 states that don't possess nuclear arms. It got the approval of a UN General Assembly committee in October.

UN sources say the negotiations are likely to be tough. They say countries with nuclear stockpiles are preparing to modernize and expand their arms even as the UN is promoting disarmament.