ASEAN to urge nuclear states to respect pact<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Senior officials from the Association
\nof Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet today to urge the
\nworld's five main nuclear powers to respect a treaty banning
\nnuclear weapons from the region.<\/p>\n
The three-day meeting will be attended by officials from
\nASEAN's seven members of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
\nPhilippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as would-be
\nentrants Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, a foreign ministry official
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The meeting will explore how the five nuclear states could
\naccede to the protocol of the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons
\nFree Zone treaty, the official was quoted as saying by Bernama
\nnews agency.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow, the ASEAN officials will meet representatives from
\nnuclear powers Britain, China, France, Russia and the United
\nStates to resolve problems in certain provisions of the protocol,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
The treaty, forged at ASEAN's 1995 Bangkok meeting, came into
\nforce on March 27 and forbids the acquisition, development, use,
\ntesting and stationing of nuclear arms in the region.<\/p>\n
The Bangkok declaration urged the five nuclear states to back
\nthe treaty but none of them have so far signed an associated
\nprotocol to affirm support for the zone.<\/p>\n
The United States had wanted modification to the treaty and
\nprotocol before giving its support.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister\/Minister of
\nDefense Tony Tan is scheduled to open a regional security meeting
\nin the city-state tomorrow.<\/p>\n
The one-day meeting is organized by the Council for Security
\nCooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP), a regional body founded
\nby 10 private strategic institutes in June 1993 in Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n
The council, which now has 18 members, is not a formal
\nintergovernmental body although each of the institutions has a
\nclose link with its respective government.<\/p>\n
The 10 founding members are strategic institutions from
\nIndonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore,
\nAustralia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and the United States. The
\nothers are from China, North Korea, the European Union, India,
\nRussia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Mongolia.<\/p>\n
CSCAP, which invites government officials in their private
\ncapacity to its meetings, aims at preventing potential conflicts
\nin the post-Cold War Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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