AIPO calls for ban on nuke weapons in region

AIPO calls for ban on nuke weapons in region

MANILA (AFP): Lawmakers from the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting here on Wednesday adopted a
resolution calling for the enforcement of a ban on the use or
production of nuclear weapons in Southeast Asia.

Philippine House Speaker Manuel Villar, head of the ASEAN
Inter-Parliamentary Organization (AIPO) said the resolution was
adopted at the end of a four-day general assembly meeting.

"Let us review the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and
consider the elimination of nuclear weapons in our region as
being of the highest priority," Villar said.

He was referring to the ASEAN treaty binding its 10 member-
states and other signatories not to develop, manufacture,
acquire, possess or have control over nuclear weapons, station
and transport nuclear weapons by any means, or test or use
nuclear weapons, within the region.

Third countries who support the treaty would vow not to
introduce nuclear arms into the region, whether by selling the
technology to ASEAN states or carrying the weapons aboard vessels
within the region's designated nuclear-free zone.

So far, China and India have declared support for the treaty
but the other nuclear powers the United States, France, Russia
and Britain have so far balked at the idea, partly due to
questions over the geographic scope of the pact.

The lawmakers at the conference also called on their
respective nations to adhere to the Hanoi Plan of Action, a
program adopted by nine ASEAN leaders in December where they
committed to work together to recover from the Asian currency
crisis and to prevent a repeat of that economic problem.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.