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.