ASEAN states to denounce resumption of nuke testing

ASEAN states to denounce resumption of nuke testing

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (AFP): The Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) will denounce the resumption of nuclear weapons
testing in the Pacific region at its annual meeting here this
week, officials said yesterday.

A joint communique, however, is unlikely to single out France
for its decision to resume underground tests at Mururoa atoll,
according to senior officials who indicated such a move would
leave out China.

"We ought to say something about nuclear tests in general,"
Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rodolfo Severino told
journalists after ASEAN senior officials met for two days here in
the capital of Brunei.

Vietnam is to be formally admitted as a member on Friday.
The officials were laying the ground work for their foreign
ministers' meeting at the weekend, which is to be followed by the
wider ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) at which France is expected to
be openly attacked.

ARF members Japan and Australia are expected to be the most
aggressive in denouncing France's "irrevocable" decision to
resume nuclear testing, which has triggered an uproar across the
Asia-Pacific region.

The ARF, which includes the United States, Russia and the
European Union, has become the central forum for security issues
in the Asia-Pacific.

China, which also belongs to the ARF, had drawn criticism in
the region for its resumption of nuclear testing last May. China
carries out its tests in the far western region, Xinjiang.

Severino said when the extension of the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was discussed at the United Nations,
non-nuclear states "were operating on the assumption that nuclear
weapons states will exercise restraint and that they would make
moves to reduce their nuclear armaments.

The foreign ministers were also expected to reiterate their
call for peacefully resolving territorial disputes in the South
China Sea, where China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and
Brunei are contesting the reputedly oil-rich Spratly islands.

Editorial -- Page 4

Muturoa -- Page 12