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.

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