Big powers' doubts pose porblems for ASEAN plan
Big powers' doubts pose porblems for ASEAN plan
By Roberto Coloma
BANGKOK (AFP): Southeast Asian nations have forged a landmark
treaty banning nuclear weapons from the region after prolonged
negotiations, but now comes the hard part: getting the Big Five
powers to support the pact.
Leaders of the seven-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) along with Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos signed the
treaty after a summit Friday, binding them in a common cause
three decades after being split by the Cold War.
They agreed that none of them will acquire, develop, test, use
or allow the stationing of nuclear warheads within the zone. The
treaty also bans dumping of radioactive waste.
But since none of the signatories have, or are known to be
developing, any nuclear warheads, the ban is in large measure
addressed to countries which posses such weapons of mass
destruction.
None of the world's declared nuclear powers -- Britain,
France, China, Russia and the United States -- signed a treaty
side document, known as a protocol, affirming support for the
Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone.
Thai Premier Banharn Silpa-archa, host of the summit,
announced that the protocol was under review to accommodate the
concerns of the nuclear-armed states for whom the document was
specially drafted.
The protocol would bind signatories to respect the treaty and
not contribute to any violation, and to refrain from using or
threatening to use nuclear weapons in the zone. Signatories would
also declare their intention to help achieve "general and
complete disarmament of nuclear weapons."
The United States immediately made it clear that it could not
accept the protocol in its current form despite ASEAN's
assurances that "innocent passage" of nuclear-armed or -powered
vessels through Southeast Asia is allowed.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, collectively the world's
fastest-growing economic area.
Washington views the pact as an infringement on
internationally recognized freedoms of movement by air and sea,
and the protocol text "doesn't quite meet all of our fundamental
concerns," State Department spokesman Glyn Davies said.
"Those concerns must be addressed if ASEAN wishes the US to
give serious consideration to signing the protocol," Davies
added.
But John Holum, director of the US Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency, said in Seoul on Friday that United States
was still hopeful of a modified protocol.
"We are encouraged that consultations appear to be
continuing," said Holum, who was meeting with officials in South
Korea, which is funding a costly program to overhaul rival North
Korea's suspect nuclear facilities.
Another concern, which particularly affects China, is the
definition of what constitutes Southeast Asian territory. Beijing
has conflicting claims with four ASEAN members over the Spratlys
islands, which straddle vital sea lanes plied by big-power naval
vessels.
Philippine President Fidel Ramos, whose country ejected US
military forces in 1992 while maintaining a mutual-defense pact
with Washington, said the treaty and protocol had enough
"flexibility" to accommodate the big powers.
"ASEAN is going to be very patient about this," he said,
noting the group had been working for a "zone of peace, freedom
and neutrality" since the 1970s.
While the nuclear ban has its problems, the sight of all 10
Southeast Asian leaders signing the treaty was in itself a
confirmation of how far ASEAN has gone in promoting regional
peace and stability, officials said.
The treaty was a turning point in efforts of ASEAN -- formed
28 years ago to hold back a feared communist onslaught from
Indochina -- to encompass all 10 nations in the region. Myanmar,
Cambodia and Laos are expected to join by 2000.
The group also hosts the annual ASEAN Regional Forum, where
the world's military powers take part in frank discussions to
seek ways of easing tensions and averting security crises in the
Asia-Pacific area.