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.