China accedes to ASEAN nuclear treaty

China accedes to ASEAN nuclear treaty

By Oei Eng Goan and Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

SINGAPORE (JP): ASEAN made significant progress on Wednesday
in having China accede to the protocol to the Treaty on the
Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone (SEANWFZ), and urged
other nuclear powers to comply with the treaty to ensure regional
peace and stability.

"China will try to be the first nuclear power to sign the
treaty," Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi
told a joint news briefing at the end of a two-day meeting
between ASEAN foreign ministers and their dialog partners.

Wang said China remained consistent in supporting ASEAN's
denuclearization policy, but he said the treaty should not cover
Exclusive Economic Zones and the continental shelves.

Conforming to its intention to strengthen cooperation with
ASEAN, China earlier said that Prime Minister Zhu Rongji would
attend the regional grouping's informal summit in Manila in
October.

SEANWFZ, which was signed at the ASEAN summit in Bangkok in
1995 and took effect in 1997, prohibits the use, stockpiling,
deployment and development of nuclear weapons in Southeast Asia.

Earlier Wednesday during its talks with Russia, one of its 10
dialog partners, ASEAN called on Moscow to sign the protocol of
the SEANWFZ treaty.

Stressing Russia's role in ensuring peace and stability in the
Asia-Pacific region, Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan said
the multifaceted nature of Russia-ASEAN relations was reflected
in Moscow's active participation in the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Foreign ministers of ASEAN member countries -- Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- discussed a wide range of
political and economic issues with their dialog partners
following the 32nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and the ARF which
ended on Monday.

The dialog partners are Australia, Canada, China, the European
Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the
United States.

Chairman of the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC),
Singapore's foreign minister S. Jayakumar, said the two sessions
covering both regional and international issues were conducted in
a strong mood of optimism that the region was recovering from its
economic woes.

Jayakumar warned that ASEAN members should keep reform on
track and not be complacent over the initial recovery.

PMC also touched on the issues of environment, drug
trafficking and other transnational crimes. Jayakumar said it
stressed the need for PMC to be more manageable since "PMC has
grown in membership and topics".

Surin, who will chair ASEAN's ministerial meeting in Bangkok
next year, said that despite the fact that member countries "have
become more cohesive, active and candid", ASEAN needed to
accelerate the process of integration of its new members in the
ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and ASEAN Investment Cooperation
schemes.

He noted the need to put the ASEAN High Council into motion to
help mediate possible disputes among members of the regional
grouping.

He added that economically stronger members should assist and
implement programs for newer members -- Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar -- to catch up with the pace of development.

Both Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas and Jayakumar
urged continued reviews of the PMC process.

Alatas warned of a possible "hollowing out" of the PMC since
most political/security issues were now tackled by the ASEAN
Regional Forum and economic ones were discussed in the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation.