Thu, 24 Aug 1995

China's nuclear test protested

JAKARTA (JP): Some 30 students wearing masks and goggles staged a demonstration outside the Chinese embassy yesterday, calling on Beijing to halt nuclear testing and abandon attempts of regional domination.

"We strongly protest against the nuclear weapons test at Lop Nor and anywhere else in the world," Nia Sjarifudin, coordinator of the Indonesian Anti-Nuclear Society, said during the protest.

In the face of strong international protests, China held its second nuclear test this year at Lop Nor, southwest China, last Thursday. The first test was held at the same site on May 15.

The Indonesian government has said it deplores China's decision to hold the test.

"We criticize this initiative, which is heating up the nuclear arms race, which has been started by China and France," Sjarifudin said.

France has sparked widespread condemnation in Asia with a plan for up to eight nuclear tests in the South Pacific between September and May.

"We urge China not to develop its regional hegemony through territorial provocations, either in the Spratly Islands, or Natuna Islands, or by developing nuclear weapons which can support it," Sjarifudin said.

"We urge the government of China to stop its nuclear weapons program," she added.

The protesters also called on the Indonesian government to take a tougher stance over the nuclear testing by China, and to drop its own plan to establish a nuclear power plant on Mount Muria, Central Java.

The students unfurled banners which read, "China, no more nuclear test" and "War is over, give peace a chance".

After some delay, a delegation of three protesters, including Sjarifudin, was allowed to meet with the embassy's first secretary, Song Dehen, inside the building. They had refused earlier an offer to meet a diplomat at the front of the embassy compound, shouting that the offer reflected Chinese' arrogance.

China has taken an active part in the negotiations of a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty, hoping to see this treaty concluded no later than 1996. Once the treaty is in force, China will stop nuclear tests, a source at the embassy told The Jakarta Post. (swe/01)