RP condemns French nuclear test

RP condemns French nuclear test

MANILA (AFP): Philippine President Fidel Ramos condemned the
third French nuclear test in the South Pacific and ordered the
Department of Foreign Affairs to send the strongest possible
diplomatic protest, a palace statement issued yesterday said.

Ramos said the third such test, conducted on Friday, willfully
ignored the worldwide condemnation of these tests by members of
the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations.

His statement came after recently returning from a trip to
Colombia and the United States where he attended meetings of the
Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations respectively.

Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said in a separate statement
that he would summon the French ambassador to the Philippines to
convey the protest and call for an end to the tests.

The secretary attacked "the sheer arrogance, insensitivity and
lack of concern" of the French government for conducting the
tests and said the Philippines would intensify diplomatic and
political efforts against nuclear testing.

Ramos had earlier called for diplomatic protests against the
French nuclear tests but ruled out any sanctions.

Meanwhile, an official spokesman said in Wellington yesterday
the French ambassador to New Zealand, Jacques Le Blanc, is to be
called in today to receive Wellington's formal protest against
the third French nuclear test in two months.

France detonated a nuclear device at Mururoa Atoll Saturday,
drawing fresh complaints from the New Zealand Government.

Prime Minister Jim Bolger said France had again condemned
itself internationally.

"The Government has already made it clear to France that
continued testing in the Pacific is an affront to all Pacific Rim
countries and the wider international community," he said in a
statement Saturday.

A government spokesman said yesterday: "The French ambassador
will be called in by the Foreign Minister (Don McKinnon) on
Monday morning."

The New Zealand Government, however, seems to have little new
to say to Le Blanc. The protest was expected to be almost
identical to the two he received after the tests on Sept. 5 and
Oct. 2.

News of the third test did not rate highly in the New Zealand
press.

The Sunday Star Times and the Sunday News both reported it on
their front pages but their main headlines pertained to domestic
political issues.