SE Asia urged to boost support for chemical weapons treaty

SE Asia urged to boost support for chemical weapons treaty

SINGAPORE (AFP): Southeast Asian nations were urged on
Wednesday to strengthen support for an international treaty
banning the production and use of chemical weapons.

Of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), three -- Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand -- had
yet to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention, an accord which
came into force in 1997, said John Gee, deputy director-general
of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
(OPCW).

Gee, in remarks to a regional forum in Singapore on the
Chemical Weapons Convention, said he found it "puzzling" why the
three countries would not take the "next logical step" of being
parties to the treaty when the Southeast Asian grouping already
supports nuclear disarmament.

"To put this in perspective and to demonstrate that this
region is important for the convention's continued credibility --
Thailand is the most populous," country which is not a party to
the treaty, he said, adding that Myanmar is the third.

"If we also recall that the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (North Korea) is the fifth (most populous), it would appear
that urgent action is required to bring all of Asia into the
OPCW," Gee said.

At a news conference, he said "bureaucratic delays" such as
translating the treaty into the national language so it could be
discussed by lawmakers, could be a reason Cambodia, Myanmar and
Thailand had yet to ratify the treaty.

"I believe it's just the question of them elevating it to a
sufficient level of priority," he said.

Gee warned in his speech that "tensions" could arise if not
all members of the Southeast Asian grouping ratified the treaty.
Some of the chemicals subject to a trade ban under the convention
were needed in the industries of these countries.

The treaty stipulates that states which are not party to the
convention cannot obtain such chemicals from states that have
ratified the treaty, since they are banned from exporting them.

"Clearly no one wants to see a situation where tensions are
created within ASEAN because trade barriers appear between
members of ASEAN, or between ASEAN members and their major
trading partners, particularly at a time when the region is
showing such strong recovery from the traumatic shocks of 1997,"
Gee said.