Southeast Asian nations' nuclear treaty faces last hurdles

By Agus Tarmidzi

This is the first of two articles on the Southeast Asia Nucle ar Weapons Free Zone treaty.

GENEVA (JP): Despite generally sharing the same customs, norms and traditional values, the countries in the Southeast Asia region have not been able to totally avoid strife. The region has long been known to host endemic conflicts. The bipolar structure of global politics in the cold-war era, during which the super states tried actively to spread their respective spheres of influence, aggravated the situation. Hence, the states belonging to the region were forced to adapt to, if not align with, one or two of the superpowers which exerted their political influence in the region.

Only after the change of government in Indonesia in 1965 did the idea to create a region free from aggression, domination and external interference slowly emerge, nurtured by the desire to create a conducive climate for national and regional development and cooperation. Fortunately Indonesian concerns over regional instability were equally shared by all countries in the region, especially by Malaysia with which Indonesia in the past had a long and unnecessary conflict. With perseverance and determination and after many painstaking efforts, the leaders from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand decided, through the Bangkok Declaration, to establish the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) in 1967.

The political sensitivities and suspicions which shadowed the establishment of ASEAN prevented, however, the founding fathers of the organization from identifying political coopera tion as one of the fundamental goals to be achieved by the Asso ciation. Instead, they explicitly agreed to focus their coopera tion on cultural and economic fields, which to date have cata pulted the region into the category of "most rapidly developing region in the world" in terms of economic progress, with an ap proximately 8 percent growth rate per year.

Through mutual understanding, intensive dialogs and full cooperation, political sensitivities and suspicions gradually diminished and finally disappeared, boosting a sense of confi dence among ASEAN members. In the 1970's, the bonds among the ASEAN members started to solidify. It was therefore understand able, that during that period, the ASEAN countries took the risk of getting involved in some political moves.

The ASEAN countries then openly declared their intention to establish a zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN), a concept which was endorsed by the ASEAN foreign ministers in Kuala Lumpur, on November 1971. They also agreed that the estab lishment of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEA- NWFZ) would be critical to materializing such a lofty objective. In conformity with the Kuala Lumpur political decision, which was a point of no return, the ASEAN countries have worked relentless ly to draft the a nuclear-free-zone treaty.

Thus at multilateral forums, the ASEAN countries have consistently introduced the concept and jointly presented many resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly, calling for all UN members to consider and approve the establishment of such a zone in the region. It was not surprising to see that during the First Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly devoted to Disarmament (SSOD-I) in 1978, the ASEAN countries justifiably demanded the inclusion of a clear reference to these regional efforts in the Final Document of this UNGA Special Session.

A crystal-clear reference was hence formulated and duly reflected in Paragraph 64 (a) of the document. Since this time, the Final Document of SSOD-I has become a driving force behind ASEAN's goal of establishing the SEA-NWFZ. Paragraph 60 also acknowledges that the establishment of such a zone on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at among the states of the region concerned constitutes an important disarmament move, and of course, a non-proliferation measure.

Likewise, similar attitudes have always been shown by the ASEAN countries in the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). As may be recalled, Article VII of the NPT also recognizes the right of any group of states to conclude treaties in order to assure the total absence of nuclear weapons in their respective territories. As a result, all final consensus documents of the NPT Review Conference contained references to the SEA-NWFZ and were recognized as having significant potential contributions to the preservation and promotion of regional as well as interna tional peace and security.

Internal problems, however, posed formidable hurdles to the speedy conclusion of the SEA-NWFZ. Political maturity, which indeed varied from one country to another, made it difficult to move ahead. It took years for the governments of Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines to accept that the conclusion of the treaty would constitute a significant contribution to the regional stability, which in turn, would also facilitate the achievement of the goals set out by the founding fathers of ASEAN.

Again, after negotiating so painstakingly and avoiding western-style multilateral negotiations -- which later was la beled by outsiders as the ASEAN-style quiet diplomacy -- the experts from ASEAN countries managed to conclude the draft treaty and present it for signature by the heads of states or govern ments of the Southeast Asia countries at the Fifth ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, on December 1995. Article 1 (a) of the treaty stipu lates that the SEA-NWFZ will cover an area comprising the terri tories of all states in Southeast Asia, namely, Brunei Darussa lam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philip pines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The countries involved in its formulation agreed to jointly sign and hence the SEA-NWFZ has formally come into being. The ratification of the treaty by the seven Southeast Asia countries will allow the treaty to enter into force.

It is, however, to be noted that in order to render it effective there is a need for all nuclear-weapons states, namely the U.S., UK, France, Russia and China to accede to the protocol. Their commitments to fully abide by the provisions of the proto col are required in order to render the treaty effectively capa ble of implementation.

The long journey therefore has yet to finish and the full implementation of the SEA-NWFZ is still far away. The ASEAN countries will not stop until the SEA-NWFZ is really implemented and adhered to by all nuclear-weapons states. For the ASEAN countries firmly believe that this will help contribute to the achievement of a nuclear-weapons free world.

Failure to materialize it would be an unforgivable mistake on the part of all countries, especially the nuclear-weapons states. The immense destructive power of these abhorrent weapons, as the international community has witnessed in the cases of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, cannot be tolerated. The existence of these appalling weapons will continue to pose a serious threat to all human beings and, indeed, to the whole world. Once implement ed, the SEA-NWFZ would prevent the Southeast Asia region from falling victim to these inhumane weapons.

By signing the treaty, the states have tested its viability in terms of securing the ratifications of the protocol by all nuclear-weapons states to render the treaty operational. Hence, the countries in the region have entered the second phase of the negotiations, intensively consulting and negotiating with the nuclear-weapons states over specific concerns expressed by them. These relate to the following issues:

1. The area to be covered by the treaty is considered by the nuclear-weapons states to be far too over-arching. For clarity's sake, there is a need to quote Article 1 (a) which deals the area of coverage. It stipulates: "Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, hereinafter referred to as the "zone", means the area com prising the territories of all states in Southeast Asia, namely, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and their respec tive continental shelves and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ)". Sub-paragraph (b) of Article 1 continues to state that: "territo ry means the land territory, internal waters, territorial sea, archipelagic waters, the seabed and sub-soil thereof and the airspace above them".

2. The legal interpretations of the contents of Article 2 of the protocol are considered to jeopardize the right of the nucle ar-weapons states to use nuclear weapons. Again, for the sake of clarity, there is a need to quote Article 2 of the Protocol. It stipulates: "Each state party undertakes not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against any state party to the treaty. It further undertakes not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons within the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone" (negative security assurances).

Window: Thus at multilateral forums, the ASEAN countries have consistently introduced the concept and jointly presented many resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly.