U.S seeks RI support on test ban treaty
U.S seeks RI support on test ban treaty
JAKARTA (JP): A special representative of President Bill
Clinton was in town yesterday to seek Indonesian support for a
speedy conclusion of a nuclear test ban treaty.
"Indonesia has long been a world leader to achieve a
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)," Thomas Graham told
journalists at the U.S. embassy yesterday.
"The Indonesian government enthusiastically supports the
conclusion of a CTBT this spring," he added.
He admitted that some countries have been insisting on
attaching some conditions to the treaty, lining it "to other
laudable objectives which could divert the attention of the
negotiations to completing this treaty this year".
Some countries, for example want to link the treaty with
complete nuclear disarmament, but Graham warned that such
negotiating might result in delays which "could be fatal".
Graham is Clinton's special representative for arms control,
nonproliferation and disarmament.
Yesterday, he met with Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ali Alatas to seek ways to vigorously pursue talks to conclude
the negotiations, which have dragged on for three years.
The treaty would effectively ban the testing of any nuclear
weapons worldwide.
Graham said Washington is pushing for negotiations to wrap the
issue up by the end of June so it could be signed in September.
"A lot has been done but a lot remains to be done," he said.
"That is an objective that all nuclear parties are committed
to...but to link this objective to the CTBT, to say you can't
have the CTBT if you can't agree on a measure which would take
the world all the way to a nuclear free world, would be so
controversial that it would end up preventing a CTBT from being
completed," he said.
Graham said delays could force the five nuclear weapon
countries -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. -- to
reassess their support for the treaty.
"We could end up losing both the CTBT and nuclear
disarmament," he maintained, while adding that to remove nuclear
weapons, nuclear testing must first be stopped.
In the absence of a test ban treaty France has heedlessly
continued nuclear testing in the South Pacific, while China has
conducted several underground tests.
Speaking on Washington's refusal to sign the treaty of the
Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ), Graham said
the U.S. will likely sign it if some technical adjustments are
made.
"Essentially it relates to the language in the treaty on
Exclusive Economic Zones and continental shelves, and the
negative security assurance language in the protocol which
applies to the protocol parties," he said.
Officials here have said that the U.S. fears an expansion of
territory by including exclusive zones and continental shelves
through what is described as "gripping jurisdiction".
Negative security assurance relates to the provision which
says nuclear weapon states agrees never to use nuclear weapons
against parties to SEANWFZ.
"But it's technical adjustments that we would like to see made
to the language of the protocol, particularly the negative
security assurance," Graham said.
Asked whether ASEAN members have tried to link support for the
nuclear ban treaty in return of Washington's signing the ASEAN
treaty, Graham responded: "No, there's not been any such
suggestion."
The ASEAN treaty was signed last year by the group's members:
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam.
ASEAN is also calling on nuclear weapon owning states,
including the United States, to sign the protocol to respect the
treaty. (mds)