Ignoring U.S., Southeast Asia To Sign Ban on Nuclear Arms
International Herald Tribune
December 11, 1995
Michael Richardson 

Leaders of ten Southeast Asian countries will sign a treaty this week banning nuclear weapons from the region, despite objections from the United States and China, officials said Sunday.

However, they said that foreign ministers of ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations, who will meet in Bangkok Monday to prepare for summit meeting on Thursday and Friday, would discuss whether or not to modify the draft to take account of Chinese and American concerns.

Some officials said that the stand taken by China and the US raised doubts about the sincerity of their commitment to eventual nuclear disarmament.

Late on Friday, the US joined China in publicly expressing concerns about the proposed pact.

Both nuclear powers said that they could not support it unless significant changes were made.

Southeast Asian officials were surprised by the US decision because Washington had earlier indicated it was ready to support a nuclear weapon-free zone in Southeast Asia, and had announced in September that it would sign a protocol endorsing a similar treaty covering the South Pacific.

The officials said it appeared that the US military concerns were a more important factor in Southeast Asia than in the South Pacific and that they outweighed diplomatic interests in conciliating regional opposition to nuclear weapons.

One of America's main concerns is that the regular movement of its nuclear-powered and/or nuclear-armed naval vessels and aircraft through Southeast Asia could be restricted by the new treaty.

"Nuclear-powered ships and American military vessels, naval vessels, do transit through those waters," Nicholas Burns, a US state department spokesman, said Friday.

He was referring to the South China Sea and international straits in Southeast Asia that provide vital access for the American navy from the Pacific to the Indian oceans and the troubled Persian Gulf region, the source of a large amount of US oil imports.

Mr Burns said that the US was both a naval power and a Pacific power.

"And the basis of our power, at least in part, is our military strength," he said. "And the right of passage and other issues are very important."

Mr Burns said that Washington also wanted assurances that the Southeast Asian treaty would not disturb existing regional security arrangements. The US has mutual defense pacts with two countries in the region - Thailand and the Philippines.

China objected to the geographical scope of the treaty, specifically to its inclusion of parts of the South China Sea to which it and some ASEAN members have conflicting claims.

The US said it had given ASEAN a list of conditions that would have to be met before Washington signed a protocol supporting the treaty.

Nonetheless, Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian prime minister, made it clear at the weekend that the treaty would still be signed, even though it would be difficult to ensure the effectiveness of the pact without the cooperation of the nuclear powers.

The draft treaty covers the land territory, territorial waters, the 322-kilometer exclusive economic zones and continental shelves of the signatory states.

It prohibits them from manufacturing, possessing, testing or using nuclear weapons, but allows ships and aircraft of nuclear powers to transit through international waters and airspace.

Under the pact, it would be up to individual South East Asian countries to decide whether to allow aircraft and ships of nuclear powers to land or make port calls.

The treaty is regarded by South East Asian states as a major regional arms control initiative.

However, mr. Burns said on Friday that the US did not consider the treaty was adequate in its present form.

He said that among its concerns, the Clinton administration was insisting that the treaty prohibit Southeast Asian countries from "possessing any nuclear device for whatever purpose".

To give the nuclear weapon-free zone international credibility, the five declared nuclear weapon states - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - were asked to sign supporting protocols.

Copyright © 2006 The International Herald Tribune