By The Nation
Hanoi
Asean has agreed to engage the South Asian nuclear powers, India and Pakistan, to encourage them to accede to the 1995 no-nuke treaty and cooperate in the ongoing nuclear non-proliferation effort, according to Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.
At the Meeting of the Commission for the Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ) yesterday, the Asean foreign ministers discussed ways and means to promote the 1995 treaty among themselves and with outside nuclear powers.
Kasit told The Nation after the meeting that Asean has to be transparent about their intentions in building nuclear power plants and the use of nuclear energy. "We demand a lot from other nuclear powers. We have to deliver ourselves as well," he said.
The treaty, which comes into force in 1997, still has not been accepted internationally. All the big five�US, China, France, UK and Russia�have expressed interest to accede to SEANWFZ but Asean still has to work out one important obstacle�the passage of ships carried nuclear weapons. Senior Asean officials have set up a working group specifically to work out a solution to this problem.
The treaty bans member from developing, manufacturing or possessing nuclear weapons. It also prohibits dumping of radioactive waste in the region.
The call for Asean to implement the treaty fully came amid the much publicized news about Burma's nuclear ambitions. At the meeting, Kasit expressed appreciation to Burma for clarification of its nuclear policy.
He also added that as India and Pakistan are a full dialogue and a sectoral dialogue partner of Asean respectively, Asean should further engage the two Asian nuclear powers.
At the meeting, several ideas were discussed including implementation of plan of actions on SEANWFN, increasing exchanges of information of peaceful use of nuclear activities. Thailand became the first country to present a list of such activities to the Asean ministers.
Source: The Nation
No comments:
Post a Comment