ASEAN urges nuclear powers to back treaty

ASEAN urges nuclear powers to back treaty
Posted: 30 July 2007 0029 hrs


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Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo.

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MANILA : Southeast Asian nations on Sunday urged the world's nuclear powers to
sign on to a regional treaty aimed at keeping their corner of the world free of
atomic weapons.

Ahead of the Asian security summit, the 10-country Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) said the five nuclear powers that are permanent UN
Security Council members should sign a protocol to the treaty.

The call came as ASEAN approved a plan to strengthen safeguards against
proliferation as part of its review of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free
Zone treaty, 10 years after it came into force.

"The threats of nuclear weapons within and outside the region remain real," said
Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, whose country is the outgoing chair
of the ASEAN bloc.

The threat is coming from an increase in the number of countries possessing the
atom bomb and "more alarmingly from the rise of non-state actors who might gain
access to nuclear materials," he said.

Under the treaty, ASEAN members may not develop or test nuclear weapons and
pledge not to allow the storage or transport within their territories of those
weapons.

But diplomats admit that with some ASEAN members allowing warships from
countries such as the United States to berth in their territories, there has
been concern it would be difficult to determine whether any vessel is nuclear
armed.

US naval ships also routinely pass through busy Southeast Asian shipping lanes,
but Washington has refused to confirm whether its ships have nuclear weapons
aboard.

Romulo warned of a new arms race and the increasing danger of peaceful nuclear
technology being diverted for military purposes.

"With our world's insatiable hunger for energy, nuclear power has regained
attention as an alternative energy source, increasing apprehension over the
spread of fissile materials," he said.

"As we move the process of community building forward, it has become even more
imperative for us to strengthen the mechanism that guarantee the peace,
security, stability and prosperity of our region."

Indonesia and Vietnam, both ASEAN members, are considering building nuclear
power plants.

All five nations that hold permanent seats on the Security Council - Britain,
China, France, Russia and the United States - are nuclear powers. - AFP/de

.

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