FRANCE'S DECISION TO STOP NUCLEAR TESTING CAMPAIGN WELCOMED BY SEVERAL SPEAKERS IN DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE

1 February 1996

Press Release
DCF/250

FRANCE'S DECISION TO STOP NUCLEAR TESTING CAMPAIGN WELCOMED BY SEVERAL SPEAKERS IN DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE

19960201 United States Senate Consent for START II Ratification also Welcomed

GENEVA, 1 February (UN Information Service) -- The announcement that France would cease its nuclear tests was welcomed by several speakers at this morning's session of the Conference on Disarmament. They also expressed the hope that China would soon follow suit.

Addressing the Conference, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Lena Hjelm-Wallen, said that further tests or nuclear explosions could seriously undermine work achieved in the conclusion of a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty. Although deeply regretting that China and France had continued nuclear testing during the negotiations on the treaty, she welcomed the announcement last Monday by President Jacques Chirac that France would now stop all nuclear tests. She urged China to follow that example.

The representative of France said her country had shown the utmost restraint in conducting a campaign of nuclear testing that was indispensable for the security and reliability of its deterrence. She announced that an independent mission of experts would visit the test site and that France would sign the protocols of the 1985 South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga) in the weeks to come.

The formal consent to ratification of the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II) given by the United States Senate on 26 January was also welcomed by several speakers. They called on the Parliament of the Russian Federation to do likewise.

Statements were also made by the representatives of Egypt, United States, Australia, Sri Lanka, Japan, Chile and South Africa. The Chairman of the Ad Hoc Group of Scientific Experts to Consider International Cooperative Measures to Detect and Locate Seismic Events also spoke.

Statements

LENA HJELM-WALLEN, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, said 1996 presented the international community with the unique opportunity to ban all nuclear weapon tests and all other nuclear explosions. States with the

capability to carry out such tests had the great responsibility of refraining from actions which could negatively affect work on a test ban. Further tests or nuclear explosions could seriously undermine what had been achieved so far. Deeply regretting that China and France had continued nuclear testing during the Conference's negotiations, she welcomed the announcement made last Monday by President Chirac that France would now stop all nuclear tests and urged China to follow that example.

Sweden strongly supported the conclusion of the comprehensive test- ban treaty before the end of June, she said, adding that that would allow the General Assembly to recommend it for signature by the international community still at its fiftieth session. All Member States must express their unambiguous support for a true zero-yield test ban. A complete test ban must also include the so-called "peaceful nuclear explosions", which technically were no different from nuclear-weapon tests. It was of paramount importance to achieve universal adherence to the test-ban treaty. However, provisions for its entry into force must not be formulated in such a way that any State might hold the treaty hostage.

She welcomed the recent decision by the United States to ratify START II, and urged the Russian Federation to ratify it as soon as possible, so that Treaty could enter into force. That would also provide a basis for further disarmament negotiations, where all nuclear-weapon States participated and accepted the ultimate goal of the total elimination of nuclear weapons. The highest priority in the Conference's work must be the completion of the test-ban treaty. It must also start negotiating as soon as possible a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and other nuclear devices (the so-called "cut- off"). The Conference must also explore possible ways of dealing with the issue of nuclear disarmament. She welcomed the fact that the President of the Conference intended to conduct intensive consultations with a view to developing a basis for consensus on that issue.

MOUNIR ZAHRAN (Egypt) expressed satisfaction over the prompt re-establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Nuclear Test Ban, adding that he was optimistic that it would be able to conclude the test-ban treaty negotiations at the earliest possible date in 1996. The treaty must ban all nuclear explosions in all environments for all time, he stressed. Allowing for low-yield explosions would be tantamount to inserting a serious loophole into it. He welcomed France's announcement that it had concluded the last series of nuclear test explosions in the Pacific, adding that the test-ban treaty was a disarmament measure which must put an end to the quantitative and qualitative proliferation of nuclear weapons both vertically and horizontally.

Commenting on the draft treaty provisions, he said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would be the most qualified to carry out the task of the proposed "organization". The "executive council" should

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operate in a democratic manner and should not have permanent seats with veto powers. It would be illogical to set up an executive council that incorporated the same disadvantages that Member States were trying to deal with in the framework of their efforts to reform the Security Council.

He thanked the Conference's President for his intensive consultations on the issue of nuclear disarmament. Consensus on that issue was elusive due to the continued opposition of a few members of the Conference. While nuclear issues were being dealt with in various forums, they were never resolved in a comprehensive and conclusive manner. Also, a ban on fissile materials which left out past production would be a half measure. The Conference should agree on the immediate establishment of an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament. He announced that Egypt would host the signing ceremony of the Treaty on an African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in April.

OLA DAHLMAN, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Group of Scientific Experts to Consider International Cooperative Measures to Detect and Locate Seismic Events, introduced a progress report on the Group's work. Among other topics, the report contains recommendations on an auxiliary network of seismic stations for the envisaged international monitoring system of a nuclear-test ban treaty. The Group noted that the principal purposes of the auxiliary stations were to improve the location accuracy of seismic events detected by the primary network and to facilitate the characterization of seismic sources for event identification. To achieve a cost-effective system, the Group tried to utilize available and planned seismic stations of suitable quality worldwide.

The Group had agreed on a network of 111 stations to primarily cover the continents, he said. To a large extent, it was possible to design a network using existing stations. Eighty-one of the proposed 111 continental auxiliary stations were today operational with proper equipment. Seven more stations were operational, but had to be technically upgraded, and thus only 23 new stations were needed. The Group had also agreed on 17 additional stations on small islands to provide for improved coverage of ocean areas. The combined primary and auxiliary network should be capable of locating seismic events of magnitude 4 or higher in continental areas with an uncertainty of no more than 1,000 square kilometres.

STEPHEN J. LEDOGAR (United States) recalled that his country's Senate had overwhelmingly given formal consent to the ratification of START II on 26 January. Following the Senate vote, President William Clinton had said that START II would eliminate submarine-, bomber- and land-based missile launchers that carried more than 14,000 warheads -- or two thirds of the nuclear arsenal the United States and the former Soviet Union maintained at the height of the cold war. Secretary of State Warren Christopher had also

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welcomed the Senate vote and called on the Russian Duma promptly to approve the START II, thus ensuring that the two countries and the entire world could begin to realize the benefits of its deep reductions.

JOELLE BOUGOIS (France) said that in announcing the end of France's nuclear tests, President Chirac had confirmed that he would spare no efforts in working for the signing of the test-ban treaty this year. France had shown utmost restraint and kept to the strict minimum its nuclear testing, which was indispensable for the security and reliability of its deterrence. It had led the testing campaign in a spirit of unprecedented transparency that would again be illustrated by the visit to the test site of fully independent international experts empowered to assess the lack of damage to the environment. France would sign the Rarotonga Treaty protocols in the weeks to come. It was also determined to pursue the relentless efforts to achieve as soon as possible the conclusion of the test-ban treaty.

RICHARD STARR (Australia) welcomed the announcement by France to spare no effort to work for the conclusion of the test-ban treaty. He also welcomed the announcement by Egypt that it would host the signing ceremony of the Treaty on an African Nuclear-Weapon Free Zone in April. He stressed that it was deeply regrettable that the tests conducted by France ever took place. The onus was now on France to work to rebuild the international confidence necessary, if further progress on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation was to be achieved. Australia welcomed President Chirac's commitment to work towards a truly comprehensive zero-yield test-ban treaty.

HISAMI KUROKOCHI (Japan) said that it was extremely regrettable that France had conducted nuclear tests as many as six times despite repeated appeals from the international community, including her own country. She sincerely hoped that France would redouble its efforts towards an early conclusion of the test-ban treaty and the promotion of nuclear disarmament leading to the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons.

Japan would continue its efforts towards the completion of the negotiations on substantive matters by this spring and the signing of the treaty by autumn, she said. Japan had wholeheartedly welcomed consent to ratify START II by the Senate of the United States. It hoped that the Russian Federation would follow suit and ratify the START II so that it could come into effect at the earliest possible date.

BERNARD A.B. GOONETILLEKE (Sri Lanka) said the Conference must work hard to finalize the draft test-ban treaty as early as possible, at least by June, in order to facilitate the reconvening of the fiftieth session of the Assembly to endorse the treaty before September. Regarding the scope of the treaty, he said it was gratifying to note the emerging support for a true zero-yield test-ban treaty. Given the very nature of the nuclear test

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explosions and the impossibility of distinguishing between nuclear tests carried out for weapon and peaceful purposes, there should be a clear understanding that there would be no peaceful nuclear explosions within the framework of the future test-ban treaty. The Conference should focus its attention on nuclear disarmament as well, he added.

Sri Lanka was fully cognizant of the views expressed by some nuclear-weapon States with regard to nuclear disarmament and the role of the Conference, he said. However, if total elimination of nuclear weapons was the ultimate goal, that journey had to begin at the Conference. There was no alternative to it, the sole negotiating forum for disarmament matters, including those relating to nuclear disarmament. There was no basis to the position expressed by some nuclear-weapon States according to which the international community should patiently wait until the year 2003 for the achievement of the goals of the START treaties, then allow the subject of nuclear disarmament to be discussed by the five nuclear-weapon States and, depending on the outcome of those discussions, decide whether or not to involve the Conference in the negotiations.

The vexed issue of the expansion of the membership of the Conference should be resolved as soon as possible, he said. He had hoped that the 23 delegations seeking membership would be permitted to assume membership, if not immediately, within months, preferably at the beginning of the current session. Regrettably, despite the attempts made by the previous President, there had been no discernible improvement in the situation. Sri Lanka was for the immediate and unconditional admission of all 23 delegations as members of the Conference.

JORGE BERGUNO (Chile) welcomed the announcement by France of the cessation of nuclear testing. The test-ban treaty should be concluded because the international community needed imperatively to close that chapter of nuclear testing. The test-ban treaty reduced the gap in rights and obligations between nuclear and non-nuclear countries on the condition that there was a total prohibition of all tests in all environments. The so-called "zero option" meant an undertaking to refrain from causing, encouraging or permitting explosions in any environment. Peaceful nuclear explosions represented a basic difficulty that could only be overcome by the total prohibition of such blasts.

He said the difference in the treatment of that issue in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco), the way that controversy had affected the drafting of Safeguard Agreements of the IAEA, and the fact that there were different legal regimes in that area meant that there was international anarchy which only the total

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prohibition to be provided by the draft treaty could resolve satisfactorily. Thus, any introduction of quotas, thresholds, grace periods or other qualifications would transform the test-ban treaty into another agreement for partial prohibition, an outcome that should not be considered. A universally accepted test-ban treaty would be a bridge between the regional treaties that were expanding nuclear-weapons-free zones.

PETER GOOSEN (South Africa) welcomed the announcement by President Chirac of the end of its series of nuclear tests in the South Pacific. He also welcomed the consent given by the Senate of the United States to the ratification of START II.

Ms. BOUGOIS (France), responding to comments made by other delegations, said her country was not the only one to think that not even a minute must be lost in the conclusion of the test-ban treaty. In fact, France had been the first in proposing, in August 1995, that the such a treaty should be based on the zero-yield option. She regretted that one delegation, with which France believed to have close collaboration, had expressed distrust and doubt of France. That was completely contradicted by her country's commitments and action. She hoped she had responded in advance to that delegation's concerns over her announcement of France's impending ratification of the Rarotonga Treaty.

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