CHINA READY TO AGREE TO TEMPORARY BAN ON PEACEFUL NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS IN TEST-BAN TREATY, DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE TOLD
Press Release
DCF/263
CHINA READY TO AGREE TO TEMPORARY BAN ON PEACEFUL NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS IN TEST-BAN TREATY, DISARMAMENT CONFERENCE TOLD
19960607 GENEVA, 6 June (UN Information Service) -- China was ready to go along with a temporary ban on peaceful nuclear explosions in order to facilitate the conclusion of a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty by 28 June, that country's representative told the Conference on Disarmament this morning.Although not renouncing peaceful nuclear explosions altogether, China could agree to a treaty provision that the possibility of permitting the conduct of those explosions should be considered by the review conference of States parties to a nuclear test-ban treaty, the Chinese representative said. Peaceful nuclear explosions, if used properly, could play a dynamic role in promoting the economic development of some countries, he added.
The Conference, the sole multilateral disarmament forum, is working to agree on a comprehensive nuclear-test ban treaty by 28 June.
Also this morning, the Conference held an exchange of views on a proposal by Argentina to implement a September 1995 decision to expand the Conference's membership to 61 members, from the current 38. No decision was taken on the proposal, which, according to the President of the Conference, Munir Akram (Pakistan), will be taken up again in a timely manner, and possibly at the next plenary session to be held on 13 June.
Statements
LUDWIK DEMBINSKI (Poland) commended the Chairman of the ad hoc committee on a nuclear test-ban for the way he had been conducting the negotiations on the proposed treaty. Recalling the complete text of a draft treaty submitted by the Chairman on 28 May and the new negotiating mechanism also introduced by him, he said that after two years of efforts by the ad hoc committee, the scope of the previous negotiating format had been exhausted. The new work format and the Chairman's subsequent draft treaty had brought that frustrating situation to a stop. The principal merit of that draft was that it rigorously built on the consensus achieved in the test-ban treaty rolling text. At the same time, and in regard to the key contentious issues, open-ended consultations had proved sufficiently encouraging for the Chairman to propose draft language as basis for compromise. The approach taken in the draft
brought fresh momentum to the treaty negotiating process in that final stage of negotiations.
OLEXANDER SLIPCHENKO (Ukraine) read out a statement made by the Ukrainian President. He announced that the process of transporting strategic nuclear ammunition from Ukraine to the Russian Federation, prior to its total elimination under the supervision of Ukrainian observers, had been completed on 1 June. That historic event marked the timely and total fulfilment by Ukraine of its commitments under the 14 January 1994 Tripartite Statement of the Presidents of Ukraine, United States and the Russian Federation. It was also an important contribution to the process of disarmament. However, that process could not be unilateral. It should be supported and complemented politically and practically, especially by countries with nuclear capacity. Ukraine's commitment to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation was evidence of its readiness to assume membership of the Conference, he added.
SHA ZUKANG (China) said that regarding scope and peaceful nuclear explosions, no arms control or disarmament treaty should hinder the scientific and economic development of its States parties. As a technology with enormous potential, peaceful nuclear explosions, if used properly, could play a dynamic role in promoting the economic development of some countries. That was of special significance for China, a populous country with a large territory but relatively scarce natural resources. China could not agree to ban a promising technology just for the sake of banning nuclear-weapon test explosions.
He fully shared the concern that peaceful nuclear explosions were not easily distinguishable from nuclear explosions for military purposes, and that they might have an adverse effect on the environment. However, those problems were not insurmountable. In order to facilitate the conclusion of the treaty within the time-frame as planned, the Chinese delegation was now ready to go along with a temporary ban on peaceful nuclear explosions. China could agree to a treaty provision that the possibility of permitting the conduct of peaceful nuclear explosions should be considered by the review conference of States parties.
With respect to nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear disarmament and security assurances, he said the first two constituted the basic objectives of the test-ban treaty. It was essential to condition the entry into force of the treaty on the joining by all States that were technically capable of conducting nuclear explosions. China was against any proposal which might negate or weaken that principle, such as the so-called "waiver clause". It supported the position of the "Group of 21" non-aligned States that some language on nuclear disarmament should be included into the relevant part of the treaty. Due attention should also be given by the treaty to negative security assurances to non-nuclear-weapon States and mutual no-first-use of nuclear weapons among the nuclear-weapon States. As another gesture of
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flexibility, the Chinese delegation would agree to withdraw a proposed text on a separate article regarding that issue.
To solve the issue of the trigger mechanism for on-site inspections, it was essential to tackle properly the relationship between the basis for request and the decision-making procedure of the executive council of the future test-ban treaty organization. The international monitoring system would operate under the supervision of the technical secretariat of the future treaty organization. Its facilities and data would be calibrated and certified by the technical secretariat. Therefore, date obtained by that system would normally be reliable, and should serve as the primary basis for an on-site inspection request. National technical means might have a supplementary role to play. The problem was that those capabilities varied greatly from country to country both as they were at different levels of development. If data on national technical means were to be used as a part of the basis for requesting on-site inspections, they must be technical, reliable, verifiable and obtained in consistence with universally accepted principles of international law. China was categorically against triggering on-site inspections with so-called "human intelligence". Those inspections could only be the last resort of the verification system, to be used under extreme circumstances.
Exchange of Views on Expansion of Membership
Through decision CD/1356, the Conference agreed that the following countries would assume membership "at the earliest possible date to be decided by the Conference": Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Finland, Iraq, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, Senegal, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe.
The first speaker in the exchange of views on expansion of the Conference's membership was the representative of Algeria. He recalled his country's support for the expansion of the Conference's membership, as reflected in previous statements made by the Algerian delegation. He hoped that his remarks would dispel the doubts regarding Algeria's position on enlargement that had arisen in the mind of the head of the delegation of one of the 23 countries whose admission as members had been foreseen in a Conference decision on the matter (CD/1356). Algeria remained ready to examine with the greatest attention any politically and legally acceptable formulation presented to it.
Following the statement by Algeria, a number of delegations took the floor to speak on a proposal by Argentina to implement the decision taken by the Conference on 21 September 1995 to admit 23 new members.
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The representative of Chile, one of the 23 countries on the list of future new members, said Algeria's expression of willingness to study politically and legally acceptable formulations had been received with great pleasure. The only politically and legally acceptable formula for expansion of the membership was the full implementation of decision CD/1356.
The representative of Morocco said he regretted the way the proposal had been presented, which was indicative of a lack of transparency. With reference to a proposed letter and declaration to be signed by the 23 countries, in which they would declare their intention not to use their right to block consensus within the Conference, he said he doubted its legality. Any mention in that context of Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter was unacceptable, he added.
Meanwhile, the representative of South Africa said the only question that needed to be answered was whether or not full membership should be granted to all of the 23 countries. The proposed letter and declaration were to come about in the implementation of their national sovereignty. The 23 claimed the right to decide how they were to exercise the full rights of membership. "Any attempt by members to abrogate to themselves the right to decide how we as sovereign States should exercise our rights, by deciding whether or not we can take the steps which we are intended, is in fact an attempted limitation of our rights".
The representative of Austria agreed, adding that nothing had been hidden. What the 23 were doing was exercising their sovereignty. The representatives of Cuba and China called for further consultations on the question before a decision was made. The representatives of Argentina and Austria called for the matter to be taken up at the next plenary session of the Conference.
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