SLOVAKIA AND CHINA ADDRESS CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT

Press Release
DCF/380

SLOVAKIA AND CHINA ADDRESS CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 2 September (UN Information Service) -- Ambassadors from Slovakia and China spoke before the Conference on Disarmament this morning, remarking among other things on the current stalemate in the Conference's efforts to reach agreement on a programme of work.

Kalman Petocz, Ambassador of Slovakia, termed it "unsatisfactory" that the Conference had lost a year "which could have been used far more progressively", and said the country supported resuming negotiations on a fissile-material cut-off treaty, using an ad hoc committee. In a general statement before the Conference's regular Thursday-morning plenary. Mr. Petocz also expressed Slovakia's strong support for international efforts to eliminate anti-personnel landmines.

Ambassador Li Changhe of China said the Conference's continuing impasse was "rather disappointing" and could be attributed in part to a series of developments this year in the field of international peace and security which had had a negative impact on international relations, and also to the fact that divergent opinions on the Conference's work reflected not procedural differences but differences over the priorities for the "disarmament agenda".

Referring to a recently released draft Indian nuclear doctrine developed by the Indian National Security Advisory Committee, Mr. Li also said China genuinely hoped that tension could be eased and the nuclear arms race between Pakistan and India could be brought to an end. He referred the Conference to a recent statement by the spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry which reiterated that resolution 1172 on South Asian nuclear tests adopted by the United Nations Security Council should be implemented as soon as possible in a comprehensive and serious manner.

Conference Chairman Leslie Luck (Australia) said that despite intensive informal negotiations on a work programme, the Conference had essentially run out of time for reaching agreement on the matter during its current session. He had found in the wide consultations he had held that increasingly delegates wished to turn their minds to how the Conference could describe this turn of events in its annual report and to how a constructive and forward-looking component could be included in the report, he said.

Following conclusion of its formal plenary, the Conference reconvened in an informal plenary to discuss the annual report.

Statements

KALMAN PETOCZ (Slovakia) said it was unsatisfactory that the forum had lost a year, which could have been used far more progressively; Slovakia's priority was to have a comprehensive programme of work for the Conference, although it had been ready to support, as a last resort, a limited programme. The rest of this year's session and the upcoming inter-session period should be used for consultations to narrow down the remaining differences and reach a long-sought consensus so that the Conference could start substantive negotiations next year without any unnecessary delay.

Slovakia had been among the first to sign and ratify the comprehensive test-ban treaty as one of the 44 States listed in Annex II to the treaty. The implementation of the integrated safeguard system of the International Atomic Energy Agency constituted in Slovakia's view a crucial element in strengthening the non-proliferation regime and would make a beneficial contribution to the 2000 non-proliferation treaty conference, the Ambassador said. Slovakia was now in the course of adapting its national legislation to meet the requirements of the safeguard measures.

A fissile-material cut-off treaty remained the next challenge in the field of nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament, and it occupied the top of the Slovak delegation's priorities. Unfortunately, little chance had been given last year to the Conference's ad hoc committee formed to negotiate such a treaty, and negotiations in a plenary format could not substitute for substantive negotiations in an ad-hoc committee setting, Mr. Poetics said.

Slovakia had joined the international fight against anti- personnel landmines and was determined to achieve their total and eventual elimination; it was a great honour for the country to serve as reporter of the Standing Committee of Experts on Stockpile Destruction, one of the five committees bearing responsibility for inter-session work between the first and second meetings of the Ottawa Convention. Slovakia repeated its offer to provide expertise and environmentally friendly technology for the destruction of land mines to interested countries that did not possess such means.

Slovakia's Parliament was scheduled to approve the amended Protocol II and Protocol IV of the Convention on excessively injurious or harmful conventional weapons, Mr. Petocz said.

On the matter of admitting further new members to the Conference, Slovakia considered that the subject had not been fully exhausted and that the Conference should remain seized of the matter, he said.

LI CHANGHE (China) said that due to difficulties in bridging discrepancies among delegations on two important agenda items -- nuclear disarmament and prevention of an arms race in outer space -- the Conference still had not been able to agree on a programme of work. The Chinese delegation found this rather disappointing. Two factors appeared to be responsible. First, a series of developments this year in the field of international peace and security had exerted a profound negative impact on international relations. Second, divergence among member States on the Conference's programme of work should not be seen as procedural in nature but rather as a reflection of differences in priorities on the subject of disarmament. In formulating its programme of work, the Conference should take this fact into consideration. Flexibility was required from all sides, along with political will, to end the current stalemate.

Despite the impasse, China believed that the Conference was irreplaceable and even when not able to work on treaty negotiations could still function as an important forum for major issues of international peace and security.

China had a positive attitude towards appropriate expansion of the Conference's membership. On the matter of possible further expansion, China believed that the factors of political balance, the optimum size of the Conference as a negotiating body, and its efficiency should be taken into consideration.

At the 19 August plenary, the distinguished Ambassador of Pakistan had made a statement on the draft Indian nuclear doctrine released by the Indian National Security Advisory Committee, Ambassador Li said. The statement had received wide attention. As a close neighbour of these countries, China genuinely hoped that the tension there could be eased and the nuclear arms race is brought to an end, so that peace, security, and stability could prevail in the region. In a recent statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman had reiterated that Resolution 1172 on South Asian nuclear tests adopted by the United Nations Security Council should be implemented as soon as possible in a comprehensive and serious manner.

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