French Nuclear Tests

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32296, 14 May 1970, Page 16

French Nuclear Tests

Before the end of this month France is expected to begin a new series of nuclear tests at Mururoa in the south-eastern Pacific, midway between Tahiti and Pitcairn Island. France has ignored protests against the tests from New Zealand and other Pacific countries, as well as from groups within France. New Zealand and Australia have refused the use of their facilities to French ships and aircraft associated with the tests. New Zealand, as a leader of the Polynesian community, might well consider other forms of protest. Of all the members of the United Nations this country is the nearest to the test site. A move to have the United Nations oppose the testing might come, most appropriately and logically, from this country.

The tests are not likely to cause a dangerous increase in the level of radiation in the South Pacific. New Zealand will again monitor the tests from within this country and from a number of Pacific Islands. After previous tests there has been a marked increase in radioactivity in the southern hemisphere although the level of contamination has remained below that of the northern hemisphere, and well below the “ acceptable ” limits. But the cumulative effect of the testing is undesirable, to say the least, and the risk of an accident cannot be ruled out, in spite of French assurances.

Public opinion in French Polynesia is said to be opposed to the tests. Some Tahitians also want an end to French rule, which continues there partly because France requires a nuclear test site. Like Britain, France has disposed of most of its empire in the last decade. Only the smallest possessions remain; most of them are regarded, by a political fiction, as forming part of the metropolitan country. The experience of Britain, and of New Zealand, in promoting independence among the Pacific Islands must suggest that Tahitian progress in the same direction cannot be delayed indefinitely. It is an added reason for opposing nuclear tests there; in the United Nations it should carry much weight. France’s political and economic difficulties have delayed the testing programme. The retirement of President de Gaalle has been followed by a more realistic appraisal of French defence policy and the country’s place in the world. France no longer has Gaullist to be a super-Power, but has concentrated its interest on its more immediate environment —Europe and North Africa. In this situation the continued development of nuclear weapons may be anachronistic, even in French eyes. A French decision to\bandon testing and to sign the test ban treaty wot&d be of great value in discouraging the ambitions |f other would-be members of the “ nuclear club ” anti a spur to arms limitation negotiations.