A.S.E.A.N. wants ban on nuclear weapons

Press, 30 October 1984, Page 12

A.S.E.A.N. wants ban on nuclear weapons

NZPA-Reuter Kuala Lumpur The Association of SouthEast Asian Nation countries are keen to establish the region as a zone free of nuclear weapons, says the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Musa Hitam. He said the six members of A.S.E.A.N. were studying a ban on nuclear weapons as a first step to achieving its long standing aim of creating a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality. Datuk Musa told reporters after meeting Thailand’s Interior Minister, General Sitthi Jirarote, that establishing such a zone was a central plank of

A.S.E.A.N. policy but it had been neglected. “There is an urgent need for this zone because of the enormous implications of nuclear power in terms of military might," he said. However, Western diplomats expressed doubts about how A.S.E.A.N., which S Malaysia, Thailand, ore, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines, could keep the region totally free of nuclear arms. They said both Soviet and American warships used the narrow Malacca Straits which separate Malaysia and Singapore from Indonesia but never revealed whether they were carrying

nuclear weapons. Datuk Musa said A.S.EA.N. was studying a ban on stationing nuclear weapons within member countries but not on their movement ‘‘Although many A.S.E.A.N. countries like the Philippines and Thailand have separate bilateral security arrangements with big nuclear powers like the United States, this should not hinder us from working towards a nuclear weapon free zone,” he said. “We have to begin now to propagate the idea of a nuclear weapons-free zone and continue to work towards something more concrete,” said Datuk Musa.