Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (C) attends the Conference on Disarmament meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 27, 2023.(Photo: Tempco)The country has started negotiations with the five partners of the bloc which are nuclear-armed states, namely China, France, Russia, the UK and the US, to sign the Protocol to the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-FreeZone (SEANWFZ Treaty). China was the first among the countries toexpress willingness to sign the protocol.
Inhis recent statement, former Indonesian Ambassador to Chile Aloysius Lele Madja said China’splan to sign the protocol will be “very beneficial to ASEAN”, and may promptother countries to sign it.
SEANWFZ Treaty, which also known as the Bangkok Treaty, wassigned by all ASEAN members in 1995, committing not to develop, manufacture orotherwise acquire, possess or have control over nuclear weapons, station ortransport nuclear weapons, or test or use nuclear weapons.
They also committed not to discharge radioactive material orwaste into the sea, into the atmosphere or on land within the zone. ASEANmembers can only use nuclear material and facilities “exclusively for peacefulpurposes” and any nuclear energy programme needs to undergo a rigorous nuclearsafety assessment conforming to guidelines and standards recommended by theInternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The treaty entered into force in 1997./.
They also committed not to discharge radioactive material orwaste into the sea, into the atmosphere or on land within the zone. ASEANmembers can only use nuclear material and facilities “exclusively for peacefulpurposes” and any nuclear energy programme needs to undergo a rigorous nuclearsafety assessment conforming to guidelines and standards recommended by theInternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The treaty entered into force in 1997./.
VNA
