Asean to P5: Recognize Nuclear Pact

Jakarta Globe, Dion Bisara & Ismira Lutfia, November 14, 2011

A police officer standing guard at a market on Monday near the venue of
this week’s Asean Summit in Bali.  (EPA Photo/Mast Irham)    

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Asean countries met on Monday with representatives from the permanent members of the UN Security Council, urging them to acknowledge the region’s commitment toward a nuclear weapon-free zone.

In 1995, Asean countries signed the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Treaty.

Indonesia’s director for Asean political and security cooperation, Ade Padmo Sarwono, said it was vital for the UN Security Council’s permanent members, known as the P5, to recognize the treaty as the region turned to nuclear as a source of energy.

Indonesia is planning to build a 10-gigawatt and an 8-gigawatt nuclear power plant in Bangka-Belintung to supply electricity to the islands of Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan.

Ade said P5 countries must first see that Indonesia and other Asean nations remained committed to the treaty and would not seek to weaponize the technology.

“Two weeks ago, the P5 became the co-sponsor of a UN resolution on a nuclear weapon-free zone. This is good momentum and Indonesia wishes to keep that momentum,” he said.

The United States, which is in the P5 Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom, had already endorsed the Asean treaty, as stated by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her visit to an Asean ministers meeting in July.

“We are encouraging the P5 to access our protocol and respect the agreement that Asean has established,” Ade said.

Tifatul Sembiring, the communications and information minister, said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev would not attend the Asean Summit, staged in Bali from Thursday to Saturday. Instead, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will represent Russia.

Eight heads of state are scheduled to join the 10 leaders of Asean countries at the summit, including US President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

Indonesia’s presidential advisor for foreign affairs, Teuku Faizasyah, told state news agency Antara that Medvedev had issued an apology for not attending the summit “because of the Russian election.”

Other heads of state scheduled to attend the meeting include South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Tifatul said Indonesia would symbolically pass on its Asean chairmanship to Cambodia during the summit.

Under Indonesia’s leadership, Tifatul said, Asean had managed to mediate the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand and encourage the democratization of Burma.

The delegates are meeting to discuss major regional issues, such as Burma’s bid for the 2014 Asean chairmanship and recent territorial clashes in the South China Sea.

China lays claim to most of the sea, including areas that Asean members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam dispute.