GOVPH

ASEAN Working Group Discusses Implementation of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Treaty

​DFA Director Edgar B. Badajos (center) chaired the Meeting of the Working Group of Executive Committee of the SEANWFZ Commission in Manila on 25 May 2017.

25 May 2017 – The ten (10) ASEAN Member States (AMS), namely, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam, convened a Meeting of the Working Group of the Executive Committee of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Treaty on May 25 in Marriott Hotel, Manila to review the progress of implementation of the Treaty.  The meeting also discussed the accession of the five (5) Nuclear-Weapon States (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) to the protocol of the Treaty.

The Treaty entered into force on 28 March 1997 when Cambodia became the seventh nation to deposit its instrument of ratification in Bangkok, Thailand.  It requires the AMS not to "develop, manufacture or otherwise acquire, possess or have control over nuclear weapons; station or transport nuclear weapons by any means; or test or use nuclear weapons."  The treaty also outlaws the dumping of radioactive waste or materials anywhere in the zone, and requires all States Parties to maintain full scope International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards over their nuclear facilities. Under the Treaty, however, each state is to decide individually whether to allow foreign ships or aircraft (which could be nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed) to visit or transit through their airspace or territorial waters.

The SEANWFZ Treaty has a Protocol which is open for signature by the five (5) NWS. The Protocol would commit the five NWS to respect the terms of the Treaty and pledge "not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against any State Party to the Treaty." None of the five powers has acceded to the Protocol due to differences with the AMS on the timing and nature of their accession (i.e., whether they will be allowed to accede to the Treaty, with or without reservations.)  The meeting looked into possible ways of breaking the impasse between the AMS and the 5 NWS on the latter’s accession to the Protocol. They also discussed the manner of accession of the NWS. END