unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (08/12/89)
UN PRESS RELEASE: DISARMAMENT
NO CONSENSUS IN CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT ON DRAFT MANDATE FOR SUBSIDIARY
BODY ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT
Soviet and United States Report on Bilateral Negotiations
(Based on information received from the UN Information Service.)
GENEVA, 3 August -- The Conference on Disarmament was unable to reach a
consensus on a draft mandate for an ad hoc committee to consider an agenda
item on the cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament.
A draft mandate for such a group had been submitted by the non-aligned
States members of the Conference (known as the Group of 21) and was supported
by the group of socialist States and China. The group of Western countries,
however, indicated that they could not join a consensus on the matter.
In its continuing general debate, the Conference heard statements by the
Soviet Union and the United States on the bilateral nuclear and space talks in
Geneva. The Conference also heard a statement by Pakistan, on behalf of the
Group of 21, and by Switzerland.
Statements
KLAUS JACOBI, Secretary of State of the Federal Department of Foreign
Affairs of Switzerland, said Switzerland appreciated efforts aimed at
disarmament and their importance for strengthening mutual confidence at the
international level. However, it could not be expected from a small neutral
State, whose armed forces were of an exclusively defensive nature, to reduce
its defensive capacity as long as grave imbalances in the field of
conventional arms and especially in offensive potential existed.
Switzerland was willing to welcome on its territory conferences,
international negotiations and international organizations which were to play
a role in the monitoring and in the verification of agreements on arms control
and disarmament, he said. While Switzerland was not a member of the
Conference on Disarmament, it had followed closely the chemical weapons
negotiations and had made contributions on the subject. It rejected chemical
weapons in any form and condemned their use. It was gravely concerned about
the proliferation of chemical weapons. This proliferation not only
constituted a growing threat to the international stability and security but
could also seriously hamper the work on the elaboration of the chemical
weapons convention and undermine its value.
Switzerland had made a national trial inspection in a chemical facility
at the beginning of this year, he said, to mainly help determine information
which was needed by inspectors who would have to verify the non-production of
chemical weapons. Moreover, the inspection was to reveal whether a modern,
multi-purpose chemical facility could be verified with such arrangements. The
national trial inspection had clearly shown that the inspectors would need
extensive access to confidential information of the facility to be inspected
if the inspection was to be effective.
YURI NAZARKIN (Soviet Union) said the agreement between the Soviet Union
and the United States to observe the 1972 Treaty on the Limitation of
Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems (ABM Treaty) and not to withdraw from it for a
specified period of time had remained the key issue of the most recent
negotiations. Regrettably, it was not possible to note any significant
progress toward the resolution of the issue, as the sides had remained largely
divided.
The Soviet Union believed that 50 percent reductions in strategic
offensive arms could be made possible only in conditions of non-emplacement of
weapons in outer space and observance of the ABM Treaty, he said. The task to
be accomplished was to give treaty status to the Washington formula and to
couch it in appropriate legal language.
In order to avoid disputes over the interpretation of the ABM Treaty, the
Soviet Union had proposed a pragmatic solution that called for reaching an
agreement on a list of devices that could not be launched into outer space if
their specifications exceeded an agreed threshold limit, he said. The Soviet
Union had also proposed the elaboration of relevant confidence-building and
verification measures. This included exchanges of data and on-site
inspections to be carried out prior to the launch of certain devices into
outer space. The measures were to rule out any ambiguities likely to arouse
concern on either side about compliance with the obligations under the ABM
Treaty.
Another outstanding issue concerned possible actions of the sides after
the expiration of the non-withdrawal period, he continued. The Soviet
assumption was that the agreement to be worked out in the negotiations should
not include any provision giving either side the right to deploy large-scale
ABM systems, including those of a space-basing mode, immediately after the
non-withdrawal period. Such an approach could foreshadow the outcome of the
* Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501)
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Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations
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