05 February 2009 : Reuters
LONDON - BRITAIN set out a six-point plan on Wednesday for a nuclear free world, at a time when global powers fear Iran will produce a bomb and US President Barack Obama's inauguration has renewed interest in disarmament.
The British document calls for watertight measures to stop terrorists or emerging states obtaining atomic weapons, deeper cuts in US-Russian nuclear arsenals and the activation of a global nuclear test ban treaty.
It also urges international help for countries seeking to develop civilian nuclear energy, talks on a new treaty banning production of nuclear bomb-making material and discussion of other obstacles to achieving a world free of nuclear weapons.
'Although the challenges are considerable, progress on these six steps would mark a decisive break from the deadlock of the past decade,' Britain's Foreign Office said in the policy paper.
Britain put forward its ideas as President Obama is expected to propose deep negotiated cuts in US and Russian nuclear missiles and in preparation for the 2010 review conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the pact that aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it was a 'critical moment' for efforts to halt the spread of nuclear arms because 'more people and more countries are seeking the ultimate weapon', he said, mentioning the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programmes.
'But we are also at a moment of opportunity,' he said at an event to launch the paper, called 'Lifting the nuclear shadow'.
Britain launched the document as it and other powers met in Germany for the first talks on Iran's nuclear programme since President Obama took office on Jan 20.
The West suspects Tehran is using a civilian programme as a cover to make nuclear arms, which Iran denies. The six powers said they were committed to a diplomatic solution and welcomed President Obama's offer to talk directly to Tehran.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants Britain to play a leading role in promoting nuclear disarmament, but at the same time his government plans to spend up to £20 billion (S$43.5 billion) on a new fleet of nuclear weapons-armed submarines to replace the current Trident weapons system.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), which wants nuclear weapons abolished, and environmental group Greenpeace both said that Britain's decision to replace Trident undermined its efforts to lead on disarmament.
'It is hard to see how Britain can lead on disarmament and pursue Trident replacement at the same time,' CND said in a statement. 'Replacing Trident will see Britain as a nuclear armed state to 2050 and beyond'. Mr Miliband said Britain had already reduced its nuclear firepower by 75 per cent but said he believed in multilateral, not unilateral, disarmament.
'If we went down a unilateral road... would then Iran say: 'We won't bother to have our nuclear programme'? I don't believe the world works like that,' he said.
Wyn Bowen, an expert on nuclear and security issues at King's College, London, said the British document was part of a 'concerted effort to help shape the agenda ahead of the next NPT review conference'.
It recognised that disarmament and strengthening safeguards against the spread of nuclear weapons would have to be addressed together if the conference was to make progress, he said.
