Index

24 February 2000


Press Release
DCF/389



UNITED STATES EXPRESSES FRUSTRATION THAT CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT REMAINS DEADLOCKED ON ITS PROGRAMME OF WORK

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GENEVA, 17 February (UN Information Service) -- The Representative of the United States this morning expressed great frustration that the Conference on Disarmament remained deadlocked in its efforts to agree on its work programme, adding that the first priority of his country remained the negotiation of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty.

Ambassador Robert Grey of the United States said there was broad understanding that nuclear arms reduction and outer space were not ripe for treaty negotiations in the Conference. The United States was prepared to discuss, in a suitable context, outer space issues and questions related to the long-term goal of nuclear disarmament. However, proposals for CD negotiations now in these fields were clearly not a basis for consensus.

Ambassador Grey also rejected accusations made by the Representative of China in a previous meeting that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was little more than a tool of the United States, available on demand for enforcing hegemonism, intervening in countries’ internal affairs, and practicing the unauthorized use of force. He said the United States was looking for peace and security in partnership with like-minded nations. It did not seek domination and it did not seek hegemony.

In conclusion, Ambassador Grey said the United States had already shown considerable flexibility on important elements of the programme of work of the Conference. It was time for other CD members to show similar flexibility.

The President of the Conference on Disarmament said the Conference continued to find itself in a situation of delicate deadlock. In order to resolve the ongoing impasse, there was a clear need for political will on the part of all members of the Conference, especially those with notably strong national positions. She hoped a solution would be forthcoming and that a spirit of cooperation would come to prevail in the Conference. Bangladesh is presently presiding over the Conference for a period of four weeks. The presidency rotates among Member States for four-week periods according to the English alphabet.


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The Conference agreed to accept Armenia as an observer to its 2000 session.

The next plenary of the Conference will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 24 February.

Statement

ROBERT GREY (United States) said it was undoubtably a great frustration that the Conference remained deadlocked in its efforts to agree on any elements to include in its work programme.

Previous speakers had claimed that the state of multilateral disarmament in the world did not give cause for optimism, but this was too negative an appraisal, Ambassador Grey said. For example, the United States and Russia were ahead of schedule in making START I reductions and the two countries had agreed to seek even lower levels of deployed warheads in START III. The United States continued to dismantle nuclear warheads. And in the non-nuclear field, the global regime established by the Chemical Weapons Convention continued to be strengthened. The United Nations was negotiating a global protocol to combat the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in small arms. Undeniably, the United States Senate's failure last October to agree to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty was a setback. However, President Clinton was convinced that in the end, the United States would ratify the treaty.

In the Conference, the first priority of the United States remained the negotiation of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT). One speaker, whose country subscribed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, had stated that his country would not permit the Conference to negotiate an FMCT unless there were parallel negotiations on nuclear arms reduction and outer space. However, Ambassador Grey said that there was broad understanding that these two topics were not ripe for treaty negotiations in the Conference. The United States was prepared to discuss, in a suitable context, outer space issues and questions related to the long-term goal of nuclear Disarmament. However, proposals for CD negotiations now in these fields were clearly not a basis for consensus. It would be even more problematical to downgrade CD work on an FMCT from negotiation to discussion.

Ambassador Grey said that his country was concerned that the Conference was headed in the wrong direction again this year. So far, it seemed to be increasing, rather than decreasing, its areas of disagreement. The United States also continued to seek a role for the Conference in negotiating a comprehensive ban on the transfer of anti- personnel landmines.


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The Representative of the United States said he was obliged to comment on remarks made recently by the distinguished Representative of China. It has been implied that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was little more than a tool of the United States, available on demand for enforcing hegemonism, intervening in countries’ internal affairs, and practicing the unauthorized use of force. However, the United States was looking for peace and security in partnership with like- minded nations. It did not seek domination and it did not seek hegemony. The distinguished Representative of China also implied that the United States practiced a double standard toward arms control agreements and was trying to weaken or abolish the ABM treaty. The United States rejected this assertion.

In conclusion, Ambassador Grey said the United States had already shown considerable flexibility on important elements of the programme of work of the Conference. It was time for other CD members to show similar flexibility. If the Conference did not get down to work, it would confirm the suspicions of the United States that this was because some Governments did not want it to work.

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