Nonproliferation panel agrees on nuke reduction action plans

HIROSHIMA, Oct. 20 Kyodo -
An international nuclear nonproliferation panel reached an agreement Tuesday on
its nuclear arms reduction action plans toward a world free of nuclear weapons
at the final session of its three-day meeting in Hiroshima, the co-chairs of
the panel said.
The International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament,
however, refrained from disclosing a target figure for reducing nuclear
warheads in the action plans, with panel co-chair Yoriko Kawaguchi citing the
commission's obligation to report to the prime ministers and foreign ministers
of Australia and Japan ahead of the media.
Kawaguchi, a former Japanese foreign minister, told a press conference, ''I
think it is one of the most comprehensive reports of its kind,'' referring to
the contents of the commission's final report to be released in January in the
hope of building an international consensus in the run-up to a nonproliferation
treaty review conference in May.
The commission, co-chaired by Kawaguchi and former Australian Foreign Minister
Gareth Evans, apparently decided to back off from its initially intended
reduction goal due to objections from some nuclear armed states but the figure
is ''realistic yet ambitious,'' Kawaguchi told reporters after the press
conference.
Kawaguchi said she believes atomic-bomb survivors would be satisfied with the
figure.
Evans told Kyodo News following the press conference, ''Anybody reading this
report will have a clear idea what the various responsibilities are, who should
be doing what and when. That makes it a very useful guide and a handbook for
policymakers.''
The report contains a three-phase action agenda for the short, medium and long
terms covering the periods to 2012, 2025 and beyond 2025 to achieve its key
recommendations.
A draft report compiled previously called for reducing the number of nuclear
warheads in the world from more than 20,000 at present to 1,000 or fewer by
2025, while urging every nuclear state to commit to a no-first-use doctrine by
that year.
The commission agreed on a plan, stipulated in the draft report, for 2025 to be
set as the target year for nuclear states to adopt no-first-use policies, under
which nuclear powers would pledge not to use nuclear weapons unless they or
their allies come under nuclear attack.
The commission members also agreed to stipulate in the final report another
nuclear doctrine linked to no-first-use, under which all nuclear armed states
would declare by 2012 that the sole purpose of retaining their nuclear arsenals
is to deter others from using such weapons against them or their allies.
George Perkovich, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace and a member of the commission's advisory board, described
a draft of the report that the commission is preparing to issue as
''sophisticated, realistic yet progressive.''
The draft ''is far more detailed and comprehensive than any other
commission's'' such as the Canberra Commission, Parkovich said.
The Canberra Commission, launched by the Australian government, called for five
nuclear powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- to
take immediate actions to halt nuclear testing and adopt a no-first-use nuclear
doctrine in its report released in 1996 but did not set a specific timetable.
==Kyodo