APPENDIX 9
Memorandum submitted by Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament
The Australian Senate passes a motion calling
on the US not to proceed with the National Missile Defence (NMD)
scheme
As the UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee sat
yesterday, 28 June, to take evidence from Robin Cook, the Foreign
Secretary, Senator Lyn Allison of the Democrats was tabling a
motion, which called on the US not to deploy a ballistic missile
defence system. A test of this system is scheduled for 7 July.
In a compelling argument, Senator Lyn Allison
said that:
"The US proposal to deploy a ballistic missile
defence system is the greatest obstacle to the achievement of
the total and unequivocal elimination of nuclear weapons as required
by the terms of the final declaration of the recent nuclear non-proliferation
treaty review conference, and is the single factor that is most
likely to contribute to a renewed arms race."
"At the recent NPT Review Conference, nation
after nation, and group after group, including the EU, the New
Agenda Coalition, the Non-Aligned Movement, Portugal, Sweden,
France, and the UN Secretary General all stated that the Anti-Ballistic
Missile Treaty, which the US proposal will violate, is the cornerstone
of strategic stability. Russia and China have warned that if the
ABM treaty is violated by the US building an ABM system, that
all arms control agreements arrived at with the US will be void
and there will be a new arms race."
"If the US were to deploy this system it
risks spending some $60 billion on an exotic weapons system that
can't tell the difference between a warhead and a striped decoy
balloon, that will alienate every other country in the world,
that does nothing for the security of US allies, and that has
the potential to terminate further efforts to fulfil the legal
obligations of the nuclear weapons powers to eliminate their nuclear
arsenals."
"The Australian Government can't just stand
by and let this happen. As a close US ally, it has an obligation
to urge the US not to allow the ABM treaty to be trashed and the
arms race to recommence. It should press for the early implementation
of START-II and the negotiation of a START-III nuclear weapons
agreement that aims at the lowest possible warhead numbers offered
so far by Russia."
"The G8 will be meeting in Okinawa on 21-23
July. One can safely assume that BMD will be discussed somewhere
there. An international fax campaign exists to urge G8 governments
to raise their concerns with the US."
NOTICE OF
MOTION, DATED
28 JUNE 2000 READS:
1. That the Senate notes:
(a) the final declaration of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in New York,
24 April-19 May 2000, commits the nuclear weapon states to "the
early implementation and entry into force of START-II and conclusion
of START-III as soon as possible while preserving and strengthening
the Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty as a cornerstone of strategic
stability and as a basis for further reductions of strategic offensive
weapons in accordance with its provisions;
(b) that at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty Review Conference, the United Nations Secretary General,
the EU, Sweden, Portugal, the UK and France have all expressed
concern at the prospect of the deployment by the US of a National
Missile Defence System (NMD), which would require the alteration
or abrogation of the ABM treaty, and have stated that the ABM
treaty is the cornerstone of strategic stability;
(c) the statements made by the heads of Government
of France and Germany with respect to the inadvisability of deployment
of a National Missile defence system by the United States;
(d) the strong statements by the governments
of Russia and China, that deployment of a National Missile Defence
system as currently proposed would have serious consequences for
arms control and arms reduction talks, and could result in the
abandonment of START commitments by Russia, with the alarming
possibility of a new arms race;
(e) increasing doubts about the technical
viability of any system of ballistic missile defence, and especially
the current NMD proposal surfacing in the United States;
(f) the recent declaration, released by the
Washington National Cathedral, by a large number of retired senior
military personnel and religious leaders, asking that nuclear
weapons be eliminated and expressing opposition to NMD.
7. That the Senate asks the Australian Government:
(d) to make known its position in relation
to the United States' proposal to deploy a National Missile Defence
System;
(e) to call on the United States not to deploy
an NMD system;
(f) to urge the United States and Russia
to proceed with the early implementation and entry into force
of START-II and conclusion of START-III as soon as possible;
(g) to call on the Nuclear Weapons States
to outline how they will implement the NPT Final Document requirement
that nuclear weapons play a diminishing role in security policies;
(h) to urge the United States and Russia
to maintain the integrity of the Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty.
CND welcomes this motion by Senator Allison and
congratulates the Australian Senate for its courageous decision.
We hope that this places the UK Government on
notice that it must stand up and be counted on this vital global
issue.
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