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ASEAN must push for global nonproliferation, Retno says
Addressing the meeting of the SEANFWZ Commission during the ongoing ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the Foreign Minister has urged ASEAN states to do more in pushing for a nonnuclear world, noting the weakening commitment among nuclear-armed states to noproliferation and disarmament deals.
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The ASEAN flag (right) stands alongside the national flags of the bloc’s 10 member states on July 23, 2008 during the 15th Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore. (Reuters/Romeo Gacad/Pool/File)
F
oreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has underlined ASEAN’s important role in urging nuclear-armed states around the world to stick to their commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament.
Southeast Asia’s top diplomats convened at the meeting of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANFWZ) Commission in Vientiane on Wednesday, the first day of the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM).
Retno raised concern about the weakening commitment among states with nuclear weapons to the nonproliferation agenda, and that this might threaten regional stability.
“The threat of nuclear weapons is increasing and becoming evident,” she told the meeting, according to a statement released on Wednesday by the Foreign Ministry.
“The withdrawal of some major nuclear weapon states from important international agreements have further kept us away from the goal of having a world free of nuclear weapons,” she said.
Retno cited the United States’ withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran dismantling its nuclear weapons program in exchange for sanctions relief.
The US withdrew from the deal in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump, who imposed new economic sanctions on Iran.
