|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
International Response: Missile Code of Conduct Launches in The Hague By Mike Nartker “Today a new nonproliferation instrument saw the light of day,” Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said yesterday. In total, 92 countries have subscribed to the code, with delegates from about 80 nations attending a ceremony here to launch the new system of confidence-building measures. In remarks before the assembled delegations, representatives from a number of countries praised the code as an important new measure to address missile proliferation. Heading the U.S. delegation, Undersecretary of State John Bolton said the code’s establishment is “an important contribution” to efforts to address missile proliferation. Bolton’s presence surprised experts here, who had perceived that the Bush administration did not consider the code to be of major significance. Countering those perceptions, however, Bolton said yesterday that missiles capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction are a direct threat to U.S. security. Furthermore, Bolton said the United States considered the code to be “an important addition to the wide range of tools available to countries to impede and roll back this proliferation threat.” Bolton said U.S. efforts to develop a missile defense system complement both the new code of conduct and the 15-year-old Missile Technology Control Regime, a system of common export controls among industrialized nations (see GSN, Oct. 28). Each is meant to defend the United States against missiles and all three help to reduce missile proliferation, he said. Bolton also noted U.S. efforts to cooperate with allies and Russia on missile defense. The European Union “attaches great importance” to the code, said a Danish representative, speaking for the EU and associated countries. The code establishes both fundamental behavior norms and a framework for cooperation to address missile proliferation, where there had previously been none, the Danish representative said. The EU has played a fundamental role in the code’s development, Scheffer told an afternoon press conference yesterday. After the Netherlands proposed the code in 1999, the EU offered to shepherd it through development with the goal of launching it before the end of this year, he said. Missile proliferation poses a “real and urgent threat” to peace and, “by their very nature, ballistic missiles are destabilizing in regions of tensions,” according to British Foreign Office official Mike O’ Brien. The code is “the most concrete step so far” to address the issue, he said. Canadian Deputy Defense Minister Margaret Bloodworth said the code of conduct would work in tandem with the MTCR. While the regime is a supply-side arrangement, the code works to address the demand side of missile proliferation, she said. Limitations During the conference, several countries, including the United States and Russia, identified what they perceived to be some of the code’s limitations. Although the code calls for participants to “exercise maximum possible restraint” in developing and testing missile systems, Bolton said the United States “understands this commitment as not limiting our right to take steps in these areas necessary to meet our national security requirements consistent with U.S. national security strategy.” Much of the work to implement the code will focus on the issue of prelaunch notification, Bolton said, adding that the United States will issue its notifications concurrent with the U.S.-Russian joint notification system. The United States also reserves the right in times of war to launch ballistic missiles and space-launch vehicles without prior notification, he said. Russian Ambassador to The Hague Alexander Khodakov said some of the confidence-building measures within the code, such as transfers of information, should be made voluntary to help persuade some remaining countries to subscribe. China, one of a number of significant countries that chose not to join, noted this issue as one reason for its rejection of the code. Libya offered its support for the code, but called for the code to be enlarged into a total ban on ballistic missiles. Libyan Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Shalgham called for the title of the code to be amended to reflect a prohibition on the use, stockpiling and transfer of ballistic missiles. The code should also contain a provision calling for the need to destroy all missiles capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, regardless of which country may possess them, he said. A total missile ban is needed to ensure peace for all people without distinction, Shalgham added. Tensions rose during yesterday’s conference when the United States and Libya sparred over each country’s asserted commitment to WMD nonproliferation. In his remarks, Bolton specifically named Libya as a country the United States believes to be developing weapons of mass destruction in violation of its international obligations. Shortly before the morning session of the conference adjourned, Libya exercised its right of reply to Bolton’s claims. Libya has signed almost all of the international WMD nonproliferation agreements and is used to Bolton saying Libya has not respected those agreements, Shalgham said. He asked when Bolton would cease his accusations and whether the United States also planned to honor its nonproliferation obligations. Work Remains While the code of conduct represents an important “first step” toward addressing missile proliferation, much work remains, many delegations said, highlighting the goal of expanding the code’s membership until all nations participate. If all countries believed to possess ballistic missiles had attended yesterday’s conference, it would have made the launching of the code a “bigger event,” said Johann Kyrle, Austrian secretary general for foreign affairs. “Ninety-two is a lot, but it’s not enough,” Dutch Foreign Minister Scheffer said. Many countries believed by the United States to be developing or transferring missile technologies, including Iran, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, have chosen not to subscribe to the code. Some, such as India, elected not to join because of concerns over how the code would affect their space-launch programs. Work should be done to help reassure countries on this issue to convince them to subscribe, O’Brien said, noting that peaceful space-launch technologies are in the common interest. Countries with peaceful space-launch programs have “nothing to lose and everything to gain” by joining the code, he said. Kerstin Mueller, German Foreign Office minister of state, also called on remaining countries to subscribe, saying the code serves their security concerns as well. South Korea, along with Japan and Australia, have worked to persuade other countries to subscribe to the code through regional efforts, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Cho Chang-beom said, adding that his country would continue such efforts. While the code calls for annual member meetings to further its development, those countries that have not yet subscribed should also be involved in the process, Khodakov said. The code cannot create new lines of division between those who have joined and those who have not, he said. “Peer pressure” will be an important factor in persuading countries to subscribe to the code of conduct, Scheffer said. While some countries might not choose to join the code today, “they might tomorrow. Or the next day,” he said. Responding to questions about the code’s lack of penalties, Scheffer said they would have been unhelpful and that he believed more in the effectiveness of transparency and peer pressure. Some countries that continue to oppose the code think they have little to gain by increasing transparency, Scheffer said. “We will work to convince them,” he added. Schaffer also defended the code’s lack of incentives for countries to join, which some experts have said renders the code less effective. The code is not meant to be a development instrument, he said. The Wall Street Journal reported this month that while China had announced it would not join the code, it had been interested in sending an observer to yesterday’s conference. Observers were not permitted, however, because it would have lessened pressure on reticent countries to subscribe to the code, Scheffer said. While most delegates urged that remaining countries subscribe to the code, Bolton said the United States was not concerned that those countries had not yet joined. Too often, countries make a “great public flourish” about joining international arms control agreements and then, in private, do the opposite, Bolton said. It is better to know who is willing to live under the terms of the code and who will not, he added. A number of countries also called for the code to be a first step in creation of a legally binding treaty on ballistic missiles. Russia is prepared to consider any proposals for the creation of such a treaty, Khodakov said. Canada also supports the creation of a legally binding document, developing out of the code of conduct, Bloodworth said. She said that it was important to develop an international consensus on addressing missile proliferation, however, before attempting to enshrine such consensus in international law. “Neither Rome nor The Hague was built in a day,” Bloodworth said. Other Concerns A number of delegations used their remarks before the conference to highlight a number of their own WMD and missile concerns. O’Brien called on the assembled countries to maintain, and increase, support for the U.N. inspections set to begin in Iraq this week. Representatives from Ghana and Sudan urged countries to use funds that would be released by ending missile development efforts for humanitarian aid. Some countries, such as Bulgaria, noted their efforts to further strengthen domestic export control regulations. Meglena Kouneva, Bulgarian minister for European affairs, also said her country is willing to join the MTCR. Ukraine continues to abide by the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, said Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Kharchenko, noting his country’s recent dismantlement of its Soviet-era intercontinental ballistic missiles (see GSN, Nov. 6). In her comments, Yugoslav Ambassador to The Hague Maja Mitrovic referred to recent press reports that the United States has accused Yugoslav defense firms of aiding Iraqi and Libyan missile development (see GSN I and II, Oct. 31). Yugoslavia does not have the technology to develop long-range missiles and the military possesses no such weapons, Mitrovic said, refuting the reported U.S. allegations. Next Step The first meeting of the code’s members is to be held today at The Hague. They are scheduled to discuss a number of issues related to implementation, including naming a central contact to collect information called for under the code’s confidence-building measures, selecting a chairman, creating financial arrangements, scheduling the next annual meeting, defining the code’s relationship with the United Nations and establishing procedures for exchanging information among code members, according to a Dutch Foreign Ministry press release. Several countries, including Ireland and Germany, proposed bringing the code under the auspices of the United Nations. Germany is ready to consider proposals for attaching the code to the U.N. framework in today’s scheduled meeting, Mueller said during her remarks to the conference yesterday. Greater participation in the code can be accomplished through its integration with other international regimes, said Tom Kitt, Irish foreign minister with special responsibility for overseas development assistance and human rights. The code was not originally developed through the United Nations, however, because of concerns such a move would have hindered the process, Scheffer said. It would not have been possible to make so much progress on the code in the relatively short time it was developed if it had been done through the United Nations, in part, because the code’s obligatory transparency measures would have caused much more debate, he said. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan did not address the issue in a statement yesterday. Annan praised the new agreement and expressed hope that the code would help establish an international norm against missile proliferation. “The code of conduct, as a voluntary, nonlegally binding instrument, is a positive step towards preventing the proliferation of ballistic missiles and towards international peace and security,” he said. Austria has proposed Vienna as the code’s central contact point and this will probably be approved because no other proposals have been put forward, said a Dutch official. Vienna is also attractive for cost reasons because the U.N. presence there could be utilized, the official added. For further information, see: International Code of Conduct (Dutch Foreign Ministry) Missile Technology Control Regime (U.S. State Department)
| ||||||||||
Back to top
