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New nuclear treaty draft

seen as

compromise basis

GENEVA: The chairman of negotiations on a global nuclear test ban treaty on Tuesday tabled a new draft he expected to form the basis for compromise agreement before the current round of talks ends in a month's time.

Jaap Ramaker, the Dutch ambassador who chairs the 38-state talks, said the treaty would ban all underground nuclear weapon explosions and all other nuclear explosions.

But he conceded that China, which has demanded the treaty allow countries to carry out "peaceful nuclear explosions" for scientific purposes, had yet to accept his formula.

The draft also fails to meet demands by India and Pakistan two of the three nuclear "threshold" states -- for a commitment to a firm timetable for total nuclear disarmament.

Negotiators are racing the clock to agree a comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT) by the end of their current session on June 28. This would allow the treaty to be ready for signing at the U.N. General Assembly in September.

Ramaker, asked whether he was confident his 88-page document would form the basis for an agreement, told a news conference:

"Yes, we think that is perfectly well possible. We also need to realise there are a few weeks of very hard work ahead of us."

"We tried to create a balance between what is desirable and what is attainable. What is attainable, the negotiating process will show," he added.

Chinese disarmament ambassador Sha Zukang, speaking to a journalists dinner on May 11, said Beijing was ready to be flexible on the issue of peaceful nuclear explosions.

But Western envoys have waited in vain for firm signs that China had agreed to soften its stance in the two-year talks.

Ramaker, asked whether he had China's backing for the draft, replied: "...I have no clear signals from China. They certainly will weigh this carefully and we will see how the negotiating process goes.

"All these delegations will not entirely reveal their bottom lines to me quite honestly because this is going to be a fairly tough negotiation in the end," he added.

Greenpeace International, the London-based environmental group, welcomed the draft, calling it a major step towards completing the treaty on time.

The Physicians for Social Responsibility, a Washington-based nuclear disarmament advocacy group which won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, called on negotiators to support the new draft.

The draft would ban any underground nuclear weapon blasts regardless of yield, the so-called "zero-yield option" publicly backed by all five nuclear powers except China.

"There is nothing one way or the other on peaceful nuclear explosions. Ramaker told us he would hold further consulations on the issue," one Western negotiator told Reuters.

The draft would allow underground "sub-critical" tests involving plutonium which stop short of setting off a nuclear reaction -- a concession to Washington. The United States has announced plans to carry out such a test in Nevada on June 18.

Another negotiator said of the new draft: "It is going to be the basis of the final endgame of the negotiations."

All five declared nuclear states (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) are taking part in the two-year negotiations in Geneva, sponsored by the United Nations.

Ramaker's draft makes no explicit link or pledge to totally eliminate nuclear weapons -- as demanded by India and Pakistan.

His proposed preamble refers to the treaty as a "meaningful step in the realisation of a systematic process to achieve nuclear disarmament", according to Western envoys.-Reuter