PICC, Pasay city
August 3, 2017

Delegates of the ten ASEAN member states (AMS) convene in a meeting with the Executive Committee of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Commission at the Philippine International Convention Center, Manila on August 3, 2017

Following the treaty enforced on 28 March 1997, it obliges the ASEAN member states: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam not to “develop, manufacture or otherwise acquire, possess or have control over nuclear weapons; station or transport nuclear weapons by any means; or test or use nuclear weapons.” The treaty also outlaws the dumping of radioactive waste materials anywhere in the zone, which is comprised of territories of the states and their respective continental shelves and Exclusive Economic Zones (EZZ). Similarly, it also requires all State Parties to maintain full scope the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards over their nuclear facilities.

The SEANWFZ Treaty has a protocol, which is open for signature by the five Nuclear-Weapon States (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States), to commit them to respect the terms of the Treaty and pledge “not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapon against and State Party of the Treaty.” The NWS has not yet acceded to the Treaty.

The meeting discusses possible ways to break the impasse between the AMS and the five NWS.

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