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 | Tuesday, April 25, 2000, updated at 14:49(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Albright: U.S. Remains Committed to NPTU.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright defended her country's policy at a U.N. Nuclear Non-Proliferation (NPT) Treaty Review Conference, assuring the critics of U.S. commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons.At the opening session of the month-long conference, Albright said she and President Bill Clinton were convinced that America would ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The U.S. Senate rejected the CTBT last October, becoming the first and only legislature of any state to reject the treaty. It was widely seen as a heavy blow to the world's non-proliferation process. The failure, coupled with the U.S. efforts to develop and deploy a national missile defense system, triggered off sharp criticism from many countries and non-governmental organizations. The CTBT, opened for signature in 1996, prohibits all nuclear test explosions in any environment and sets up a far-ranging international monitoring system. The recent approval of the CTBT by Russia's Duma has put the U.S. at a tight corner. "The failure of the Senate to ratify the CTBT makes the U.S. something of a non-proliferation 'rogue' state," said Dary Kimball, director of the alliance of 17 organizations struggling to reduce nuclear dangers. Russia threatened to withdraw from its Start II agreement with the U.S. if Washington would go ahead with its plan to establish the national missile shield. The U.S. bid to revise its Antiballistic Missile (ABM) treaty signed with the Soviet Union in 1972 has provoked suspicions from Russia, China and even among its allies. Albright admitted that the missile defense plan had caused " border concerns." But she denied that Washington was intent to sabotage the ABM Treaty. "If the Clinton Administration were bent on sabotaging the ABM Treaty and strategic arms control, we have surely gone about it in a strange way -- in the open, with care, and in consultation not only with Congress, but after extensive discussions with our allies and other countries, Russia and China emphatically included, " she said shortly after her arrival from Washington. The secretary of state argued that the treaty had been amended before and there was no good reason it cannot be amended again to "reflect new threats from third countries outside the strategic deterrence system." "And please remember that we are talking about a system capable of defending against at most a few tens of incoming missiles. It is not intended to degrade Russia's deterrent. Nor will it have that result," said the U.S. official. Russia is expected to respond Tuesday when its representative is to address the conference. Albright vowed to help President Clinton to win senators' final endorsement of the CTBT. However, she failed to give a road map. She cautioned against "unrealistic and premature measures." "We share the frustration many feel about the pace if progress toward a world free of nuclear weapons. But we also know that if countries demand unrealistic and premature measures, they will harm the NPT and set back everyone's cause," she said. She did not elaborate. But it was understood that she was responding to the calls for quicker and firmer U.S. actions. "We know the path toward our shared destination. The hard work of peace requires putting one foot patiently in front of the other," she added.
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