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India Respects ASEAN Nuclear Free Zone Status
India, a nuclear weapon state, will respect the status of Southeast Asia as a nuclear free zone, visiting Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said Wednesday.
"We respect the status of South East Asia as a Nuclear Free Zone and, as a nuclear weapon state, we are willing to convert this recognition into a dejure commitment," he said in a talk on "India and ASEAN Shared Perspective" organized by the Malaysia Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations here.
India believed that the multi-polar world order would provide the best guarantee of equal security for all states, said Vajpayee who arrived here Sunday for an official visit to Malaysia.
He said India was conscious of the need to strive for a new security structure in the world, moving away from obsolete cold war constructs.
India was engaged in a process of dialogue and consultation with its friends and partners to help shape a new security environment free of confrontation and tension, said Vajpayee, adding "Our security dialogue with ASEAN can also include this theme."
"If we can intensify our interaction and synchronize our actions in world fora, we can together form a formidable force working for global peace and security, equitable economic development and social justice," he said.
However, he said poverty, shortages of food and energy, population growth and the spread of diseases could threaten society's stability and hence these problems needed to be tackled through a cooperative approach and regionally.
"Over the last few years we in India have consciously focused on rejuvenation of our ties with the countries of ASEAN," he said.
India became a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992, a full dialogue partner in 1995 and member of the ASEAN Regional Forum in 1996.
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