No. M51 Date 13 March 1992

MORE SUPPORT FOR NON-PROLIFERATION

The Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr John

Kerin, today welcomed the acceptance by China and Latvia of

new non-proliferation commitments and action by the

International Atomic Energy Agency to strengthen its

safeguards system. He said these developments were part of

an encouraging trend for increased support for

international arrangements to prevent the proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. Kerin stressed that the only long term means of

controlling and eventually eliminating such weapons was

through effective multilateral agreements strongly supported  by the international community.

"I am therefore very pleased to welcome the recent action by

China to formally accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation  Treaty, as well as its recent decision to comply with the

Guidelines of the Missile Technology Control Regime," Mr

Kerin said.

A stream of accessions in the past year has brought to 148

the number of states adhering to the Treaty, confirming it

as the most widely adhered to arms control agreement in the

world today.

"Australia has long urged China and other countries still

outside the NPT to become members. China's accession, along

with those recently of Latvia and Lithuania, are testament

to the role of the Treaty as the cornerstone of the nuclear

non-proliferation regime, and will set an example to those

few states yet to join."

Mr. Kerin acknowledged international concern about the

potential for proliferation from the newly independent

countries which have emerged from the former Soviet Union.

He urged them to accede to the NPT as Non-Nuclear Weapon

States as soon as possible and to institute stringent

systems of export controls for material and items related to

weapons of mass destruction.

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Finally, Mr Kerin welcomed recent action by the

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to tighten its

nuclear safeguards system. The IAEA has taken recent

decisions on the use of special inspections under NPT-type

safeguards agreements and the earlier provision to the

Agency of design information for nuclear facilities. Further

measures to strengthen safeguards are under consideration by

the IAEA's Board of Governors and Australia will continue to

strongly support such measures.

