Greenpeace Update on CTBT Negotiations
from the Conference on Disarmament
6th August 1996
For several days now there have been no breakthroughs in reaching
formal agreement in Geneva on the CTBT. Discussions are
continuing largely bilaterally and informally between a small
number of delegations.
The issue that is holding up progress is essentially a bilateral
discussion between China and the United States. The hold-up is
commonly described as being 'Washington deciding on what to offer
Beijing', in order to gain Chinese support for the treaty.
China has focused its concern on two issues - the use of
information gathered by a country on its own initiative (NTMs)
and the extent it can use this to start an on-site inspection
(OSI) and the voting mechanism to decide on an on-site
inspection.
Washington (and most delegations) do not want to amend the text
presented at the end of June, which would prevent a resolution
of the Chinese concern over OSI voting. Instead it is expected
that the US will offer some assurances that it will not include
espionage ('spying') as a basis for making a request for an on-
site inspection. With this assurance, it is then hoped that China
will then announce that, with the assurances it has received, it
could accept the draft treaty presented at the end of June. The
timing and status of the expected US offer is unclear, but a US
inter-agency meeting in Washington was expected either on the 6
or 7 August.
The next Plenary meeting of the Conference is on Thursday, and
the next meeting of the ad hoc Committee is scheduled for Friday.
It is hoped that at one of these two occasions that China will
announce it can accept the treaty.
With China on board, attention would then shift to India. India
is continuing to emphasize the issue of entry-into-force as its
primary concern, especially the possibility of sanctions if it
does not sign and then ratify the treaty.
Delegations are increasingly pointing to August 15, instead of
August 9, as the end date for negotiations.
Simon Carroll monitors the CTBT negotiations in Geneva for
Greenpeace and may be contacted at:
Hotel des Nations -- phone +41 (22) 734.30.03, fax: +41
(22) 734.38.84, Room 303;
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