News

ACCESSION NUMBER:315765
FILE ID:ECO102
DATE:12/06/93
TITLE:25 COUNTRIES AGREE ON DIRECT MISSILE PROLIFERATION DIPLOMACY (12/06/93)
TEXT:*93120602.ECO  ECMTCRLD  EXP CONTROL  /te
25 COUNTRIES AGREE ON DIRECT MISSILE PROLIFERATION DIPLOMACY

(Aim at curbing missile demand, not just supply)  (440)
By Bruce Odessey
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- A group of 25 countries has changed tactics toward its goal of
preventing missile proliferation by attempting not only to control supply
as in the past, but also to reduce demand.

At a November 29-December 2 meeting in Switzerland, Missile Technology
Control Regime (MTCR) members decided to approach non-members to dissuade
them from employing missiles capable of delivering weapons of mass
destruction.

A State Department official who asked not to be identified said December 6
that, between now and the next MTCR meeting scheduled for October 1994 in
Sweden, members would consult among themselves about implementing this new
approach.

The official did not identify any of the regions targeted.  Paul
Freedenberg, former under secretary of commerce and now a private
consultant in Washington, suggested as candidates the Middle East, South
Asia and East Asia; he said Latin America no longer poses a missile
proliferation threat.

The State Department official did explain generally that MTCR partners would
attempt to dissuade hostile neighboring countries in different regions from
settling their differences with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

Freedenberg suggested one way the new approach might work would be for one
of the major MTCR partners, such as the United States, the United Kingdom,
France or Germany, to get a mandate from the others to undertake diplomatic
1nitiatives in troubled regions.

The new approach is an important departure for the MTCR away from passivity
on the foreign-policy disputes that promote proliferation problems, he
said.  He seemed certain the Clinton administration's new export-control
policies inspired the change.

Whether this approach will work Freedenberg could not predict.  If it does,
he said, it could be used by other proliferation regimes such as the
Nuclear Users Group and the Australia Group (for chemical and biological
weapons).

The State Department official said MTCR would also continue seeking
cooperation from non-MTCR missile suppliers, including the major ones,
Russia, China and North Korea as well as Israel, India and Brazil.

As of January 1, Russia has agreed bilaterally with the United States to
follow a missile-export policy consistent with MTCR guidelines.

China had agreed to abide by earlier MTCR guidelines concerning missiles
capable of delivering nuclear weapons, but not with the later expanded
guidelines covering missiles for carrying chemical and biological weapons.

MTCR members are Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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