Japan, US agree to boost cooperation in nuke nonproliferation
PLA Daily 2004-02-19
TOKYO, Feb. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan and the United States agreed Wednesday to boost cooperation to strengthen international efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear technologies, Japanese foreign ministry said.
The agreement was inked here by Yukiya Amano, the Foreign Ministry's director general for arms control and scientific affairs, and visiting John Bolton, US undersecretary of state for arms control and international security.
While acknowledging the existence of a nuclear black market and loopholes in the international nonproliferation regime, Amano and Bolton agreed that preventing the proliferation of nuclear technologies has become a critical issue, the ministry said.
The two sides also agreed to boost the effectiveness of the so-called Proliferation Security Initiative, which is intended to block the spread of weapons of mass destruction and related materials by seizing them in transit.
The Proliferation Security Initiative was launched in May last year by the United States and 10 other countries, including Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Japan and Spain.
Meanwhile, Amano told Bolton it is necessary for the United States to ratify an additional protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on nuclear weapons.
Amano made the request after Bolton told him that it is important to universalize the additional protocol, which gives the IAEA the right to conduct snap inspections of nuclear sites, according to the ministry.
Bolton, who is here on a two-day visit to Japan, expressed optimism over the ratification of the additional protocol, but said the US stance on the test-ban treaty remains unchanged, it said.
Washington has refrained from ratifying the treaty, citing national security reasons.
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