KUALA LUMPUR – Notwithstanding some positive developments in recent years, Malaysia remains concerned about the overall lack of progress in nuclear disarmament, said Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.
Despite the uncertain security environment and various challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, the world must be persistent in the pursuit of nuclear disarmament.
“The status quo of a world with nuclear weapons is simply unacceptable and unsustainable,” he said at the high-level plenary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to Commemorate and Promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, via a pre-recorded video early today.
He said it is hoped that the commemoration of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons will continue to generate a global wave and public awareness on the urgency to materialise the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.
Saifuddin said during the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference in 1996, Malaysia expressed concern that the indefinite extension would not serve as an incentive towards the universality of the treaty, but would be a carte blanche to states with such weapons to retain them indefinitely.
“These concerns remain true until today. For countries in possession of nuclear weapons, they continue to uphold the potential utility of such weapons. In extension, nuclear umbrella states also continue to promote the existence of such weapons.”
He pointed out that a world free of nuclear weapons has been a long-standing desire of the international community since the inaugural UN General Assembly in 1946.
This brought about NPT, which remains until today the cornerstone of a global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime, he said.
“While we come closer to the 10th NPT review conference, the existential threat facing humanity posed by the existence and modernisation of nuclear weapons remains.”
The nuclear disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation architecture is being strained and pulled apart even more, he said.
As such, he said, it is imperative, and has become more critical than ever, that the world acts on nuclear disarmament.
“The only and absolute guarantee against the use of nuclear weapons is their total elimination.”
Saifuddin said Malaysia hopes that member states will reaffirm their obligations and past commitments to the treaty at the upcoming NPT review conference, and progress effectively towards their implementation.
He said Malaysia also welcomes the coming into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on January 22 that further strengthens the global norm that nuclear weapons are unacceptable.
“It should not be used, should not be threatened to be used, and should be discarded and destroyed as soon as possible. The outlawing of nuclear weapons contributes towards international peace and security.”
He said Malaysia believes that TPNW complements, and not undermines, other international legal instruments relating to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, particularly NPT, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone Treaty.
Given this, he said, Malaysia looks forward to continuing its constructive engagement in the lead-up to the first meeting of TPNW member states next March. – Bernama, September 29, 2021
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