GLOBAL QUOTATIONS ON CTBT AND ABM.

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Peter Hain, UK Foreign Office Minister, said that the British government hinted that the United States and Russia had to do more to ensure the shadow cast over the globe by nuclear weapons was lifted. "A lot of leading countries in the world, including the United States and Russia, have to take their responsibilities much more seriously to ensure we are back on the road to peace and stability." (18 January 2000)

Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, said that global arms control negotiations were in a "disturbing stagnation" and called the ABM Treaty "the cornerstone of strategic stability." (18 January 2000)

Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General, said that a dangerous arms race "looms on the horizon" and noted actions by the nuclear powers, particularly the United States. Referring to a forthcoming meeting on the 1968 nonproliferation treaty, he said, "It is hard to approach it with much optimism, given the discouraging list of nuclear disarmament measures in suspense, negotiations not initiated and opportunities not taken."  (3 January 2000)

K. Erik Tygesen, Denmark's ambassador to Washington:  "‘The ABM Treaty is a cornerstone of the international order in arms control." (January 2000)

Jacques Chirac, President of France, in a Millennium letter to Jane’s Defence Weekly:  "Finally, a safer world presupposes the revival of the virtuous circle of non-proliferation of weapons and disarmament. To implement the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT); maintain the strategic balance; open negotiations on the banning of the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons; fight biological and ballistic proliferation; and prohibit anti-personnel landmines are all objectives reflecting our people’s expectations. On all these issues, the EU and the USA, driven by their common values of humanism, must combine their efforts to point the way to a peaceful world." (January 2000)

Sha Zukang, director of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Department of
Arms Control and Disarmament, said U.S. efforts to develop anti-missile missiles, known as the National Missile Defense system, would have a formidable, adverse impact and tip the global balance. "If such a balance and stability were shattered, the nuclear disarmament process would come to a grind or even be reversed; It will only poison the atmosphere, undermine the conditions necessary for nuclear disarmament and breed a potential danger of an arms race," He added: "Who can guarantee that other non-nuclear states will not go nuclear?" (25 November 1999)

Anatoly Antonov, Russian delegate to UN First Committee, of UNGA Resolution 54/54A, co-sponsored by China and Belarus:   [It has a] clearly declared and unambiguously constructive objective – to guarantee the preservation and strengthening of the ABM Treaty through its strict and full scale compliance." (November 1999)

Ambassador Raimundo Gonzalez of Chile, Chair of UN First Committee :  "[Proceedings of the Committee had] 'strongly reflected the international community’s deep concern at the impasse’ on nuclear disarmament and that ‘we are working at the frustration level, which is rising." (9 November 1999)

Jacques Chirac, President of France, during his joint press conference with M. Jiang Zemin, President of the People's Republic of China in Paris:  "We talked about the strategic problems and in particular emphasized the dangers of a possible undermining of the strategic balance and of a revival of the arms race. We agreed that the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) had to be ratified as soon as possible. We also noted that any undermining of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty would be dangerous and destabilizing and therefore carried risks." (25 October 1999)

Lloyd Axworthy, Canadian Foreign Minister:  "The US Senate’s rejection [of the CTBT] is a significant step backwards – a repudiation of 50 years of US leadership…and a devastating blow to global nuclear arms control efforts. [….] We believe it is crucial for NATO to have an arms control and disarmament policy that reflects the next decade – not the last. NATO should also review its policies relating to weapons of mass destruction to ensure that they are consistent with the arms control and disarmament aims we wish to advance." (22 October 1999)

Javier Solana, EU Common Foreign Security Policy Representative:  [The CTBT decision is] "a very sad development – for the future, for peace and for the cause of stopping the spread of nuclear weapons." (15 October 1999)

Rudolf Scharping, Germany's Defence Minister, was "deeply disappointed" about the CTBT decision and said, "It is a wrong signal that we deeply regret." (15 October 1999)

Lord Robertson, NATO Secretary-General, described the CTBT vote as "very worrying" and said, "I hope that maybe when we’ve got over the election fever in the United States, the Congress will look again and see that arms control is something that is in everyone’s interest and that we really have to press ahead with it." (15 October 1999)

Yohei Kono, Japanese Foreign Minister, said of the CTBT vote:   "The adverse effects are inestimable, and it is of extreme concern. We had been hoping for US leadership in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, so the result is very regrettable." (15 October 1999)

Vladimir Rakhmanin, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman: "This
decision [CTBT] is a serious blow to the entire system of agreements in
the field of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation […] Apart from the failure to ratify the CTBT, there is the adoption of a law on a national anti-missile defence system a new threat of sanctions in the area of export controls and a number of other steps which are destabilising the foundations of international relations." (14 October 1999)

Jacques Chirac, President of France, said in a recent speech in Paris:  "We must avoid any questioning of the ABM treaty that could lead to a disruption of strategic equilibrium and a new nuclear arms race."

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