Bangkok treaty

The contract includes 10 states: Brunei Darussalam , Cambodia , Indonesia , Laos , Malaysia , Myanmar , the Philippines , Singapore , Thailand and Vietnam . To date, none of the countries officially possessing nuclear weapons have signed the protocols, mainly due to US and French claims regarding certain security obligations and an expanded territory that includes exclusive economic zones.

The contract is concluded on an ongoing basis and the validity period is not specified.

The agreement provides for the establishment of a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Commission in Southeast Asia and an Executive Committee.

Obligations under the agreement are similar to obligations under the rest of the knowledge base, including a ban on the disposal of nuclear waste at sea, and a ban on any nuclear explosions . According to the agreement, the BR includes the territories of states, continental shelves , as well as the exclusive economic zone of the parties.

The execution of the contract is monitored by the provision of reports, and the IAEA observers are also applied. The permission for the movement of foreign ships and aircraft with nuclear charges on board remains at the discretion of the countries party to the treaty. The protocol is open for signature by China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States. They will take into account the Treaty and not promote any act that is contrary to the contract. They also undertake not to use or threaten to use the nuclear weapons to the states of the BR, as well as in the territory of the BR.

In July 1999, the foreign ministers of the participating states gathered for the first time as part of a commission on a nuclear-free zone in Southeast Asia. The Commission decided to prepare preliminary rules for all necessary actions in accordance with the agreement, including consultations with nuclear powers, the IAEA and other interested parties. The work of the commission was carried out simultaneously with the ASEAN Regional Forum in Singapore. At this meeting, China agreed to sign the protocols, as did India. However, India does not fall under the definition of a nuclear power in a nuclear non-proliferation treaty, so allowing India to sign a protocol would be a legal violation of both treaties.

The idea of ​​creating a KB was announced back in 1971 , when 5 participants in the ASEAN meeting in Kuala Lumpur signed the ASEAN zone declaration as a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality. The Bangkok Treaty is a serious step towards the establishment of this zone.

This agreement contains 2 elements that go beyond the framework of traditional BZ treaties:

1. The zone includes not only the territories of the participating countries, but also continental shelves and exclusive economic zones (200 miles)
2. The nuclear powers are obligated not to use nuclear weapons against any participating country in the territory of the agreement.

In other aspects, this agreement repeats the previous ones. Therefore, the nuclear powers did not sign the protocols because of protests against the inclusion of the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone, and against the restriction not to use nuclear weapons in the zone and from the zone against targets outside it.

The Bangkok Treaty does not have a special secretariat, but a commission at the level of foreign ministers and a group of experts monitors the implementation of the treaty.

There is no fixed date for the implementation of the treaty, but the ASEAN strategy until 2020 implies that all nuclear powers remain faithful to the protocol and the region can be free from WMD.