Asia has become a key focus of the United States’ attempts to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, a senior US official said Wednesday.
“Asia has increasingly become prominent in the world’s political, security and commercial affairs and so too has it become an increasing factor in the world of proliferation, unfortunately,” said Assistant Secretary of State for Non-Proliferation Robert Einhorn.
Addressing a meeting here of the Asia Society think tank, Einhorn outlined the challenges facing the US as it tries to stem the spread of weapons of mass destruction and their missile delivery systems in Asia.
Statistically Asian nations are acquiring more arms, both conventional and nuclear, he said, highlighting the dramatic rise in military expenditure in South Asia and the Korean peninsula.
“One way to alleviate this is to address the underlying political problems that give rise to the desire to acquire more arms” through dialogue, he said.
Einhorn outlined his hope that a seeming relaxation in cross-strait tensions and improved dialogue between China and Taiwan could alleviate the region’s perceived need to acquire more arms.
When questioned over US proposals for a National Missile Defense system to protect it from nuclear and other attacks by “rogue” states, Einhorn vehemently denied it would stimulate a renewed arms race in the region, in particular with China.
“We don’t believe there would be a strategic necessity for China to build up its capability beyond that level of modernization it is already undertaking,” he said.
But he warned that “China should also know that its own activities will have an impact on the perceptions on the United States … so China should also look to its own actions as a way for avoiding a missile arms race in Asia.”
Einhorn underlined the need for all countries in the region to develop and strengthen export controls which are “a critical tool in the fight against proliferation.”
“Asia is the leader in the high-technology field and as a result Asian manufacturing centres and trade hubs are becoming targets of the world’s proliferators.
“If Asia is to avoid becoming a supermarket for the world’s proliferators then the nations of Asia must work very actively to strengthen their current export control systems,” he said.
North Korea, Einhorn said, continued to offer the main threat to the US and its allies in the region in terms of its weapons of mass destruction and through its “indiscriminate sales of missiles and missile technology” to areas from northern Africa to south Asia.
However Einhorn praised North Korea’s recent efforts to normalise relations with other countries, referring to recent Pyongyang’s recent talks with Japan, Italy, Canada and Australia among others.
“We believe it is very useful for North Korea to expand its contacts in this way. It gives the North increasing incentives to behave responsibly. It knows that if it was to undertake provocative actions that it would put these beneficial relationships at risk,” he said.
Just over a week ago North Korean leader Kim Jong II visited Beijing in what appeared to be an effort to mend strained relations between the two neighbours.
Einhorn also highlighted “the challenge of encouraging China to become a more consistently reliable partner in the area of non-proliferation,” warning that the US continues to see evidence of the transfer of missile equipment and missile to countries such as Iran and Pakistan.
Referring to the continuing tensions between India and Pakistan, Einhorn warend that the levels of mistrust between the two were dangerously high and the risk of escalation “very real.”
He stressed the need for the two South Asian foes to exercise maximum restraint and to resolve their differences peacefully.
