ISSUE 13

PAGE 9

The Guardian
Julian Borger in Washington and John Gittings in Shanghai
March 26, 2002
China and Iran have withdrawn their contribution to monitoring nuclear tests, apparently in protest at Washington's hostility towards the comprehensive test ban treaty, raising the fear that the treaty may collapse before it has come into operation.
Both have stopped sending seismic data to the nascent treaty's office in Vienna.
The treaty will only come into force when it has been ratified by the 44 states believed to be capable of building nuclear weapons. So far it has been ratified by 31
The Clinton administration signed the treaty, but three years later the Senate refused to ratify it, and the Bush White House has openly opposed it, hinting that it may end the moratorium on testing which has been in effect since 1992.
Diplomats in Washington said US opposition to the treaty was a major barrier to gathering the international support required to bring it to life, and argued that the reduced co-operation of China and Iran could be the first signs of a backlash which could

eventually kill it.
Iran has completed work on building and testing monitoring stations, among 337 around the world intended to send a stream of seismic and other data to the CTBTO in Vienna, allowing it to spot a nuclear test anywhere on earth. But the Iranian parliament has stopped the monitoring stations sending data until the treaty enters into force.
China has yet to complete testing its monitoring stations and has cut off a direct flow of data from other seismic stations around the country, sending the information on computer diskette in the diplomatic pouch.
It also complained that the review had "openly stated that nuclear weapons would be used" in the event of military conflict in the Taiwan Straits.
Beijing is particularly irritated because the hardline declarations from Washington follow so soon after President Bush's summit in Beijing and China's full endorsement of the US-led war against terrorism.
The Vienna-based organisation did not respond to calls requesting comment yesterday, but a spokeswoman told Reuters news agency that the management was addressing the recommendations outlined in the Cedar report.