Biden to take up Rudd's nuclear arms push

[darrels joy]

AUSTRALIA'S initiative to drive a new round of nuclear disarmament talks has met a receptive ear in the Obama Administration, which is likely to give the running on the issue to the Vice-President, Joe Biden, Australia's chief negotiator on the issue, Gareth Evans, said on Saturday.


The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, announced last year that he wanted Australia to lead the debate on reducing nuclear arsenals and ensuring that the new nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which is due to be renegotiated in 2010, had real teeth.


He appointed Mr Evans, a former foreign minister, to be co-chairman of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and
Disarmament, an Australian initiative that is being co-chaired by Japan.


After a shaky start, it seems likely that the Australian initiative will yield results under the new US Administration.


"We have a very serious level of buy-in," Mr Evans said after meetings in Washington on Friday and Saturday.


"I was sceptical that this was something Australia could offer in terms of influencing the issue. I am now completely persuaded that this commission is seen as potentially helpful in changing the terms of the international debate.


"I don't want to claim too much, but I think we have helped crystallise their thinking. We have high-level attention. This is a quite important visible role for Australia."


Mr Evans met Mr Biden, the National Security Adviser, Jim Jones, the Deputy Secretary of State, James Steinberg, and the chairman of the Senate foreign relations commission, John Kerry, to outline the commission's five-point strategy for reducing the nuclear threat.


After the meeting he said it was clear that "the President gets it" and that "we will have a much saner discussion about what needs to be done".


Mr Evans said that the Bush administration had been focused on non-proliferation in relation to North Korea and Iran and that focus was likely to continue under the new Administration. But he said the Obama Administration was likely to focus on what had been missing: "a serious good faith exercise" in demonstrating that the US was serious about reducing its own nuclear arsenal, a key part of the non-proliferation treaty.


In the 1980s, steps were taken under the START Treaty to reduce the number of nuclear warheads held by the two main nuclear powers, the US and the Soviet Union, to 6000 nuclear warheads and 1600 delivery missiles. But progress by the two nuclear powers, which account for more than 80 per cent of all nuclear warheads, stalled over the past decade. START is due to be renewed in December, offering a chance to tackle the nuclear issue anew.


One of the main problems facing the US in its insistence that countries such as Iran give up their nuclear ambitions is that both the US and Russia have failed to adhere to their part of the non-proliferation agreements by reducing their arsenals.


It is likely Mr Biden will take responsibility for the issue, a signal that it will be given a high priority in the Obama Administration.

Mr Evans said he believed Russia was also keen to make progress on disarmament and non-proliferation, although he acknowledged there were complicating factors, such as the US push to locate a missile defence system in Eastern Europe.


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