Nuclear Weapons (Hansard, 12 June 1990)

§ Mr. McAllion
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next plans to meet the United States Secretary of State to discuss whether short-range nuclear weapons should be included in the current CFE talks.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs met Mr. Baker and other NATO colleagues at the North Atlantic Council meeting held at Turnberry on 7 and 8 June. NATO agreed at that meeting that negotiations on United States and Soviet short-range nuclear weapons systems in Europe should begin shortly after a CFE agreement is concluded.
We shall continue to be in very close touch with the United States on this subject in preparation for the NATO summit in London from 4 to 6 July.

Mr. Alan W. Williams
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has received from Governments in the Indian subcontinent and the middle east respectively, regarding nuclear proliferation in their global region.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
No such representations have been received, although Egypt has put forward in the United Nations an initiative calling for a middle east zone free from weapons of mass destruction.

§ Mr. Foulkes
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what directions are to be given to the United Kingdom delegates to the non-proliferation treaty review conference to be held later in the currrent year; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
As one of the three depositary powers for the treaty, the United Kingdom will be working for a positive and successful review conference.

§ Mr. Harry Barnes
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the implications for the membership of the 1963 partial nuclear test ban treaty of the political union of North and South Yemen.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
The Yemen Arab Republic signed the partial test ban treaty in Moscow and Washington on 6 September 1963; the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen acceded to the treaty in Moscow on 1 June 1979. The new Republic of Yemen announced on 22 May has stated that it will respect all the international obligations of its predecessors.
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§ Mr. Harry Barnes
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will set out the occasions, and level of political communications when Ministers or civil servants of his Department have raised the membership of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty with(a) member state representatives and (b) non-parties to the treaty (i) during preparatory committee meetings for the nuclear non-proliferation treaty's fourth quinquennial review conference and (ii) other occasions, since 1 January.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
We have discussed this subject on numerous occasions and at various levels.

§ Mr. Harry Barnes
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the implications for the membership of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty of the political union of North and South Yemen.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
In a letter of 19 May to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Foreign Ministers of the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen stated that, following the formation of the Republic of Yemen, all treaties and agreements concluded by either state, in accordance with international law, would remain in force.

Mr. Alan W. Williams
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the number and types of nuclear weapons and nuclear explosive devices cancelled or disamantled since 1970 as a result of multilateral or bilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations involving Britain with the United States of America or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
No British nuclear weapons have been the subject of such arms control agreements. But we are fully committed to the aim of enhancing security through agreements achieving a balance at lower levels of forces: NATO has unilaterally reduced its stockpile of nuclear weapons in Europe by 35 per cent. since 1979.