HL Deb 23 January 1995 vol 560 cc63-5WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether former members of the Warsaw Pact, which are signatories of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and are now associated with NATO through "Partnerships for Peace", are now recipients of the security guarantees which hitherto were extended by the NPT signatories only to non-nuclear signatories of that treaty not allied to a nuclear power.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

The United Kingdom's Positive and Negative Security Assurances, announced in 1968 and 1978, have always been applied to non-nuclear weapons States Parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or States Parties to other internationally binding commitments not to manufacture or acquire nuclear explosive devices. Under the Negative Security Assurance the United Kingdom undertakes not to use nuclear weapons against such states except in the case of an attack on the United Kingdom, its dependent territories, its armed forces or its Allies by such a state in association or alliance with a nuclear weapon state. This has not changed.

Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether, in the run-up to the Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the attention of the signatories to the Treaty has been drawn to: the absence of Israel from their number; the undenied reports of Israel's substantial nuclear stockpile; and the provision to Israel by one of the treaty's signatories of massive financial, technical, intelligence, and military assistance, including nuclear-capable aircraft.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

We, and other states parties, have been concerned for some time about reports that Israel has a nuclear weapons programme. We continue to urge Israel to allay suspicions categorically by acceding to the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear-weapon state and concluding a full-scope safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they consider that the nuclear-capable exercises (such as "Team Spirit") that have been conducted by the USA and its allies in the neighbourhood of the Korean Peninsula have been compatible with the security assurances extended to North Korea when it adhered to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and whether similar nuclear-capable exercises by Russia in the neighbourhood of the Ukraine would be compatible with the written security assurances that the US, Russia and the UK are now extending to Ukraine and other new signatories of the treaty.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

It is for the recipients of security assurances to decide whether, in their view, a threat has arisen incompatible with those assurances. North Korea has not approached us on this matter. It would be open to Ukraine to raise any concerns with us if ever they judged it necessary.

Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Answer of Baroness Chalker of Wallasey (HL Deb., 8 December 1994, Col. WA99), whether Ukraine has adhered to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a weapon state or as a non-weapon state; and, if the latter, whether it still claims ownership of the weapons which remain on its territory or of the materials of which they are made.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

Ukraine has acceded to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a non-nuclear weapons state. The law passed by the Ukrainian Parliament (Rada) paving the way for the country's accession to the NPT included a proviso referring to its claim to ownership of the nuclear weapons on its territory. This was made against the background of Ukraine's claim to receive compensation for the dismantlement of the weapons. Ukraine had agreed in January 1994 that the weapons on its territory should be removed to Russia and dismantled.