§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those countries which intelligence indicates may be in possession of weapons of mass destruction. [93101]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienUnder exemption 1(a) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, it is not generally our policy to publish intelligence information.
However, under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom are legally entitled to possess nuclear weapons.
Additionally, India and Pakistan have tested nuclear devices. We continue to urge Israel to resolve international concerns about its nuclear status by acceding to the NPT as a non-nuclear weapons state. We also know that Iraq has significant biological and chemical weapons capabilities and, were UN sanctions to be lifted, we believe it could develop a nuclear weapon within five years. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has admitted to US officials that it has been pursuing a programme for the enrichment of uranium. We believe that they have the capability to use this material to manufacture nuclear weapons. We also believe that they have previously diverted sufficient such material to manufacture at least one nuclear weapon.
There are four States Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention (the US, Russia, India and one other State Party) that have declared possession of chemical weapons. They are currently in the process of destroying them in accordance with their obligations under the Treaty.
In the past there have been public statements of concern about reports that Iran, Libya and Syria pursuing programmes to develop WMD and the means for their delivery.