Published:
10 Nov 2022 04:03 GMT
Washington believes the deal would increase “divisions” among world powers.
USA has urged Australia not to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that seeks to eliminate this class of weapons completely, arguing that the agreement would increase “divisions” between world powers and would not dispel the “security threats that prevail in the world” .
Speaking to The Guardian newspaper, the US Embassy in Canberra explained on Tuesday that Australia’s accession to the pact, which account already with 68 ratifications, “it would not allow extended US deterrence relations”, referring to the “nuclear umbrella” that supposes protecting other countries with the enormous atomic arsenal of the North American nation.
“Although the United States understands and shares the desire to promote nuclear disarmament goals, we do not support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” a spokesman for the diplomatic headquarters told the newspaper. In this regard, he added that Washington “does not believe that progress towards nuclear disarmament can be achieved” in the wake of the security threats the world is facing today.
This reaction occurred after the Australian Government announced at the UN a change of attitude regarding the aforementioned document and the Canberra representative chose to abstain in the vote on the ban after previous administrations had consistently voted against.
The treaty entered into force on January 22, 2021, after the ratification of the 50th State (Honduras), but none of the nuclear powers is part of it.
Unlike the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty, which contains only a few partial restrictions, the new document aims to create a legally binding ban on the use of nuclear energy for war purposes and even to deter possible aggression from other countries.
Australia and the US are allies in the trilateral AUKUS agreement, along with the UK, which provides for Washington to help Canberra with the technologies needed to equip itself with nuclear-powered submarines.
