Southeast Asia should remain nuclear-free, says PH top diplomat

FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said "nothing justifies" the use of nuclear weapons as he insisted that Southeast Asia should remain a nuclear-free region.

He stressed this amid the conduct of the 10th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in New York, United States which began on August 1.

"The Philippines affirms its commitment to this treaty and its goals to advance peace, security and development," Manalo said in a statement posted on Twitter Monday night.

He said the preservation of Southeast Asia "as a region free from nuclear weapons is of fundamental importance."

"The humanitarian consequences of use of nuclear weapons are too unimaginable to consider," the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) chief said.

"No nuclear weapons should ever be used and there is nothing that justifies their salience in the military and security doctrine of any nation," Manalo stressed.

He said the Philippines "attaches great significance to the enduring role of the Treaty in the 21st century, to keep nuclear weapon states firmly on the path of completely eliminating their stockpiles as well as to address the modernization of nuclear arsenals, enhance transparency and establish security dialogue mechanisms among relevant regional actors."

"We recognize that international arms control and disarmament instruments like the NPT are fundamental to a rules-based international order that sustains the security of nations and the conditions for our peoples to thrive in peace," he said.

"The Philippines upholds our inalienable right to use nuclear energy and nuclear-related technologies for peaceful purposes and in pursuit of our environmentally-conscious climate-change-resilient sustainable development," Manalo said.

Source: TheManila Times