Washington: Noting that "range and
intensity" of nuclear proliferation challenges is alarming, US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said the Obama
administration is now engaged in diplomatic efforts to roll
back this development, but supported the use of nuclear power
for meeting the growing demand of energy world over.
"The range and intensity of current nuclear proliferation
challenges is alarming. The international community failed to
prevent North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. We are
now engaged in diplomatic efforts to roll back this
development," she said.
"Iran continues to ignore resolutions from the United
Nations Security Council demanding it suspend its enrichment
activities and live up to those international obligations,"
Clinton said in a major speech on nuclear non-proliferation.
Though thousands of nuclear weapons have been deactivated
or destroyed, she said vast stocks of potentially dangerous
nuclear materials remain vulnerable to theft or diversion.
"With growing global energy needs and the threat of
climate change, the demand for nuclear power is expanding. And
we do need to continue to facilitate the legitimate peaceful
use of nuclear energy," she said, adding the expansion has not
been accompanied by corresponding measures that could reduce
the risks of nuclear weapons proliferation.
"We also know that unless these trends are reversed soon,
we will find ourselves in a world with a steadily growing
number of nuclear-armed states and an increasing likelihood of
terrorists getting their hands on nuclear weapons," Clinton
said.
‘US would maintain its N-arsenal’
Even as the Obama
Administration has started pushing for the ambitious goal of
complete elimination of nuclear weapons, Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton today said the US would maintain its nuclear
deterrence.
In her major foreign policy speech on nuclear
non-proliferation, Clinton said the Administration believes
that the US must maintain a safe, secure and effective nuclear
arsenal to deter any adversary and guarantee the defence of
its allies and partners, while it pursues such a vision of
elimination of nuclear weapons.
"As the president has acknowledged, we might not
achieve the ambition of a world without nuclear weapons, in
our lifetime or successive life times. But we believe that
pursuing this vision will enhance our national security and
international stability," Clinton said in her speech at the US
Institute of Peace.
All countries, she said, have an obligation, to help
address the challenges posed by nuclear weapons, beginning
with the nuclear weapons states.
"As the permanent members of the security council and
the only nuclear weapons states recognized by the NPT, we all
have a responsibility to stop the erosion of the non-
proliferation regime and to address the current crisis of
compliance in which some countries apparently feel they can
violate their obligations and defy the Security Council with
impunity," Clinton said.
Bureau Report
