With the participation of representatives from over 50 countries, the Nuclear Security Summit 2016 reaffirmed its commitment at the highest levels to securing nuclear materials and fighting nuclear terrorism. This aims to establish nuclear security architecture at global level.
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The Nuclear Security Summit 2016 (photo: VNA) |
1. Initiative and initial results
The Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) was initiated by US President Obama after he took office in 2009. This has been the largest forum on global nuclear security since the UN’s establishment (1945), aiming at seeking international cooperation in nuclear disarmament, controlling and preventing proliferation of nuclear materials. Under the theme: “peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”, since 2010, four NSSs have been held. The NSS 2016 is the last one of a series of summits for controlling fissile materials, namely highly enriched uranium (HEU) and plutonium. According to international experts, though NSS was the U.S. initiative, its purposes are not totally the same as those of the NSS. In fact, the U.S. aims are to deter and knock out its rivals who purposely challenge its unique position in the world. However, as nuclear security and threats have become a global matter, this initiative has drawn attention of many countries and international community. It was clearly reflected in the first Summit held in April 2010 which 47 countries and 3 organizations participated. In the second Summit held in March 2012, a part from leaders of 53 countries, there were representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the European Union (EU), the UN, and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL). Moreover, there have been new developments in contents of these summits. The first Summit affirmed commitments of each country and the international community to fighting nuclear terrorism, strengthening international cooperation in securing all vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide, and non-influence of nuclear security activities to the rights of states that use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The third Summit focused on issues, namely nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, strengthening nuclear security, minimizing the risk of nuclear terrorism and stressing the necessity for further encouraging cooperation in nuclear security. The NSS has brought about hundreds of commitments. 12 countries have completely stopped using HEU. Dozens of nuclear materials facilities worldwide have improved their security system. This is a considerable effort of the international community to seek measures to control the use of nuclear materials and maintain international security.
2. Strong commitments
International analysts believed that the world has seen rapid and complicated changes. Together with the rising role of many countries in a multi-pole world, the international community has witnessed the expansion of terrorism, especially the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) in the Middle East and potentially in the whole world. It is likely that IS will make radioactive “dirty bombs” and cause radioactive contamination on large scale causing serious consequences for economies and people’s health. The U.S. estimated that there exist about 2,000 tons of nuclear materials worldwide. It takes only 25 kilograms of HEU to make an atomic bomb, and it is even much simpler to make a radioactive “dirty bomb”. According to IAEA statistics, over the past 20 years, there have been 2,800 cases of nuclear materials smuggling, theft, and loss. That is why nuclear terrorism has become the most serious threat to the world security.
Thus, in this Summit, most of the participating countries, particularly nuclear powers, such as the U.S., France, China, affirmed their commitment to strengthening nuclear security, nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism, and the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. French President Hollande pledged that Paris would adopt any measures to ensure nuclear security for its nuclear power plants and nuclear materials. Leaders of Japan, South Korea and Norway also expressed their cooperative commitments on taking measures for a non-nuclear weapon world. The U.S. – the only country ever used nuclear weapons – reaffirmed its commitment to taking the leading role in nuclear weapon disarmament, and proposed measures to strengthen cyber security for European nuclear power centres. Notably, the U.S. and China released a 10-point Joint Statement on Nuclear Security Cooperation. One of which is to strengthen international peace and stability through reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism and enhancing cooperation in nuclear security.
As an active and responsible member of the international community, Vietnam took part in the Summit to affirm its awareness of nuclear threats, particularly acts of nuclear terrorism worldwide. It also took this occasion to express its consistence in non-proliferation and disarmament of weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons, strongly condemn the use of nuclear energy to threaten peace and stability of the region and the world, back up and call for cooperation among countries to more effectively prevent and combat nuclear terrorism in accordance with international law and each country’s law. Therefore, the NSS 2016 was considered a summit of commitments at highest level to strengthening nuclear and nuclear materials security, and fighting nuclear terrorism globally.
Besides, the Summit also discussed 5 action plans made by international organizations and initiatives relating to nuclear security, such as IAEA, the UN, INTERPOL, the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) and Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction (Global Partnership). In this regard, each action plan would set out goals for member states of international initiatives to pursue. In the Summit, the GICNT was considered an effective mechanism to disseminate important messages of other nuclear security organizations as it has a large number of member states (86 ones). Accordingly, this Plan could promote information sharing and exchange, support countries in nuclear research, and provide techniques and skills to handle nuclear crisis. The international community expects that all the things mentioned above will promote the formation of global nuclear security architecture.
3. Challenges
According to nuclear experts, since the first NSS (2010), in spite of the fact that a number of positive results have been recorded, effort to prevent and fight nuclear threat in many countries has been weakened. There exist a series of holes in security cooperation among nuclear facilities worldwide. James Lewis, an expert at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), believes that one of the most effective measures against nuclear terrorism is close “international cooperation and assignment”. However, even in this important Summit, there were no representatives from nuclear powers, such as Russia, Iran, North Korea and Belarus. Meanwhile, issues on fundamental structure of an international nuclear security system have not been solved thoroughly. Holes in nuclear security have really existed in international administration frameworks, such as information sharing, system of browsers and procedures for setting performance standards. Moreover, doubt among countries, particularly nuclear powers, also caused huge effect on cooperation in this field.
Besides, to some extent, awareness of nuclear security and cooperation within the framework of periodic international conferences, even the 4th Summit have been affected by political considerations of the U.S. – the world’s largest nuclear power. At present, the world nuclear situation is more challenging than ever due to more countries’ possessing nuclear weapons and the expansion of terrorism. If it still exists in a multi-pole world, it is impossible to solve the issue of nuclear security globally. Thus, it is thought that in order to create international stability, minimize the threat of nuclear terrorism and strengthen global nuclear security, it is necessary to build an inclusive, appropriate and robust mechanism which is effective enough to deal with global issues and in accordance with international norms. It could be led by real experience to optimize the common interests of all countries, and not be influenced by any particular country. This might be a prerequisite to build a global nuclear security architecture, meeting the goal of maintaining security and peace of a world without nuclear weapons.
Assoc Prof, Dr. Dong Xuan Tho