Gareth Evans, Robert Hill, and Larissa Waters are among the Australian signatories of a statement calling on Trump to clarify that the US will not resume nuclear explosive testing.

Eighty eminent and expert members of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament ( APLN) have denounced President Trump’s threatened return to nuclear testing.

The group says resumed nuclear testing would threaten global stability and is urging the United States to clarify that it will not resume nuclear explosive testing.

In response to President Trump’s 30 October announcement, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has ordered his officials to draft proposals for a possible commencement of nuclear weapons tests.

Amongst the Australian signatories of the APLN group statement are former Australian Foreign Minister and APLN founder Gareth Evans, former Defence Minister Robert Hill and Australian Greens Leader Larissa Waters.

In the _Jakarta Post_, APLN’s current chair former Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa argues that a return to nuclear explosive testing by the US has the potential to open the doors for others to follow suit to “perfect” their nuclear arsenals. “This would be catastrophic not only for the Asia-Pacific but for the international community,” he writes.

The text of the APLN statement is reproduced in full below.  The current list of signatories is here.

APLN group statement

A return to nuclear testing threatens global stability

As members of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network, we are deeply concerned about President Trump’s announcement to resume nuclear testing and the ambiguity over whether the United States will proceed with nuclear explosive testing. This would be a dangerous departure from nearly three decades of global consensus against nuclear explosive testing, threatening the stability of the Asia-Pacific region and irrevocably damaging the global non-proliferation regime that has prevented nuclear use since 1945.

The Asia-Pacific region already faces complex territorial disputes, intractable conflicts and competition between major powers and nuclear-armed rivals. The Pacific region still bears the scars of nuclear weapons testing. Communities from the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, French Polynesia, and other Pacific territories still suffer from the devastating health and environmental consequences of Cold War tests. In South Australia, nuclear tests were conducted on Aboriginal lands, exposing communities to deadly radiation, contaminating ancestral lands and destroying sacred sites. In Northeast Asia, the Hibakusha – the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings – have lived with the catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons use for generations. President Trump’s decision ignores and dismisses this painful history and the voices of those who have survived. It also signals a willingness to sacrifice global security for narrow strategic calculations. We categorically reject this approach.

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) was a significant achievement in arms control, building on earlier limited restrictions on nuclear testing. While not yet in force, it is in operation at various levels, most notably through its global monitoring system. It has been signed by 187 countries with 178 ratifications. This near-universal support reflects a shared understanding that nuclear testing makes the world less safe, not more secure. It accelerates arms races and increases the risk of miscalculation. It is for this reason that an explosive nuclear testing moratorium has been internationally upheld since 1998, with one exception, the DPRK. No other state, whether it possesses nuclear weapons or not, has seen the resumption of nuclear testing as in its national or global security interest. While the DPRK is the lone holdout in this regard, its pro-testing stance has contributed to its global isolation.

Resuming nuclear testing introduces instability at a time when we need restraint and dialogue. It provides justification for nations considering their own nuclear weapons programs. It fractures the international consensus that has constrained nuclear competition for three decades.

We call on the US to clarify that it is not resuming nuclear explosive testing, and for all leaders to be circumspect in how they discuss nuclear weapons issues. We call on US allies and partners to make clear that they will not support, facilitate, or remain silent about any proposal to resume nuclear explosive testing. To other nuclear-armed states, we say this: reaffirm your commitment to the testing moratorium. The international community must speak with one voice: nuclear testing belongs in the past, not in our future.

The Asia-Pacific has witnessed the true costs of nuclear testing. We carry its burdens still. We will oppose any effort to normalise the testing and use of these weapons of indiscriminate destruction.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.