(PACNEWS)—Pacific civil society organizations have condemned any plans by the United States administration to resume nuclear weapons testing.
This follows reports that the Trump administration has decided to conduct nuclear tests for the first time since 1992.
This move would break the internationally accepted moratorium and risk escalation of a new nuclear arms race.
The Pacific collective warned that renewed nuclear testing and ongoing threats by nuclear armed states posed grave dangers to global peace, security, and the survival of Pacific peoples.
Some Pacific communities in Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, and Maohi Nui (French Polynesia) continue to live with the ongoing consequences of past nuclear testing.
“For the Pacific, this announcement and other signals from nuclear-armed states are not just an abstract geopolitical debate,’’ the collective said in a statement.
“They represent a direct and existential threat that recalls the devastating legacy of the Cold War, when the United States, United Kingdom, and France used the region as a testing ground for over 315 nuclear weapons. These countries continue to deny, minimalize and avoid accountability for their past crimes and how they have fundamentally changed the environment and health of Pacific communities, including future generations.’’
The group said it was time for the United States to demonstrate its commitment to the Pacific Zone of Peace by joining island states who have ratified the Treaty of Prohibition for Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
“It’s time for political diplomacy not nuclearization,’’ the statement said.
Pacific civil society groups have also strongly condemned Japan’s ongoing release of treated nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
The nuclear waste dumping began in August 2023.
