A More Exclusive Club

After nearly four years of painfully deliberate negotiations in Geneva, the U.S. and Russia last week finally produced a draft treaty banning the proliferation of atomic weapons. It was a rare diplomatic milestone. Under terms of the treaty, non-nuclear nations can neither become atomic powers nor pursue the uses of atomic energy except for carefully limited, precisely controlled and expressly pacific purposes. The flaw in the treaty, of course, is that it binds only those who sign it--which almost certainly excludes France and Red China, already nuclear powers, and perhaps a few other potential nuclear powers.

Defense Assurances. Still, the treaty goes far to limit proliferation. It pledges nuclear powers not to give nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices to non-nuclear countries, not to give them control over such weapons nor even to encourage them to make their own. Non-nuclear signers will be pledged, in turn, not to receive nuclear weapons, manufacture them or take control of them. The treaty, which is the product of the 17-nation Disarmament Committee, names as the major policing organization the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, which will work out inspection agreements with the treaty signers.

The treaty permits the three nuclear-power members of the disarmament committee--the U.S., Russia and Britain--to continue their own development of nuclear power for whatever use, looking forward to the eventual possibility of disarmament. It binds them, however, to insure that peaceful benefits deriving from their nuclear programs will be passed on to non-nuclear countries that sign the treaty. To safeguard non-nuclear signers against nonsigners who have nuclear power or aspire to it, the treaty provides defense assurances. Under it, any non-nuclear member that feels itself threatened can notify the U.N. Security Council and, at the same time, request immediate help from either the U.S. or Russia.

Private Complaints. Some non-nuclear nations are not very happy about the treaty. At last week's 380th and final meeting in Geneva, nine of the disarmament committee's 17 participating nations expressed reservations about the draft. Brazil wants the freedom to use nuclear explosions for digging canals and developing its interior. Italy demands more specific details on what constitutes "peaceful" research, and India simply wants stronger defense guarantees against China. West Germany, not a member of the commission, is upset because it feels that the treaty will interfere with its peaceful nuclear industry. Other non-nuclear member nations privately complain that the draft gives them little or nothing, and only keeps them in a second-class position convenient for the big powers.

The debate will carry over to a special session of the U.N. Security Council, scheduled to convene April 24. There, the combined power of the U.S. and Russia is almost certain to over come objections and win majority approval for the treaty. Hopefully, the same combined power will persuade scores of non-nuclear nations to sign on the dotted line, and thus give life to the final treaty.

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