THE HAGUE -- While rarely identifying Russia and the United States by name, members of the Chemical Weapons Convention made it clear this week they expect the two countries to finish destroying their chemical arsenals as required by the treaty in the next four years (see GSN, Dec. 11, 2006).
The matter of weapons destruction deadlines came up in every statement by delegates gathered here for two weeks to discuss the operations and challenges to the treaty.
"We firmly believe that it is imperative for the major possessor states parties to strictly comply with the final deadline for the destruction of their chemical weapons, to uphold the credibility and integrity of the convention," Cuban diplomat Jose Diaz Duque, speaking on behalf of the nonaligned states and China, said yesterday during the first day of the treaty's second review conference.
Nearly 40 percent of known chemical weapons worldwide have been eliminated, accompanied by the conversion or destruction of 65 production facilities. Albania last year became the first nation to fully destroy its stockpile, a small arsenal of 16 tons of mustard agent.
However, the remaining declared owners of chemical arsenals -- India, Libya, Russia, the United States and an unidentified nation widely assumed to be South Korea -- were unable to meet the treaty's original destruction deadline of April 2007 and received extensions of up to five years.
Doubts persist regarding Washington and Moscow's abilities to eliminate their respective, world's-largest stockpiles of roughly 28,000 and 40,000 metric tons of chemical warfare agents by April 29, 2012.
The United States has destroyed more than half of its stockpile, despite technical, legal and environmental challenges and significant fluctuations in funding for some disposal projects (see GSN, June 21, 2007). After a late start, Russia has destroyed about one-fourth of its weapons.
"The large size of the remaining stockpiles makes it very difficult to say with any certainty that they will be able to complete destruction in the ever shorter time available to them under the terms of the convention. Yet both countries remain fully committed to the convention," said Rogelio Pfirter, director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the treaty's verification body.
"The two countries concerned need to assure the timely commission of all necessary destruction sites and the timely allocation of necessary resources," he added in his opening statement to the conference.
U.S. Ambassador Eric Javits today acknowledged concerns about the rate of weapons destruction while avoiding specific mention of estimates that work in the United States might continue through 2023. "The commitment of the United States to disarmament is clear, and the resources we have devoted to this complex, difficult task are enormous," he told the conference.
Russian delegate Victor Kholstov reaffirmed his government's stand that it will meet the deadline. Work has been completed at the disposal site at Gorny, he said, while operations are under way at two sites and two more are expected to open this year, he said.
"The president of the Russian Federation considers the fulfillment of our obligations under the convention to be one of our highest international priorities," he said. "Russia rules out the possibility of not complying with the conventional deadlines for the destruction of its CW stockpile."
Delegates' statements largely emphasized the importance of the destruction schedules rather than the ramifications of schedule violations. This appeared to be in line with Pfirter's argument that it was too early to discuss responses to missed deadlines.
Iran proved the exception, though it did not specifically call out its longtime foe the United States.
"Failure to meet this deadline is a clear and serious case of noncompliance with the basic obligations of the states parties," according to Iran's statement. "It would also raise the concern that domestic policies might have resulted in [retention of] security reserves."
China and JapanChinese delegate Cheng Jingye today expressed concern about the lack of progress in the recovery and destruction of hundreds of thousands of chemical weapons abandoned by the Japanese military at the end of World War II. The deadline for that project is also April 2012.
There has been moderate progress in excavating the weapons and in preparing for destruction, Cheng said.
"However not one piece of Japanese [abandoned chemical weapons] has been destroyed so far," he said. "China urges Japan to faithfully fulfill its obligations under the convention to increase its input, so as to bring about an early start and timely completion of the destruction process."
Japanese Ambassador Minoru Shibuya said his government plans to accept bids for production of mobile facilities that would be used to destroy 44,000 abandoned weapons recovered to date around China. Talks are also under way regarding groundbreaking for the weapons destruction facility to be deployed at Haerbaling, where most of the Japanese weapons remain buried (see GSN, April 9, 2007).