TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi urged countries to join efforts to promote nuclear disarmament. She made her call during her address at the Conference on Disarmament meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, February 27.

"Without decisive concrete action, a nuclear disaster is only a matter of time, and this risk is getting bigger as the major powers' rivalry intensifies," said the Foreign Minister.

Minister Retno said that nuclear disarmament efforts require political will. The main focus to be encouraged, she said, is legally binding Negative Security Assurances (NSA) that guarantees that nuclear weapon states will not use or threaten the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states.

This will incentivize nations that have complied with their obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and increase mutual trust between states that possess nuclear weapons and those that do not.

Retno also called on the UN to strengthen the architecture of nuclear dissarmament and non-proliferation, and facilitate compliance with nuclear weapon-free zones.

"As the Chair of ASEAN this year, Indonesia will continue to promote nuclear weapon-free zones in the Southeast Asian region," the Foreign Minister said. This will be done by seeking the signing of the Protocol on Nuclear Free Zones in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia and the Southeast Asian nations are facing challenges from direct tensions between the United States and China's as they compete for influence in the Indo-Pacific.

Nuclear concerns increased after Russia's invasion of Ukraine entered its second year, with no signs of ending soon.

Last week, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would suspend New START, the last nuclear-arms agreement between Moscow and the United States.

When visiting Poland last weekend, US President Joe Biden called Putin's decision irresponsible, while NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement days ago that the world is more in danger as Russia decides not to continue its nuclear treaty.

DANIEL A. FAJRI

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