TNAG-0537-FCO40-632-Strength-of-garrison-in-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 49

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elsewhere. The Government attaches major importance to the Treaty

on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to the Conference

which, in May 1975 in Geneva, will review the operation of the

Treaty. As a depositary power for the Treaty, the United Kingdom

is playing an active part in the detailed preparation for the

Conference, as well as in multilateral efforts to strengthen the

Treaty and its purposes.

36. The United Kingdom sent a team of legal, medical and military

experts to the Conference of Government Experts held by the Inter-

national Committee of the Red Cross in Lucerne in September and

October 1974, which discussed weapons that may cause unnecessary

suffering, or have indiscriminate effects. This Conference took

place in the light of decisions taken at the Diplomatic Conference

on Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflict, at which the United Kingdom

is also represented. The Government has contributed constructively

We have also

to discussion in the United Nations of a range of disarmament issues

including proposals for the establishment of Nuclear Free Zones

TOPZ - Arms Limitation in the Indian Ocean_7.

supported Studies of the possibilities of reducing military budgets.

37. Patience is needed in the pursuit of disarmament and arms

control measures; there are no easy short cuts. Complex (and often

sensitive) technical and political issues have to be resolved.

Achievement:

BW for completion when further developments

are known. 7

THE LAW OF THE SEA CONFERENCE

38. The United Nations Law of the Sea Conference, which opened

at Caracas in June 1974, 18 concerned with a number of issues of

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