TNAG-0539-FCO40-634-Strength-of-garrison-in-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 67

COMODENTIAL,

OTHER ARMS CONTROL AID DISARMAMENT AMERY CRECEREA

弘。 The United Kingdom, pledged to play a full pari n

Plict international efforts to reduce the risk of armed conflict,

to

achieve disarmament and to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons,

The Government

ia actively involved in multilateral discussions of apme

limitation and disarmament iseues in the Conference of tho

Committee on Disarmament in Geneva and elsewhere.

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 preparations for the Conference. We also intend to play

an active role at the Conference itself. A joint Anglo-Soviet

declaration on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons was

signed in Moscow on 17 February 1975, which should give further

impetus to multilateral efforts to strengthen and ensure the

effectiveness of the Treaty.

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

experts to the Conference of Government Experts held by the

International Committee of the Red Cross in Lucerne in September

and October 1974, to discuss weapons that may cause unnecessary

suffering or have indiscriminate effects. The Conference produced

a report for discussion at the Diplomatic Conference on Humanitarian

Law in Armed Conflict, at which the United Kingdom was also

represented. The Government has contributed constructively to

discussion in the United Nations on a number of disarmament issues.

II-15

CONFIDENTIAL

CONFIDENTIAL