Howard fuels regional instability with uranium

Howard fuels regional instability with prevarication on uranium: Greens

Prime Minister John Howard is fuelling regional instability by leaving open the prospect of Australia selling uranium to India, Australian Greens energy spokesperson Senator Christine Milne said today.

"China and India are not only major players in the global economy, they both are nuclear powers. Both have civilian nuclear power stations and both have weapons programs," Senator Milne said in Hobart.

"Whilst China is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT), India and Pakistan remain outside it. Tension is ever present in the region and the geopolitical situation is finely balanced.

"US President George Bush riding roughshod over the NPT is bad enough, but Prime Minister Howard blundering in the region will only increase those tensions.

"Mr Howard's deliberate attempt to cast doubt on Australia's position is a disgrace, especially since he tries to cast himself as a stalwart of regional security.

"It is not good enough for the Prime Minister to flip-flop on the NPT. We do not want a repeat of the GST and we will not tolerate a softening up exercise as is being cynically carried out in India.

"Those that remember the Cold War never again want to live in fear of nuclear war and Prime Minister Howard should take note of that."

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