Against nuclear testing by any nation
WE REFER to the letter from the French Consul-General, Laurent Aublin (South China Morning Post, June 23), which like the rather offensive reply he gave to the Sha Tin students, requires rebuttal.
To use Mr Aublin's words, 'Let's set the record straight': To say France violates no international convention may be true technically, but nuclear testing of any sort does violate all humanity's right to preserve our earth free of contaminants and weapons of awesome destructiveness let alone the particular damage and contamination against a Pacific atoll.
As for France's limits; any nuclear testing is abhorrent whether it be one or eight tests. And one year of testing is a long time in nuclear terms, when one considers the power such weapons unleash, no matter how or where they are exploded on our planet.
As far as providing the wherewithal to allow future tests to be carried out by simulation, this too is bunkum.
The US and nuclear scientists point out that the technology already exists to carry out all such development by simulation.
The French are an intelligent race who have belonged to the exclusive nuclear club (albeit in the exclusive and arrogant 'Force de Frappe' form) long enough to know how to do this now.
The fact that Laurent Aublin's letter states quite clearly that France will sign the 1996 comprehensive test ban treaty, makes it clear that France knows nuclear testing is wrong and dangerous.
Surely this admission makes any argument aimed at justifying the present tests utterly fatuous.
To say that the Pacific is a less populated area is also fatuous.
To affect 1,000 people makes no difference - it's wrong.
Even by mentioning the need to go to a less populated area surely admits to risk. And Laurent Aublin goes on to compound this admission by saying the effects on the environment will be reduced to nothing. Surely if this was the case, then such 'harmless' explosions could be carried out in France, perhaps in the defunct underground Maginot Line tunnels. We are all against the Chinese tests just as we are the French, and just as we would be if anyone else, including the US were to carry out such acts of stupidity.
We know just as he does that even the people of France are against such tests. We know too how trustworthy French politicians are - these are the people who sanctioned the Rainbow Warrior bombing in New Zealand, and then allowed two pawns, Dominique Prieur and Alain Marfart, to carry the can for them.
We are sorry that poor Laurent Aublin has to carry the can for the French politicians in this case.
RACHEL LIU JULIA DAVEY New Territories MANY thanks to Lai See, July 11, for drawing our attention to that recent French naval victory involving the Rainbow Warrior. I suspect their first is closer to 200 years rather than Lai See's estimate of 100 years.
The bungled, accident-prone construction at Daya Bay is, I believe, a tried and tested French design built under French supervision with French expertise. If this is an example of its nuclear industry, what weight can be placed on French assurances that planned nuclear tests are perfectly safe? The pathetic attempt to justify his country's stance made by the French Consul-General made mention of the French belief in a nuclear deterrent and the fact that the French have twice been overrun in recent history. Are they going to bomb Germany? Congratulations to the Greenpeace personnel who have successfully stormed the test tower on Mururoa.
ALLISON GRANT Kowloon I REFER to the Lai See column of July 14.
No matter what one's view of the French Government's decision to resume nuclear testing in the Pacific, Lai See showed extremely poor taste by running a column devoted exclusively to insulting the French people on their national day.
ANDREA MIA SURNO GUILE Mid-Levels
