JAKARTA -- Chinese leader Xi Jinping said Monday that Beijing was ready to sign a Southeast Asia nuclear weapon-free treaty, in an apparent response to the new AUKUS defense pact between Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.
The Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, otherwise known as the Bangkok Treaty, was signed in 1995 by the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The treaty stipulates that its signatories cannot "develop, manufacture or otherwise acquire, possess or have control over nuclear weapons," "station or transport nuclear weapons by any means," or "test or use nuclear weapons."
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