GREENPEACE PROTEST CHINESE NUCLEAR TEST IN FRONT OF ISTANBUL MISSION

Istanbul, Turkey, August 19, 1995 - Some 30 Greenpeace and Turkish Anti-Nuclear Plattform activists today protested China's latest nuclear test in front of the country's diplomatic mission in Istanbul. They held a banner in English and Turkish calling for an end to all nuclear tests. Some activists chained themselves to the building while others sprayed nuclear signs on the street.

Among the activists are members of the Greenpeace ship "Altair", which arrived in Turkey last Wednesday to rally support against Chinese and French nuclear testing. The ship is on an anti-nuclear tour in the Mediterranean Sea.

China set off another nuclear test at the Lop Nor test site last Wednesday, two days after Greenpeace activists were detained for holding up an anti-nuclear testing banner in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. It was China's second nuclear test since the signing of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) last May.

"Greenpeace calls for international condemnation and protest against China's nuclear testing program. Nuclear testing threatens to halt the growing momentum towards a global test ban," said Berto Hullu of the Greenpeace Mediterranean Office in Istanbul. "What China is provoking with its nuclear weapons test is not only regional instability but international insecurity. China has added fuel to the fire of France's decision to resume testing."

France, China and other nuclear nations pledged to the international community at NPT talks last May to "exercise utmost restraint" on nuclear testing and to pursue a global test ban as speedily as possible. Shortly afterwards, France said it will resume nuclear testing in the Southern Pacific next September.

China has conducted 23 atmospheric tests and at least 19 underground, with three other seismic events suspected of being nuclear tests. The latest brings the figure 20 underground which makes a total of 43 nuclear tests. China has said it plans three or four more test this year.

China has used its nuclear tests since 1964 to develop the world's fourth largest nuclear weapons arsenal. It includes approximately 450 nuclear weapons, and an estimated 150 tactical (artillery shells and atomic demolition munitions). Together they have a cumulative yield of 250 megatons or around 16,000 Hiroshima bombs. China's current testing programme involves warheads for two new missile systems.

The Chinese test site at Lop Nor site, approximately 265 kilometres south-east of Urumqi in the Xinjian region (due west of Beijing, due north of Kathmandu), is home of the Uighur people. China has never allowed any form of independent or outside assessment of the environmental or health impacts of its nuclear testing programme. The Uighur are of Turkish origin.

The total amount of plutonium-239 released at Lop Nor is estimated at 3,300 curies, about 48 kilograms in weight. One millionth of a gram of plutonium-239, if inhaled, can cause cancer. A further two million curies of caesium-137 and 1.3 million curies of strontium-90 have also been released into the atmosphere.

The Greenpeace ship "Altair" began its tour against nuclear testing in Barcelona, Spain, on August 4, 1995. The tour will continue until mid-November, visiting Israel, Cyprus, Lebanon, Greece, Italy, Tunisia, France and Malta.

For further information please call: Berto Hullu, Mediterranean Office Campaigner in Turkey, 0090-542-2317249; or Fouad Hamdan, Mediterranean Office