http://www.greenpeace.org/~comms/rw/testchr1.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)A chronology of opposition to France's intention to resume nuclear testing at Moruroa atoll since Jacques Chirac was elected President of France on May 7 until May 13 when he announced that that these test would take place.
May 7: Jacques Chirac is elected President of France
May 8: The South Pacific Forum, in a formal statement welcoming the election President Chirac, said France's relations with the region would be damaged if tests resumed. The New Zealand and Australian governments reiterate their opposition to a resumption of nuclear testing.
May 9: Denmark, on behalf of the five Nordic countries, issued a statement at the NPT Review and Extension Conference, calling for a continued moratorium:
"The negotiations on a comprehensive test-ban treaty should be concluded as soon as possible. Until that has been accomplished all nuclear-weapon States, including China, must refrain from nuclear testing." (NPT/CONF.1995/31)
A large number of countries at the NPT Conference, in statements to the floor, urge all nuclear weapon states to maintain their nuclear testing moratoria and agree a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1995 or 1996 at the latest.
May 12: Australia issues a formal statement welcoming the indefinite extension of the NPT and opposing French nuclear tests. Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said: "I repeat my appeal to the new French President to maintain the suspension of nuclear testing in the South Pacific..."
May 22: French Prime Minister Alain Juppe tells Parliament that France would soon be in a position to decide if it needed to resume nuclear weapons tests.
May 23: The Philippines President, Fidel Ramos, urges France to abandon any plans of resuming nuclear testing in the Pacific. He said in a statement the Philippines was deeply concerned with the issue of nuclear testing in the Pacific because of the environmental damage it caused and other hazards it posed to countries in the area. "The Philippines calls upon France to display the sense of global responsibility that it has shown on many other occasions, by not resuming nuclear testing in the Pacific," Ramos said.
June 6: France's Defence Minister Charles Millon welcomes a report by a military experts panel, headed by Admiral Lanxade, recommending a resumption of nuclear testing at Moruroa. The panel said up to ten tests would be 'politically palatable', and should occur as soon as possible.
June 6: Greenpeace announces in Paris that it is sending its ship the Rainbow Warrior to Moruroa.
June 7: The South Pacific Forum protests the suggestion that France will resume testing.
June 7: The Director of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, John Holum, said the US hoped France would not resume testing. "When the world is in the process of eliminating, dramatically reducing their nuclear weapons, no country really needs to be modernising and updating their nuclear capabilities."
June 7: The Fiji Government sends a diplomatic note to the French ambassador to Fiji protesting any resumption.
June 7: The Australian Federal Cabinet endorses a joint diplomatic offensive with New Zealand and other Pacific Island states to deter France from resuming. New Zealand's Prime Minister personally rebukes the French Ambassador to New Zealand over any resumption. The leader of the Labour opposition party calls for a suspension of joint military cooperation with France in the South Pacific.
June 7: The Foreign Affairs Minister of Chile announces that the Chilean Government will make an official protest to France about any resumption of nuclear testing and would work with other Latin American Governments to prevent further tests.
June 7: The secretariat of the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement, the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre, calls for an immediate suspension of France's South Pacific Forum Dialogue Partner status should French testing resume.
June 9: Germany's opposition Social Democrat Party (SPD) calls on France not to resume nuclear testing, saying it would be a slap in the face for those countries which had accepted indefinite extension of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
June 10: President Gaston Flosse of French Polynesia withdraws his long-time support for nuclear testing and says he opposes resumption of nuclear testing at Moruroa.
June 10: Chile, Ecuador and Peru, meeting at a session of the Association of American States, issued a statement urging France not to resume tests at Moruroa atoll. The General Secretariat of the Permanent Commission for the South Pacific representing Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru announces its opposition to further testing in the Pacific.
June 12: President Chirac presides over a meeting of the Conseil de Defense (Defence Council) during which a resumption of testing is agreed.
June 13: President Chirac announces France will resume testing at Moruroa atoll. Eight tests will take place between September 1995 and May 1996, he says, before France agrees to a comprehensive test ban treaty. The Socialist opposition oppose the decision.