MEDIA RELEASE  18 MARCH, 2002 Pacific leaders must speak out against US tests: PCRC Pacific island countries must speak out against the US for using the Pacific as a testing ground to test their missile defence system, the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC) said today.  PCRC said the US and other world powers had consistently abused the Pacific Ocean for military experiments which have never helped the Pacific Islands but put them at more risk of being caught in a military conflict, or be at the centre of a catastrophic accident. "If Pacific Island countries do not speak out or protest against this testing now, we will continue to be subjected to more dangerous tests such as those that irradiated Bikini Islanders in 1954. To the US, the Pacific Ocean is just a vast playground, not something to be treated sustainably or with respect," PCRC stated. Pacific leaders must discuss the continuing tests at the next Pacific Island Forum meeting in Suva in August, PCRC urged, because the issue is relevant towards the security and sustainable growth of the region, as well as global security as a whole. Another $100 million was wasted over the weekend with the US missile defence test over the central Pacific Ocean. PCRC said the test was a fundamentally flawed experiment, conducted at the expense of international relations and justice in the Pacific. On Saturday (FST), a prototype interceptor was launched from the Ronald Reagan Missile Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and intercepted a modified Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile target vehicle launched 20 minutes earlier from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Two of the six tests have failed, despite being conducted in highly controlled, artificial conditions.  PCRC said although the latest test was deemed a "success" by the US, it failed to address the full range of countermeasures or decoys that an enemy would use to try to outwit an antimissile weapon. Crews firing the interceptor missiles from Kwajalein Atoll had knowledge of the launch, origin and power of the target missile (none of which would be available during a real attack).  Despite the controversy and failures, missile defence has recently received a US$2.5 billion increase (bringing the total up to $7.8 billion this financial year) - money that would be far better spent on health, education and alleviating poverty. For further information contact Stanley Simpson ssimpson@pcrc.org.fj  or Hannah Harborow hharborow@pcrc.org.fj at PCRC on Phone: +679 304 649.
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