USA to withdraw from open skies treaty – Burning Issues – Free PDF

PREVIOUS SUCH MOVES

•  Trump announced in October 2018 that America would withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia to enable America to counter increasing Chinese intermediate nuclear missile capabilities in the Pacific.
•  The administration ended U.S. involvement in the UN Arms Trade Treaty to curb the international trade of conventional arms with countries having poor human rights records.

THE OPEN SKIES TREATY

•  Signed March 24, 1992, the Open Skies Treaty permits each stateparty to conduct short-notice, unarmed, reconnaissance flights over the others’ entire territories to collect data on military forces and activities.
• Observation aircraft used to fly the missions must be equipped with sensors that enable the observing party to identify significant military equipment, such as artillery, fighter aircraft, and armored combat vehicles. Though satellites can provide the same, and even more detailed, information, not all of the 34 treaty states-parties1 have such capabilities. The treaty is also aimed at building confidence and familiarity among states-parties through their participation in the overflights.

MEMBERS

• The 34 state parties to the Open Skies Treaty are: Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark (including Greenland), Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

TREATY ON OPEN SKIES – ORIGIN

•  The concept of “mutual aerial observation” was initially proposed to Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin at the Geneva Conference of 1955 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower; however, the Soviets promptly rejected the concept and it lay dormant for several years.

WHY U.S ABANDONING TREATY?

•  U.S official reason –
• There have been some problems in recent years, and the US contends that Russia has been preventing access to some areas.

CHINA FACTOR

• Although U.S does not admit it officially, many defence analysis in the U.S have stated that since China is not part of this treaty, U.S sees no point in revealing its ground battle preparations to Russia (an ally of China)

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