As global powers vie for influence in Southeast Asia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is renewing its push towards nuclear disarmament.

The ASEAN has long urged China, the US, the UK, Russia, and France to sign the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (SEANWFZ) accords. Adopted by ASEAN in 1995, the SEANWFZ (also known as the Bangkok treaty) aims to keep the region free of "nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction" while allowing for civilian use of nuclear energy.

Following the ASEAN Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur last week, the bloc's current chair Malaysia urged nuclear powers to "recognize the need to completely eliminate nuclear weapons."

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Beijing has already confirmed it will endorse SEANWFZ, according to Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan.

"China made a commitment to ensure that they will sign the treaty without reservation," Hasan told reporters on the sidelines of an ASEAN diplomatic event last week.

Hasan also indicated that Russia, which owns the world's largest nuclear arsenal, will sign the........

© Deutsche Welle