The United States has proposed that a U.N. treaty to ban chemical weapons ease tough inspection rules, barring them at some sites and limiting access at others, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The new proposal, presented to the 39-nation conference drafting the agreement in Geneva last month, reverses an earlier insistence that inspections be open and immediate.The Times said the retreat was based on fears by Washington that other countries might use the blanket provision to pry into sensitive military intelligence under the guise of looking for stocks of chemical weapons.
Though the treaty is limited to the ban of chemical weapons, the United States is worried countries could insist on visiting plants and laboratories developing the stealth fighter technology or other secure sites.