UNITED NATIONS: At the 11th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday local time, China’s representative to the conference proposed amendments to relevant paragraphs of the draft outcome document, calling for a reaffirmation of the international consensus on nuclear disarmament and expressing concern over rhetoric advocating the pursuit of nuclear weapons by non-nuclear-weapon states.
The Chinese representative stated that China hopes the draft outcome document will reflect and reaffirm relevant principles aimed at upholding the international consensus on nuclear disarmament, according to the China Central Television (CCTV) News.
Given the vast differences among countries in the size of their nuclear arsenals, nuclear policies, and strategic security environments, nuclear disarmament must consistently follow the principles of maintaining global strategic stability and ensuring undiminished security for all countries, said the Chinese representative. At present, reducing the role of nuclear weapons in national security policies is an important and practical measure to lower the risk of nuclear war, CCTV reported.
China also stated that it supports pragmatic progress on nuclear disarmament based on previous consensus and suggested adding content calling on nuclear-weapon states to abandon permanently possessing nuclear weapons. At the same time, China supports proposals by the majority of countries to strengthen follow-up arrangements to the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and backs concrete measures to prevent nuclear war, per the report.
