China's Disarmament Ambassador at UN First Committee: Nuclear Weapons Must Not Be Used and Nuclear War Must Not Be Fought; Beijing Rejects Distortion of Its Nuclear Policy
United Nations — China's Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs, Li Chijiang, delivered a thematic statement on nuclear issues to the First Committee of the UN General Assembly on October 16 and, on the same day, a statement in exercise of the right of reply on the same subject, Xinhua reported on October 17.
In his thematic statement, Li said the global security situation had grown more complex and severe over the past year, confrontation within multilateral nuclear arms-control mechanisms had intensified further, and international concern over a nuclear arms race and nuclear war had generally risen. He said the Cold War mentality is the biggest source of the deterioration of the international strategic security environment, double standards are the biggest challenge to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, and unilateralism is the biggest obstacle to global governance in the nuclear field. The international community should uphold a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable vision of security and work together to address risks and challenges in the nuclear field, he said.
Li stressed that nuclear weapons must not be used and a nuclear war must not be fought. Nuclear-weapon states concerned should abandon nuclear deterrence policies based on winning a nuclear war and on first use of nuclear weapons, and negotiate and conclude at an early date a treaty on mutual no-first-use of nuclear weapons and an international legal instrument on negative security assurances, he said. The countries concerned should stop deploying global missile defence systems, stop deploying strategic offensive and defensive weapons close to other nuclear-weapon states, and stop advancing nuclear-test preparations and the development of nuclear weapons for actual combat, he said. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) remains the cornerstone of the international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime and a key pillar of the post-war international security order, he said, adding that the international consensus against nuclear testing must not be challenged and that moratorium commitments on nuclear testing should be honoured. All nuclear-weapon states should publicly commit to not seeking to possess nuclear weapons forever and should advance nuclear disarmament step by step; the states with the largest nuclear arsenals should earnestly fulfil their special and priority responsibility for nuclear disarmament and further reduce their arsenals substantially and substantively, he said.
Li also said efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation should not harm developing countries' right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and that peaceful use must not serve as a pretext for proliferation. A certain non-nuclear-weapon state is stockpiling large quantities of plutonium with no credible civilian use, pushing to revise the "three non-nuclear principles" and openly advocating acquiring nuclear weapons of its own, which the international community must guard against and strictly control, he said. China's position of advocating the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons is unwavering, its adherence to the no-first-use policy has been consistent, and its efforts to safeguard global strategic security and stability have never stopped, he said. China will continue to act on the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative, practise true multilateralism, and work with all parties to advance the international nuclear arms-control process, improve global governance in the nuclear field and build a community with a shared future for humanity, he said.
In his right-of-reply statement, Li said China firmly opposes erroneous statements by certain countries that distort and smear China's nuclear policy and its national defence development. China has always adopted an extremely prudent and responsible attitude on the nuclear weapons issue, he said. From the first day it possessed nuclear weapons, China has advocated the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, has committed to not being the first to use nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances, has unconditionally committed not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free zones, and has always kept its nuclear forces at the minimum level required for national security. China's nuclear forces are not on the same order of magnitude as those of the United States and Russia, and it is unfair, unreasonable and infeasible at this stage to demand that China join so-called trilateral nuclear disarmament talks among China, the United States and Russia, he said.
Li said China's no-first-use policy is highly responsible and highly stable, is a pragmatic measure for fulfilling NPT obligations, reducing the role of nuclear weapons in national security policy and lowering strategic risks, and is widely welcomed by the international community. This policy has not changed and will not change, he said. Nuclear transparency should help enhance strategic mutual trust, should fully take into account each country's security environment and security interests, and should be implemented voluntarily in light of national conditions; there is no universally applicable template, he said. Parties should view objectively the differences among nuclear-weapon states in nuclear forces, nuclear policies and security environments, and respect each country's legitimate and reasonable security concerns on nuclear transparency. In the current international security situation, transparency of intentions and policies carries the most practical significance, he said. China firmly follows a path of peaceful development and pursues a nuclear strategy of self-defence; it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons, which is the most practically significant transparency measure, he said.
Li said that "nuclear umbrella" and "nuclear alliance" states claim to support nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation while in reality continually increasing their reliance on nuclear weapons and raising the risk of nuclear war. NATO's "nuclear sharing" and "extended deterrence" are discriminatory arrangements creating inequality among non-nuclear-weapon states, are themselves continuing acts of nuclear proliferation, and violate the purposes and objectives of the NPT, he said. China once again urges the countries concerned to stop spreading false narratives, stop undermining the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, and stop upgrading "nuclear alliances" and creating obstacles to nuclear disarmament, he said.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：纽约联合国总部大会堂资料照片。照片：Wikimedia Commons。File photo: the General Assembly Hall at UN Headquarters in New York. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
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