 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
Statement by Ambassador Hu Xiaodi of the Chinese Delegation at the Concluding Meeting of the Sixth NPT review conference
Permanent Mission of the PRC to the UN Office at Geneva
20 May, 2000, New York
Mr. President,
First of all, I would like to, on behalf of the Chinese
Delegation, express our heartfelt gratitude and
appreciation to you for your unremitting efforts to make
this Review Conference a fruitful one. Thanks to your
wisdom and leadership, this Conference has gained some
achievements. The Chinese delegation sincerely
congratulates you. At the same time, I also want to
thank the Chairmen of all Main Committees and two
subsidiary bodies for their tireless work and
dedication.
Mr. President,
This review conference as a whole is successful. States
parties conducted a comprehensive and profound review on
the implementation of the Treaty, and on the decisions
and the Middle East resolution adopted in 1995. In spite
of the different views held by States parties, agreement
has been achieved on many issues; consensus has been
reached on the need to preserve the effectiveness and
universality of the Treaty. It reflects the common
desire of States parties to safeguard the Treaty and to
promote the three principal objectives of the Treaty.
Mr. President,
Motivated by the sincere wish to preserve the
international nuclear non-proliferation regime and
ensure a positive outcome of the Conference, the Chinese
Delegation has actively participated in the work of the
Review Conference. As a result of the difficult
consultations that involved all parties, the Conference
has a final document now. We agreed to the adoption of
the document. At the same time, we are of the view that
the Conference also reflects differences far apart on
some important issues. The Final Document is flawed with
certain shortcomings.
First and for most, the final document has failed to
fully reflect the current international situation, nor
does it call for the removal of fundamental obstacles to
nuclear disarmament. Over the recent years, military
factors have increased in international relations,
military blocs have been expanded and strengthened.
Armed aggression and gross interference in the internal
affairs of other countries still take place. The
national missile defense project could sabotage the
global strategic stability, and put the ABM treaty under
great challenge, The danger of weaponization in outer
space is increasing. All these are the fundamental
reasons that have impeded nuclear disarmament process
and undermined the efforts preventing nuclear weapon
proliferation.
Second, the final document has omitted or failed to
place enough stress on some necessary principles and
measures in the field of nuclear disarmament, such as:
----The nuclear-weapon states with the biggest
stockpiles should undertake special responsibility for
nuclear disarmament and take the lead in reducing their
nuclear arsenals and delivery systems;
---- The nuclear-weapon states should abandon the policy
of nuclear deterrence based on "first use of nuclear
weapons";
----All the nuclear-weapon states should commit
themselves unconditionally not to use or threaten to use
nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or
nuclear-weapon-free zones;
----States with nuclear weapons deployed outside their
borders should withdraw all these weapons home;
---- Abolishment of "nuclear umbrella" and "nuclear
sharing" policies and practices.
The Chinese Delegation believes that above-mentioned
principles and measures are prerequisite to promoting
nuclear disarmament and the nuclear non-proliferation
process, and should be achieved through tireless efforts
instead of being neglected.
Mr. President,
To put on the record, the Chinese delegation wants to
make our position clear concerning some issues contained
in the Final Document:
On the FMCT issue, our position is that a Fissile
Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) should be conducive to
nuclear weapon non-proliferation and the promotion of
nuclear disarmament. For that reason, China supports
negotiating and concluding an FMCT. Meanwhile, facing
the clear and present danger of the "missile defense"
program and weaponization in outer space, we believe
that the prevention of an arms race in outer space is
more urgent than the negotiation of FMCT. Therefore, the
Conference on Disarmament in Geneva at least should deal
with three major issues, namely, PAROS, nuclear
disarmament and FMCT in a balanced and comprehensive
way. Concerning the time frame of the conclusion of
FMCT, our delegation supports an early conclusion of
such a treaty in accordance with an agreed program of
work at the Conference on Disarmament. It should be
admitted that there are a lot of uncertainties in the
negotiation-related factors, which are hard to predict
or prejudge. To set the time frame artificially is not
only unreasonable but also impractical.
On the Specific measures to reduce the danger of nuclear
warfare and the so-called intermediate measures, the
Chinese delegation believes that the most important
priorities are: unconditional no-first-use unconditional
negative security assurance to all non-nuclear weapon
states, withdrawing home of all nuclear weapons deployed
outside the borders of the nuclear weapon states and the
foregoing of nuclear umbrella and nuclear sharing. Any
"confidence building measures" divorced from these, will
not be feasible. Further more, no relevant measure can
be implemented without a necessary strategic stability
environment.
The Chinese Delegation also believes that all countries
have the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy. When
exporting nuclear materials to States non-Parties, all
States Parties to the NPT should strictly abide by the
provisions of the Treaty, in particular article III, so
as to ensure that the exported items are under IAEA
safeguard and only be used for peaceful purpose.
Mr. president,
As ever, China will faithfully fulfil its obligations
under the NPT. We will continue to make all efforts for
reaching the Treaty's goals of nuclear disarmament,
nuclear non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear
energy, in accordance with our positions and principles
as set out in our general statements and working papers
in this review conference.
Mr. President,
I would like to take this opportunity to express my
sincere gratitude to all delegations for their
cooperation and effort, to his excellency Dhanapala,
Under Secretary General of the United Nations, to Ms
Hoppe, Secretary General of our conference, and to all
the people who have worked so hard for this conference.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Body Text (Standard)
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin
Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of
International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the
opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or
its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2007 by
MIIS.
