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Statement by Mr. Hu Xiaodi, Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs of China, at the plenary of the Conference on Disarmament
Permanent Mission of the PRC to the UN Office at Geneva
Geneva, 30 August 2001
Mr. President,
At the outset, please allow me to express the appreciation of the Chinese
delegation for your unremitting efforts in facilitating the early start of CD’s
substantive work. I would also like to extend our gratitude to your
distinguished predecessors, H.E. Camilo Reyes and H.E. Carlos Amat Fores, for
the valuable endeavors they have made to help overcome the difficulty facing
this forum. Furthermore, I would take this opportunity to pay tribute to our
Secretary-General, Mr. Petrovsky, the Deputy Secretary-General, Mr. Roman-Morey,
and all other colleagues of the CD secretariat, whose diligence and valuable
service deserve high appreciation from all of us.
Mr. President,
The Chinese delegation has pointed out here in CD as well as at other
multilateral fora, that the global arms control and disarmament efforts have
come to a critical cross-road and that “where to go” has become a major concern
for the international community.
It is witnessed that a series of major issues of the international community,
including the nuclear weapon reduction process, CTBT and the negotiation of a
BWC protocol, have met with undeserved challenges. Weapons and weapon systems
are to be introduced into outer space. Last year, the whole international
community, including the five permanent members of the UN Security Council,
recognized the ABM Treaty as a corner stone of global strategic stability. This
year, however, we hear the advocacy for the total abrogation of this Treaty. All
these cannot but generate profound negative impact on the international security
of the 21st century and jeopardize the interest of all Sates in the world. It is
therefore our arduous task to preserve the international strategic stability and
ensure the integrity and effective implementation of the existing international
treaties.
Faced with the severe situation, the Chinese delegation takes it necessary to
present our guiding principles and basic positions related to the issues of
international peace and security, including arms control and disarmament.
At the inception of the 21st century, the world needs peace, the peoples want
cooperation, the nations aspire for development and societies seek progress.
This is the trend of our times. However, the world multi-polarization and
economic globalization cannot but undergo a long process, which is not free from
twists and turns. Up to now, neither of the two major questions of today’s
world, i.e., peace and development, has been resolved. The world we live in is
still far from tranquil.
The purposes of China's foreign policy are to safeguard world peace and promote
common development. We have all along maintained that countries should abide by
the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and the universally recognized
basic norms governing international relations. The cold war mentality featured
by power politics should be abandoned. The affairs of a country should be
decided by the government and people of that country and the matters in the
world be handled by the governments and peoples of all countries through
consultations on the basis of equality, and solved through multilateral
collective efforts. Unilateralism will come to no avail, since it cannot be
productive to world peace and development, nor helpful in resolving the issues
facing us. Each State has the right to take measure to ensure its own security
interests, but none should do it at the expense of the security of other States.
In the final analysis, only the universal security of all countries constitutes
the genuine security.
China adheres to an independent foreign policy of peace. It has carried out
friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation with all countries and
treated one another as equals on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful
Coexistence. In the new century, the Chinese people and their government stand
ready to join hands with all countries and peoples who love peace and crave for
development and progress so as to secure an international environment of lasting
peace, in a common endeavor to push forward the wheel of history toward the
magnificent goal of the development of mankind.
Mr. President,
The following measures are of utmost importance for arms control and
disarmament, namely, preserve the global strategic stability, uphold the treaty
regimes which have already come into being in the areas of arms control and
disarmament, never introduce weapons or weapon systems into outer space, promote
the course of the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of WMD while
preventing the proliferation of WMD and their means of delivery. Indispensable
for global lasting peace and security, these measures will ensure the security
interests of all States without exception.
The ABM Treaty is a cornerstone of strategic stability and the foundation for
ensuring the reduction of offensive strategic weapons. The international
community should urge the parties concerned to honor the integrity and
effectiveness of that treaty, and advocate under the premise of upholding and
abiding by the ABM Treaty to further reduce offensive strategic weapons. On the
issue of missile non-proliferation, we hold that the international community
should further explore the possibility of establishing a global regime for the
prevention of missile proliferation on the basis of equality and
non-discrimination and with the participation of all States.
Mr. President,
Our world is rich and colorful. The diversity of civilizations is the basic
feature of human society and also the driving force behind the progress of human
civilization. Respect should be given to the history, culture, social system and
mode of development of each individual country. Diversity of the world is a
reality that should be recognized. On the one hand, the international community
needs to set up a new security concept of multilateral cooperation and
collective security, and work together to create a peaceful international
environment of long-term stability and security, with a view to promoting
multi-polarization of the world. Meanwhile, countries should step up their
economic and technical exchanges and cooperation and gradually transform the
inequitable and irrational international economic order so that all will win and
coexist as a result of economic globalization.
Regional security and stability will help realize global peace and development.
On June 16 this year, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and China declared the establishment of the "Shanghai
Cooperative Organization". With the security cooperation as its starting point,
this organization promotes across-the-board cooperation, covering also the
fields of economy, trade, culture, and the consultation and coordination in
dealing with international and regional affairs. It features non-alliance,
non-confrontation and not targeting at any other countries or regional
organizations, as well as being open in nature. Its underlying guidelines are
mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for the diversity
of civilizations and seeking common development. Based on all these, a series of
new concepts have taken form and develop: a new security concept with mutual
trust, disarmament and cooperative security as its key content; a new type of
international relationship which features partnership and non-alliance; a new
model of regional cooperation in which all countries, big or small, jointly take
the initiation and promote mutual benefit and coordination. We believe that,
bearing the hope of all the peoples in this region, this Organization will have
a bright future.
Mr. President,
Given the present difficult situation in the field of arms control and
disarmament, what in need are perseverance, solidarity and unrelenting efforts.
Only by doing so, can we reverse the countercurrent and bring arms control and
disarmament back to their correct course. The Chinese delegation will join
forces with all other sides in the common endeavor.
In our Conference on Disarmament, the urgent priority is taking resolute
measures to prevent the weaponization of and an arms race in outer space. To
this end, an international legal instrument should be concluded as soon as
possible. Our delegation requests that CD commence multilateral negotiations on
this issue, establish an ad hoc committee with a negotiating mandate. We support
the proposal put forward by the delegation of the Russia Federation (as
contained in CD/1644), and call for the re-start of CD’s substantive work,
including dealing with the issue of nuclear disarmament and the commencement of
FMCT negotiations, in accordance with the principle that the concerns of all
sides ought to be addressed in a comprehensive and balanced manner. The Chinese
delegation also supports the work of the three Special Coordinators and will
take part in the proceedings.
Thank you, Mr. President.
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
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MIIS.
