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STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. LI CHANGHE, AMBASSADOR FOR DISARMAMENT AFFAIRS OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA AT THE PLENARY MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT
Permanent Mission of the PRC to the UN Office at Geneva
MAY 27, 1999, Geneva
Mr. President,
On behalf of the Chinese delegation and in my own name,
I would like to congratulate you most warmly on your
assumption of the Presidency of the Conference on
Disarmament (CD). We are quite confident that your
outstanding diplomatic skills, rich experiences and
in-depth understanding of the work of the CD would
benefit the CD greatly. In discharging the important
tasks of the CD Presidency, you can rest assured of the
full cooperation of my delegation. I would also like to
take this opportunity to pay tribute to your
predecessor, Ambassador Mr. Nguyen Quy Binh of Viet Nam,
and extend our thanks and appreciation for his tireless
efforts in pushing the CD for progress.
Fundamentally speaking, the substantive progress of the
work of the CD is closely related to the international
peace and security situation which has a direct bearing
on disarmament affairs. The progress also depends on the
concerted efforts by all the CD members while taking
into account each other's concerns and demonstrating
necessary flexibilities.
Mr. President,
The CD has entered the 13th working week and has thus
crossed the half-way mark of this year's session.
However, we have not been able to agree on the program
of work because of the divergent views on the two agenda
items, namely "Nuclear Disarmament" and "Prevention of
an Arms Race in Outer Space"(PAROS). The impasse on this
procedural matter reflects the profound divergence over
substantive issues among relevant countries or country
groups. The Chinese delegation, while finding the
situation deeply regrettable and worrisome, has given
some thought to the reasons underlining the situation
and possible ways out of this stalemate. Today, I would
like to share with colleagues some of the perspectives
of my delegation.
Mr. President,
I would like to stress that, the developments in recent
years, especially since the beginning of this year,
which are detrimental to the international peace and
security, have exerted grave and negative impact on the
disarmament process.
Just as we cannot breathe in vacuum, the work of the CD
cannot be isolated from the overall international
security environment. The disarmament process is closely
related to the international peace and the security
interests of all countries. They are interactive and
mutually promoting.
During the Cold War, the arms race kept on escalating
and it was impossible to achieve any major progress in
disarmament field. In the wake of the Cold War and the
ending of confrontations between the two military blocs,
the relations between major powers moved to relaxation.
All the peace-loving countries, including China,
fervently hoped that our planet could be free from the
nightmares of both "Cold War" and "Hot War", and
continuous progress in disarmament could be achieved in
a healthy international security environment, thus
further promoting international peace and security as
well as the economic and social development of all
countries. So the world in the 21st century would be one
of peace, development and common prosperity for mankind.
Against this backdrop, the international arms control
and disarmament process has been offered an
unprecedented "window of opportunity". Thanks to the
efforts and co-operations by all parties, particularly
with the wide support of the developing countries, some
major achievements have been scored, such as the
conclusion of the CWC, the signing of the START II by US
and Russia, the indefinite extension of the NPT, the
commencement of the negotiations of the Protocol to
strengthen the BWC, the conclusion of the CTBT, and the
amended Landmine Protocol of the CCW, etc.
The CD has played an important and indelible role in
negotiating and concluding the CWC and the CTBT.
It was under the above-mentioned historical background
that the UNGA adopted the relevant resolution on FMCT,
according to which the CD established an Ad Hoc
Committee in 1995.
After the conclusion of the CTBT, it had been expected
that negotiations on FMCT would commence and progress
could be made on other important disarmament issues as
well, especially on nuclear disarmament. It had also
been expected that such progress in disarmament would be
conducive to the further relaxation of international
situation, promoting world peace and further enhancing
security environments of all countries, and that a
favorable international environment would in turn
promote the progress on disarmament, thus creating a
positively interactive situation.
Mr. President,
Unfortunately, the momentum of improving world peace and
security has not been kept as expected. Dark clouds have
gathered after a brief spell of sunshine. In recent
years, particularly this year, some disturbing
developments in the international arena, like darkening
clouds, have overshadowed world peace and disarmament
process.
Just as President Jiang Zemin of China pointed out in
his statement at the CD Plenary on March 26, while there
are positive factors which are conducive to the
relaxation of the global situation and peace and
development, there still exist some negative elements
which can not be ignored, i.e. cold war mentality still
lingers on and power politics manifest themselves from
time to time; the tendency toward closer military
alliance is on the rise; new forms of "gunboat policy"
are rampant.
This concise but comprehensive statement of President
Jiang has been corroborated by the developments in the
recent two months. I am referring to the wanton bombing
of Yugoslavia by the Military Alliance led by one
superpower. Over one thousand military air-crafts have
been used in the air-strike, tens of thousands tons of
bombs have been dropped, and thousands of missiles were
launched to a small country. New types of weapons with
mass killing capacity, including cluster bombs and
radioactive depleted uranium bombs were used. Many
civilian facilities such as hospitals, schools, bridges,
railways, roads, airports, power plants and TV stations
have been hit and destroyed, causing thousands of
civilian casualties and rendered nearly a million
refugees homeless. Chemical plants, fertilizer factories
and oil refinery plants were also attacked, causing the
leakage of toxic chemicals and resulting in serious
ecological disasters and threatening the life and health
of the people in Yugoslavia and its neighboring
countries.
This is outright military intervention against a
sovereign state. It not only undermines the peace in the
Balkans but also upsets the tranquillity of the world.
They even bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade,
grossly violating international law and the norms
governing international relations.
This military bloc, a typical product of the cold war,
did not disappear from the world scene with the end of
cold war, but has been further expanded Moreover, while
carrying on the air strike against Yugoslavia, this bloc
declared its "New Strategic Concept", thus transforming
itself from a defensive military organization to a
military one of offensive nature which can extend its
military operation to areas beyond its borders and use
military force against any country without the UN
authorization. Yugoslavia has become a test ground for
its "new strategic concept". If such perverse acts are
to continue, the international community would witness
repetitions of similar military interventions and
attacks against those countries which firmly safeguard
their sovereignty and oppose hegemonism and power
politics. If that is the case, the norms governing
international relations and security framework based on
the UN Charter, which was established after the
Anti-Fascism War, will be seriously undermined.
Under such circumstances, countries which are outside
military alliance would be deprived of basic security,
how could we anticipate any progress in the field of
arms control and disarmament? Should those small and
weak countries be pushed to the corner, how could they
be convinced to support the international
non-proliferation regimes?
It is more than clear that the practice of hegemonism,
power politics and "gunboat policy" will not only
seriously jeopardize world peace and development, but
also directly undermine or even reverse international
arms control and disarmament process. This is not the
prospect the international community, including China,
wish to see. However, this is the reality we are
confronted with. Whether the "window of opportunity"
once emerged since the 90s is to close depends on
whether the countries concerned change their course and
abide by the UN charter and basic norms governing
international relations, respecting all countries'
sovereignty and territorial integrity, and doing away
with hegemonism, power politics and "gunboat policy".
The world is watching.
Mr. President,
Now, I would like to touch upon the basic principles to
be followed in the international disarmament process.
This is also an important factor which has a bearing on
the progress of work in the CD. In his statement at the
CD Plenary on 26th of March, President Jiang Zemin
pointed out that, the aim of disarmament is to increase
security. And that must be universal security for all
countries to enjoy. Disarmament should not become a tool
for stronger nations to control weaker ones, still less
should it be an instrument for a handful of countries to
optimize their armament in order to seek unilateral
security superiority. To reduce the armament of others
while keeping one's own intact, to reduce the obsolete
while develop the state-of-the-art, or even to sacrifice
the security of others for one's own security, all these
run counter to the fundamental purposes and objectives
of disarmament.
China has all along held the view that only just,
reasonable and balanced international arms control and
disarmament can genuinely promote global peace, security
and stability. However, some countries try every means
to limit and reduce the armament of other states under
the cover of arms control and disarmament, at the same
time they never cease to arm themselves with more
advanced military technology and equipment. They
interfere with other nation's internal affairs and
sovereignty with violent and ruthless military means. On
one hand, they exaggerate the so-called "missile
threats" from developing countries as a pretext for
developing its missile defense system; on the other hand
they are launching their most advanced missiles onto the
soil of developing countries.
Mr. President,
Currently, the significant divergence on the position of
the CD members on the two agenda items namely "Nuclear
Disarmament" and PAROS reflects the different stands of
various countries on the objectives and purposes of
disarmament.
CD members are for the re-establishment an Ad Hoc
Committee to negotiate FMCT, so as to promote the
nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation. At
the same time, many member states are of the view that,
the CD should also take appropriate actions on Nuclear
Disarmament and PAROS by establishing necessary working
mechanism accordingly, such as Ad Hoc Committee or
working group with appropriate mandates. It is
regrettable that up to now this just and reasonable
demand has been ignored by some countries, and in
particular only one delegation opposes the
re-establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee on PAROS.
Many delegations, including the Chinese Delegation,
believe that the importance of Nuclear Disarmament and
PAROS is no less than that of FMCT. At the beginning of
this year, one country breached the existing arms
control treaty by announcing its decision to accelerate
the research and development of missile defense systems.
At the same time, that country also has ambitious
programs to extend its weaponry system to the outer
space. The aim of such program is to seek absolute
military dominance. These programs will certainly have
negative impact on bilateral and multilateral nuclear
disarmament process and on the global strategic security
and stability as well. All these developments make the
CD's deliberation on PAROS ever more relevant and
pressing.
To sum up, the agenda items of "Nuclear Disarmament",
NSA, PAROS and FMCT are inter-related. The issue of CD
program of work should be addressed as a whole. Singling
out any one of the items while excluding the others is
unjustified and unhelpful.
Mr. President.
My delegation reiterates its position that the CD should
re-establish the Ad Hoc Committee on PAROS. Progress in
this area, just like the progress in working mechanism
on nuclear disarmament, will be conducive to making
progress in formulating CD's integrated work program
acceptable to all. It is the sincere hope of the Chinese
delegation that a favorable turn can come about during
the remaining weeks of the 1999 session.
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
its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2007 by
MIIS.
