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Statement at the First Committee of the 54th Session of the UNGA
13 October 1999
Mr. Chairman:
May I begin by congratulating you on your election to the chairmanship of the First Committee of the current session of the UN General Assembly. I am confident that with your rich experience and outstanding diplomatic skills, this session will be steered to a success. The Chinese Delegation will assure you of our full cooperation with you and other members of the Bureau in a bid to contribute to the success of the session. I also wish to express my gratitude to Amb. Mernier for the excellent job he has done as Chairman of the First Committee of the last session of the General Assembly.
Mr. Chairman,
Since the last General Assembly, the international situation has undergone profound and complex changes. The cold war mentality is still there, coupled with new developments in hegemonism and power politics, thus making the world even less stable. In Europe, the only military bloc left over from the cold war, under its "new strategic concept, bypassed the UN Security Council and bombed, with its world' s most powerful and sophisticated military machinery, the weak sovereign state, the Federation of Yugoslavia, turning the Balkan region, a land experienced so much misery in this century, into a test ground for its new strategy. In Asia, certain individual countries are pressing rapidly ahead in their joint TMD development programme in a bid to further strengthen their military alliance in the region, which should, otherwise, have died out with the end of the cold war. In North America, the vigorous and accelerated pursuit of the so-called missile defense programme to the detriment of strategic stability has confronted the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty) with grave challenges. The afore-mentioned negative developments have, in our view, worsened the international security environment and constituted an obstacle to the sound development of international arms control and disarmament process.
Mr. Chairman,
The international arms control and disarmament is now at a cross- road. What course to take? It represents a pressing issue of common concern to the international community. We are of the view that the relaxation of the international situation and the arms control process are mutually reinforcing and supportive. The old security concept based on military alliances and arms build-up will not help resolve any problem. We are not in favor of any attempts to seek, under certain excuses, military strength that goes beyond one' s legitimate self-defense needs. Likewise, we are also against any attempt to unilaterally seek absolute security advantage for one country or country bloc by limiting and weakening other countries under the pretext of arms reduction and non-proliferation. We believe that to promote disarmament process, to prevent arms race and safeguard international security, it is imperative that a new security concept in line with the changed international situation be established.
President Jiang Zemin of the People" s Republic of China pointed out in his statement delivered at the plenary of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on 26th March this year that the core of such a new security concept should be mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation. The five principles of peaceful co-existence make up the political foundation underpinning world peace; mutually beneficial cooperation and common prosperity constitute the economic guarantee for world peace; dialogues, consultations and negotiations between and among parties concerned on an equal footing represent the correct approach to resolving disputes and safeguarding peace. It is in this context, we call on the international community to take the above new security concept as guideline. Only by so doing, can they ensure that the arms control and disarmament process move in a correct direction, thus safeguarding world peace and security.
Mr. Chairman,
I now wish to turn to outline China' s views on some major issues which are under review by the First Committee.
The current session will review a series of resolutions pertaining to nuclear disarmament. The elimination of nuclear weapons represents the common aspiration of the people all over the world. However, the nuclear disarmament process between US and Russia is now bogged down in a stalemate after achieving certain temporary progress, which is coupled with new nuclear tests after the conclusion of the CTBT. Such developments clearly indicate that to promote nuclear disarmament and prevent nuclear proliferation still remain a formidable task for the international community not only now but also for a fairly long time to come. Here, I wish to reiterate our views on the next step for the nuclear disarmament, as pointed out by President Jiang Zemin in his statement, i.e. to continue to take the lead by countries with the largest nuclear arsenals in the world to drastically cut down their respective nuclear arsenals and refrain from improving the quality of nuclear weapons and developing such weapons; to negotiate and conclude a Fissile Materials Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) to cap the quantity of nuclear weapons; to ensure the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) while comprehensively promoting the attainment of all the objectives of the NPT; to negotiate and conclude an international legal instrument on unconditional no-first use of nuclear weapons, no use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones, and on comprehensive prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons; and ultimately move to negotiate and conclude a Treaty on Comprehensive Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons so as to genuinely achieve the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.
Mr. Chairman,
To achieve the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world, it is essential that all countries should act on the principles of maintaining global strategic stability and safeguarding security interests of all countries. Only by so doing, can they ensure that sustained progress be registered in nuclear disarmament process. The vigorous development and proliferation of advanced missile defense systems, obviously, will not contribute to international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation endeavor. On the contrary, they will only poison the atmosphere and conditions required for movement in nuclear disarmament process and breed risks for arms race at an more advanced level. The comprehensive prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, in our view, should be the ultimate goal of the international community. This is because that, if nuclear weapons are eliminated, there will be no proliferation of nuclear weapons, nor will there be proliferation of long- range missiles or missile threat. So, in a final analysis, to reduce the threat to peace, it is desirable to devote more efforts in disarmament per se instead of otherwise.
Mr. Chairman,
China was subjected to nuclear threat and blackmail on several occasions in the 1950s and 1960s, China was thus compelled to .develop limited number of nuclear weapons. It is against this backdrop that we have all along adopted a responsible attitude toward the question of nuclear weapons and have made our due contributions to promoting nuclear disarmament. China has always pursued the policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons at any time and under any conditions, no participation in nuclear arms race and no deployment of nuclear weapons outside its territory. China' s nuclear weapons are purely for self- defense purposes. They do not constitute any threat to anyone. Moreover, China's extremely limited number of nuclear weapons are placed under strict control and there is no risk of accidental launch.
It should be pointed out the overall international environment of peace, security, stability and trust is a must in talking about measures such as transparency in nuclear arsenals and de-alerting of nuclear weapons. Therefore, such measures should, naturally, be linked with nuclear disarmament negotiation process. At present, there is a very wide gap among nuclear weapon states in terms of their nuclear strength. Certain country is pursuing its nuclear deterrence policy based on first use of nuclear weapons while vigorously developing its missile defense systems to the detriment of the strategic balance. It also wantonly resorts to or threatens to use force in international relations. Under such circumstances, it is both premature and unfair to indiscriminately call for the adoption of open and transparency measures on nuclear front. We should be alert and see to it that nuclear disarmament be not led astray. The recently published Report of the Tokyo Forum, for instance, is a report with quite lopsided and biased view. Many of its arguments are neither just nor fair, deviating from the purposes of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. In this context, China cannot but register its opposition.
Mr. Chairman,
China has all along attached importance to the question of prevention of arms race in outer space (PAROS) and is particularly concerned over the latest developments on this front. Certain country has, on the one hand, tried hard to block the establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee (AHC) on PAROS at the Conference on Disarmament, but on the other hand, pressed rapidly ahead in pursuing its outer space and missile defense programmes in an attempt to seek military advantage on the ground through dominating and controlling the outer space. The developments in the vigorous pursuit of missile defense systems since the beginning of tills year is most disturbing. The international community is confronted with the danger of weaponization of outer space and the repudiation of the ABM Treaty. Under such a circumstance, it has become a pressing issue for the international community to find ways to strengthen their efforts against an arms race in outer space. The last General Assembly, in adopting Resolution 53/76, urged the CD to re-establish the AHC on PAROS and reiterated the need for the CD to play a major role in concluding a multilateral legal instrument on PAROS. However, to our regret the 1999 session of the CD failed to re-establish the AHC due to the obstruction by certain individual country. We maintain that relevant UNGA resolution to be adopted this year should continue to urge the CD to re-establish the AHC at an early date next year and immediately begin its substantive work so as to reverse the negative developments in the field of PAROS and missile defense. We also maintain that he current session should take measures to preserve the integrity and validity of the ABM Treaty. In this context, the Chinese Delegation fully supports the Russian Delegation in its efforts to table a draft resolution entitled "Preservation and Compliance with Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty" , and wishes to inscribe itself on the list of co- sponsors.
Mr. Chairman,
China supports the efforts to comprehensively strengthen the effectiveness of the Biologic Weapons Conventions (BWC) and to establish a fair, reasonable, appropriate and feasible verification mechanism. To this end, it is imperative that the balance between rights and obligations of states parties be taken into full account so as to prevent the abusive use of verification and to protect the legitimate security and economic interests of all states parties. In the meantime, it is also very important to enhance international cooperation and exchange in the field of biology. It remains our objective to conclude negotiations of the Protocol before the 5th Review Conference of the Convention. And the key to progress in negotiations lies in full accommodation of each other' s legitimate concerns by all parties. To place undue emphasis on speed and table the so-called "clean text" prematurely while there are still major disputes among parties can only be counter-productive. China, for its part, wishes to continue its earnest negotiations on the basis of the existing rolling text in a bid to help bring about a good Protocol acceptable to all.
It is two years since the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) entered into force, but its universality is yet to be further promoted. A few countries, especially one country with major chemical industry, have hitherto failed to submit their initial declarations on civilian chemical industries in accordance with the Convention. Certain country has made various reservations, through domestic legislation, in implementing the Convention. The chemical weapons abandoned by Japan in China are still threatening the life and property of the Chinese people as well as the ecological environment. This issue left over from the history should be resolved at an earliest possible date. In this context, we call on the countries concerned to face squarely the above-mentioned problems and earnestly work to implement the Convention in full.
Mr. Chairman,
The small arms has become an issue increasingly concerned by the international community. China, likewise, has also attached importance to it. The small arms is problem involving factors across a wide spectrum from disarmament, security to social and economic development, thus calling for a comprehensive and integrated approach through concerted efforts by the international community and effective measures at international, regional and sub-regional levels in accordance with specific situations of different countries and regions. Such measures could include, for instance, the prohibition of illegal manufacturing and transfer of small arms, the strengthening of control over the legal manufacturing and transfer and the collection of weapons in post-conflict regions. Last July, the UN Group of Governmental Experts on Small Arms concluded its report with many useful suggestions. China, as a member on the Group, has actively participated in the discussion. We believe that the report will provide useful ideas for the international community to handle the problem of small arms in the future.
Mr. Chairman,
China has consistently supported imposing proper and rational restrictions on the use of (Anti-Personnel Landmines) APLs. To this end, China has ratified the amended Landmine Protocol (Protocol II) and the new additional Protocol on Laser Blind Weapons to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) with the two instruments of ratification deposited with the Secretary General of the UN last November. In addition, China is about to submit its annual report on the implementation of the Landmine Protocol to the Secretary General. It will also actively participate the first annual conference of the State Parties to be held by the end of this year.
China is of the view that, in addition to improving international laws and imposing strict restrictions on the use and transfer of landmines, the most pressing task before us now is to assist mine affected countries to clear abandoned mines that are threatening the life of the civilians. With this in view, China has contributed funds, earmarked for demining activities in Bosnia-Herzegovina, to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Actions. In addition, the first demining training workshop co-sponsored by UN and China has just been held in China' s Nanjing with trainees from Cambodia, Namibia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and other mine-affected countries. These trainees will, upon completion of their training, be able to contribute to the cleaning-up their land and the livelihood of their fellow countrymen.
Mr. Chairman,
China has all along attached importance to the role of the United Nations in the field of disarmament and is appreciative of the great efforts made by the Department of Disarmament Affairs (DDA) in this regard. Since 1988, China has annually contributed to relevant disarmament institutions of the United Nations as a means to render our support. This year, China will once again contribute US$ 10,000 to the DDA, which, we hope, will be channeled to fund the UN disarmament fellowship programme.
Mr. Chairman,
The international disarmament course is at a crucial juncture as we are to move into the next century. In international relations, we must be firm and resolute in opposing and abandoning the practices of hegemonism, power politics, armed invasion or interference and the pursuit of absolute military security. Only by so doing, can we, in a final analysis, be able to maintain international peace and stability and secure sustained progress in disarmament. And only by so doing, can mankind be immune from the threat of arms race and war, and can a new century be ushered in, where all countries and the entire mankind will be able to enjoy long-lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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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