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Wassenaar Arrangement
Formal Title: WASSENAAR ARRANGEMENT ON EXPORT CONTROLS FOR CONVENTIONAL ARMS AND DUAL-USE GOODS AND TECHNOLOGIES
Summary:
Representatives of 33 major conventional arms supplier states met in Vienna, Austria on 11-12 July 1996 and established the Wassenaar Arrangement, the successor to the Coordinating Committee on Export Controls (COCOM), the Cold War-era organization designed to prevent the transfer of arms and technology to communist countries. The purpose of the Wassenaar Arrangement is to contribute to promote transparency and greater responsibility with regard to transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies, and also to complement and reinforce the existing control regimes for weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems by focusing on the transfers of armaments and sensitive dual-use goods and technologies. The arrangement is intended to enhance cooperation to prevent the acquisition of armaments and sensitive dual-use items for military end-uses.
Participating States agree to control all items set forth in the List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies and the Munitions List with the objective of preventing unauthorized transfers or re-transfers of these items. The participants established a Secretariat in Vienna to facilitate the future work of the Arrangement and agreed to a work program that will expand and enhance the Arrangement in ways that will further its central purposes.
For more in-depth information, please consult the Inventory of Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimes, which can be found on the CNS website at: http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/.
China and the Wassenaar Arrangement:
China is not a participant in the Wassenaar Arrangement and did not participate in the negotiations on establishing the Arrangement. During the discussions on the establishment of Wassenaar, the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that "COCOM is a product of the Cold War and should have been disbanded earlier. Whatever the new organization will be, it must be beneficial to the development of economic and trade relations, and the cooperation and exchange of science and technology between all countries." The United States is urging China to join the Arrangement. [Sources: "News Briefing by the Foreign Ministry," Beijing Review, 17-23 January 1994, p. 14; Bates Gill, "Determinants And Directions For Chinese Weapons Imports," Pacific Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1995, p. 371]
However, in a February 1999 Defense News interview article, the Director General of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Arms Control and Disarmament department, Sha Zukang, softened China's stance on joining the Wassenaar Arrangement and expressed an interest in the accord . Sha said:
"China, though fully qualified, is not a member of the Wassenaar Arrangement so far. It is our understanding the Arrangement is a collective export control regime designed to promote regional and international security by requiring its members to take a cautious attitude on relevant exports. This is not at odds with China's nonproliferation policies."
- "As a state capable of manufacturing and exporting weapons and industrial
equipment, China is following this issue. If the lacunae such as the
lack of universality can be addressed, China will be able to play a more
active role in this process. However, on the question of membership,
China will consider this only when all Arrangement members have reached a
consensus and unconditionally invite China to join the regime. We are
not in a hurry."[Opall-Rome, Barbara, "One On One,"
Defense News, 1 February 1999, p. 22.]
Furthermore, China took a step toward joining Wassenaar in November 1998 when
it issued new export controls covering 182 dual-use technologies which are also
controlled in Wassenaar dual-use list. It is still unclear whether China
controls all the technologies covered in Wassenaar. A country must meet
four standards to join the Wassenaar Arrangement including the adoption and
implementation of effective export controls covering the technologies listed in
Wassenaar two control lists. China may not yet meet these standards even though
it has made progress in that direction.
[Procedures for the Management
of Restricted Technology Export, Chinese Ministry of ForeignTtrade and Economic
Cooperation and the Ministry of Science and Technology, 26 November 1998.]
In January 1998, the Select Committee on US National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China (aka The Cox Committee) issued a report which urged a strengthening of the global export control efforts including Wassenaar. Regarding China, the report said:
"In light of the PRC's aggressive military technology acquisition campaign and its record as a proliferator, the United States should work to reduce the transfers of weapons systems and other militarily significant technologies from Russia and other nations to the PRC. These actions should include strengthening international measures, including economic incentives, to encourage Russia to become a full partner in stemming the proliferation of weapons."
[TEXT OF THE WASSENAAR ARRANGEMENT GUIDELINES]
For more on China and multilateral export control regimes, see:
[CHINA AND MULTILATERAL EXPORT CONTROL REGIMES]
For more information, see:
[CHINA AND CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS NONPROLIFERATION]
[CHRONOLOGY OF CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS-RELATED STATEMENTS AND DEVELOPMENTS]
[CHINA'S CONVENTIONAL ARMS AND MISSILE EXPORT CONTROLS]
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.
