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China has always held that common effort by all nations is necessary
to realize disarmament and safeguard world peace. It has long stressed
and supported international community's sustained efforts to promote
arms control and disarmament. Since China was restored to its rightful
seat in the United Nations in 1971, it has even more actively participated
in international arms control and disarmament activities.
China conscientiously attends meetings of the United Nations General
Assembly, the First Committee which considers issues on disarmament
and international security and the Disarmament Commission of the
United Nations. It sent highlevel delegations to the three UN special
sessions on disarmament issues and to the UN Conference on the Relationship
Between Disarmament and Development
China stresses and supports the conclusion of arms control and
disarmament agreements and treaties through negotiation. Beginning
in 1980, it has formally joined in the work of the Geneva Conference
on Disarmament and has actively promoted negotiations on a wide
variety of disarmament issues and the conclusion of relevant conventions.
China appreciates and supports disarmament activities proposed
by the United Nations. In 1987, China, in cooperation with the United
Nations, hosted the Regional Symposium on World Disarmament Campaign
in Beijing. In response to United Nations' proposals, China carried
out extensive publicity on disarmament issues and implemented a
series of nationwide activities including an "International
Peace Year" and a "Disarmament Decade."
On many occasions it sent representatives to UN expert group meetings
and symposiums on disarmament and international security issues,
conscientiously and responsibly making its own contribution to the
drafting of fair and rational research reports.
In international disarmament activities China has consistently
given active support to reasonable disarmament proposals and initiatives
by the Third World countries. In the early 1970s, China supported
the proposal by Sri Lanka and other countries that the Indian Ocean
be designated a Zone of Peace. In 1973, China signed the Additional
Protocol II of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco) and in
1987 the relevant protocols of the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone
Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga). China has always respected and supported
the demands of the countries concerned for the establishment of
nuclear-weapon-free zones on the basis of voluntary consultation
and agreement and in accordance with actual local circumstances.
Given this consistent position, China welcomes the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free
Zone Treaty agreed upon by the African nations, and supports the
proposal by relevant nations on the establishment of nuclear-free
zones in the Korean Peninsula, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the
Middle East. Correspondingly, China holds bilateral consultations
with various nations on arms control and disarmament issues, either
on regular or ad hoc basis.
China has acceded to a series of major international arms control
and disarmament treaties and conventions, including the Protocol
for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous
or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, the Convention
on Prohibition or Restriction on the Use of Certain Conventional
Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have
Indiscriminate Effects, the Antarctic Treaty, the Treaty on Principles
Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of
Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, the
Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and
Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and
on Their Destruction, the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Emplacement
of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the
Seabed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil Thereof, and the Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. China is also signatory
to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production,
Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction.
China attaches great importance to the active role these international
legal documents play in promoting international arms control and
disarmament and has earnestly and conscientiously fulfilled its
own obligations under the agreements. A Chinese delegation is currently
actively participating in the negotiation on the Comprehensive Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty and the Convention on Banning the Production of
Fissile Materials for Nuclear Weapons or Other Nuclear Explosive
Devices.
China is actively promoting the international arms control and
disarmament process with both real actions on its own part and many
realistic and reasonable proposals. As early as 1963, the Chinese
government issued a statement calling for the complete, thorough,
utter and resolute prohibition and destruction of nuclear weapons.
China has persistently exercised great restraint in the development
of nuclear weapons and its nuclear arsenal has been very limited.
It has developed nuclear weapons for self-defence, not as a threat
to other countries. It has not joined and will not join in the nuclear
arms race and has consistently maintained restraint over nuclear
testing.
The Chinese government has from the beginning opposed nuclear
blackmail and the nuclear deterrent policy. On October 16, 1964,
the Chinese government offered a solemn proposal: a summit conference
be held to discuss the complete prohibition and thorough destruction
of nuclear weapons and that nuclear-weapon states commit themselves
not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and
nuclear-weapon-free zones or against each other. From the first
day it gained nuclear weapons, China has solemnly undertaken not
to be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time and in any circumstance
and unconditionally not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons
against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones.
China as a nuclear-weapon state never shies away from its due obligations,
advocating that nuclear-weapon states should undertake not to be
the first to use nuclear weapons and repeatedly proposing that nuclear-weapon
states negotiate and conclude an international treaty on the no-first-use
of nuclear weapons against each other. In January 1994, China formally
presented a draft for the Treaty on the No-First-Use of Nuclear
Weapons to the United States, Russia, Britain, France and other
countries, proposing that the five nuclear-weapon states hold first-round
discussions on the treaty in Beijing as soon as possible. On April
5, 1995, China made another official statement, reiterating its
unconditional provision of "negative security assurance"
to all non-nuclear-weapon states, at the same time undertaking to
provide these nations with "positive security assurance."
These positions taken by China have won the support of a great many
countries without nuclear weapons.
China advocates prevention of the proliferation of nuclear weapons
as part of the process of eliminating such weapons. In May 1995,
at the Conference on the Review and Extension of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, China supported the decision
to indefinitely extend the treaty and the three decisions on the
principles and objectives for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament,
on enhancing the review process of the treaty and on the Middle
East Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. China holds that the results of the
conference accord with the interests of all the parties to the treaty
and will help maintain world peace, security and stability. China
believes that the indefinite extension of this treaty reaffirms
the objectives of international cooperation in nuclear disarmament,
the prevention of nuclear proliferation and the promotion of the
peaceful use of nuclear energy and should not be interpreted as
permitting the nuclear-weapon states to retain possession of nuclear
weapons forever.
During the cold war, China resolutely opposed the arms race between
the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, and
stressed that the key to success in disarmament laid in the two
superpowers taking real action on their own initiative. In 1978
at the First Special Session on Disarmament of the United Nations,
China proposed that, as the two superpowers had more nuclear and
conventional arms than any other country, they must take the lead
in disarmament. In 1982 at the Second Special Session on Disarmament
of the United Nations, China went a step further by putting forth
a concrete proposal: The United States and the Soviet Union should
stotesting, improving and producing nuclear weapons and should take
the lead in drastically reducing their stockpiles of all types of
nuclear weapons and means of delivery. China's proposal that the
"two superpowers take the lead" met with uniform
approval from the international community and has played an active
role in promoting negotiations between the two nations, creating
actual progress towards disarmament.
In an effort to step by step realize the objective of building
a world free from nuclear weapons, in 1994 China put forward a complete,
interrelated proposal for the nuclear disarmament process at the
49th Session of the UN General Assembly. All nuclear-weapon states
should declare unconditionally that they will not be the first to
use nuclear weapons and immediately begin negotiations towards a
treaty to this effect; efforts to establish nuclear-weapon-free
zones should be supported and guarantees given not to use or threaten
to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free
zones; a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty be negotiated and
concluded no later than 1996; the major nuclear powers should implement
existing nuclear disarmament treaties as scheduled and further substantially
reduce their nuclear weapon stockpiles; a convention banning production
of fissile materials for nuclear weapons be negotiated and concluded;
a convention prohibiting all nuclear weapons be signed, whereby
all nuclear-weapon states undertake to completely destroy existing
stocks of nuclear weapons under effective international supervision;
prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons while promoting nuclear
disarmament process and international cooperation in peaceful uses
of nuclear energy.
Nuclear disarmament and conventional disarmament have all along
been the two priority tasks in the sphere of disarmament. In 1986,
China presented two proposals on nuclear and conventional disarmament
for the first time at the UN General Assembly, pointing out that
the United States and the Soviet Union had special responsibilities
both for nuclear and conventional disarmament. Subsequently, for
five years China had presented these two proposals to the First
Committee of the UN General Assembly, and they had been adopted
by consensus. This action on China's part played an important role
in generating real progress in nuclear and conventional disarmament
in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
China opposes the arms race in outer space. Beginning in 1984,
it has on numerous occasions proposed to the UN General Assembly
draft resolutions on preventing such arms race. China maintains
that outer space belongs to all mankind and should be used exclusively
for peaceful purposes. No country should develop any kind of weapon
to be used in outer space: outer space should be kept "weapon
free."
In recent years, the issue of transparency in armaments has attracted
a great deal of attention in all countries. In 1991, China submitted
a working paper to the Disarmament Commission of the United Nations
entitled "Basic Positions on Objective Information on Military
Matters," presenting an overview of China's position: Transparency
in armaments is aimed at advancing peace, security and stability
for every country and region and the entire world; accordingly the
fundamental principle that the security of individual states should
not be compromised should be upheld. The specific measures for transparency
should be decided on through equal consultations by all countries
and be implemented on voluntary basis. These principles play an
active role in promoting the implementation of proper and feasible
transparency measures.
China attaches great importance to regional disarmament. In 1991,
China submitted a working paper on regional disarmament to the Disarmament
Commission of the United Nations containing a complete set of principles
and positions. Bilateral, regional and multilateral disarmament
should be mutually promoting. The creation of favourable external
conditions and environment is absolutely necessary in the promotion
of regional disarmament; countries outside the region, particularly
those with the largest arsenals, should actively cooperate with
and give energetic support to regional disarmament efforts. In considering
regional disarmament issues, interregional differences in security
environment and level of armament should be acknowledged and respected;
in terms of measures to be taken or process to be followed there
is no model applicable for all regions. China's position as above
was adopted in the main in the Disarmament Commission's final document.
China is located in the Asian-Pacific region, and understandably
is specially concerned with the security, stability, peace and development
in this region. In 1994, China presented three basic objectives
for the region's security: maintenance of stability and prosperity
in China, safeguarding long-term peace and stability in its surrounding
environment, and initiating dialogues and cooperation on the basis
of mutual respect and equality. In cognizance of the Asian-Pacific
region's particular circumstances, China holds that with regard
to security and cooperation in the region the following principles
and measures to realize them should be followed and adopted: On
the basis of the Charter of the United Nations and the Five Principles
of Peaceful Coexistence [mutual respect for territorial integrity
and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each
other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful
coexistence], establish a new mutual respect and friendly relationship
between nations; with promoting common economic development as the
objective, establish economic relations based on equality, mutual
benefit and mutual cooperation; settle conflicts and disputes between
nations within the region through consultation on the basis of the
principle of equality and peaceful resolution, so as to step by
step remove the factors of instability in the region; with the promotion
of the region's peace and security as the purpose, adhere to the
principle of arms only being used in defence and refrain from any
form of arms race; and promote various forms of bilateral or multilateral
dialogues and consultations on security issue so as to strengthen
trust and understanding. China's position has won understanding
and support from most of the Asian-Pacific countries.
China has consistently stressed friendly, good-neighbourly relations
with adjacent countries and has actively promoted measures to establish
bilateral trust. In recent years, China has held multi-level consultations
with a number of neighbouring countries and has taken a series of
practical actions. China and the former Soviet Union signed an Agreement
on Principles Governing the Mutual Reduction of Military Forces
and the Enhancement of Confidence in the Military Field in the Border
Areas. The leading figures of China and Russia issued a joint statement
"on no first use of nuclear weapons against each other
and on not targeting their respective strategic nuclear weapons
at each other." China and India concluded an Agreement
on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquillity Along the Line of Actual
Control in the Border Areas. At the two nations' request, China
issued a statement providing security guarantees to Ukraine and
Kazakhstan.
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