China firmly opposes nuclear sharing, stressing that it, in essence, constitutes continued nuclear proliferation, and hinders the process of nuclear disarmament, said a Chinese representative at the Eleventh Review Conference of the Parties to Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) on Friday.
The Eleventh Review Conference was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City from April 27 to May 22.
The Chinese side noted that nuclear sharing is one of the major hotspot issues of the current review conference. A large number of countries, including non-aligned states, have raised concerns about nuclear sharing arrangements. However, some countries participating in nuclear sharing have repeatedly defended these arrangements. This fully demonstrates the necessity of continuing to discuss the nuclear sharing issue, including opposing the establishment of any new nuclear sharing arrangements.
The Chinese representative further stated that the negative impacts of nuclear sharing cannot be overlooked, saying it has become an important obstacle to advancing nuclear disarmament.
"Like most countries, China disagrees with fallacies like 'nuclear sharing arrangements complying with treaty provisions and conducive to non-proliferation.' In essence, nuclear sharing arrangements are regimes making inequality and discrimination among non-nuclear-weapon states, and are themselves a form of continued nuclear proliferation," said the representative.
On the issue of nuclear testing, the Chinese representative stated that the NPT already clearly prohibits nuclear testing. China believes that declaring no-first-use of nuclear weapons is itself a measure of nuclear transparency. If some countries raise questions about this, China supports and calls on nuclear-weapon states to negotiate a no-first-use of nuclear weapons treaty as soon as possible.
"The review conference should urge certain countries to cease making irresponsible remarks about nuclear weapons testing, halt preparations for nuclear weapons testing, and reaffirm their commitment to suspending nuclear testing," said the representative.
The NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, further the goals of nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament, and to promote co-operation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It represents the only legally binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon states.
Opened for signature in 1968, the Treaty entered into force in 1970. Since then, the NPT has remained the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. Now a total of 191 states parties have joined the Treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon states, making the NPT one of the most widely adhered-to multilateral disarmament agreements.
Nuclear sharing impedes disarmament process: Chinese representative
