Chinese envoy reiterates China's open, responsible nuclear policy

China firmly sticks to a path of pursuing peaceful development and adopts an open, transparent and responsible nuclear policy, said senior Chinese diplomat here Tuesday.

Fu Cong, the Chinese ambassador for disarmament, made the statement as he took the floor at the thematic discussion on nuclear disarmament at the First Committee of the UN General Assembly. The First Committee is in charge of disarmament and international security affairs.

The Chinese diplomat stressed China has consistently advocated and promoted complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons.

"China adheres to a nuclear strategy of self-defense, and has always kept its nuclear force at the minimal level required by its national security," he said. "China has never threatened and will never threaten any state, or target any state with its nuclear weapons."

"We do not provide nuclear umbrella for other states, nor do we deploy nuclear weapons on the soil of other states, nor engage in any form of nuclear arms race," said the ambassador.

China faithfully abides by its undertaking not to be the first to use nuclear weapons and not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free zones under any circumstances, and vigorously promotes the conclusion of a multilateral treaty among nuclear weapon states in this regard, said Fu. "We believe that this is in itself an important practical action for nuclear disarmament."

China is committed to the process of international nuclear disarmament, and has made continued contributions, he said. "China respects and supports the international efforts in establishing nuclear-weapon-free zones."

China believes that, to further advance the international nuclear disarmament process, efforts should be made to enable universal security to become the guiding principle, he said, stressing nuclear disarmament should also be pursued through an incremental approach.

"The role of nuclear weapons in national security policies should be effectively reduced," Fu said. "Strategic balance and stability must be safeguarded."

China is ready, together with the international community, to continue its unremitting efforts for the realization of the ultimate goal of complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, Fu added. Endit