Chinese envoy calls on nuclear weapon states to abandon Cold War mentality

China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ma Zhaoxu (Front) addresses a UN Security Council meeting on non-proliferation at the UN headquarters in New York, on April 2, 2019. Ma Zhaoxu said on Tuesday that nuclear weapon states should abandon the Cold War mentality and zero-sum concept with regard to nuclear disarmament. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

A Chinese UN envoy said on Tuesday that nuclear weapon states should abandon the Cold War mentality and zero-sum concept with regard to nuclear disarmament.

China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ma Zhaoxu made the remarks at a Security Council meeting on supporting the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) ahead of the 2020 Review Conference.

Ma said nuclear weapon states should discard the nuclear deterrence policy based on the preemptive use of nuclear weapons and diminish the role played by nuclear weapons in their national security policies.

In particular, he said China calls on Russia and the United States to continue to resolve their differences through negotiations and consultations, return to the compliance with the obligations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty as soon as possible, and explore the extension of the current U.S.-Russia nuclear disarmament treaty.

The NPT, signed in 1968 and effective since 1970, is the only treaty that contains legally-binding commitments to nuclear disarmament. A total of 191 states have joined the treaty.

In a press statement Tuesday, the Security Council members reaffirmed "their commitment to advance the goals of the NPT as the cornerstone of the nuclear non-proliferation regime and the foundation for the pursuit of nuclear disarmament and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy."

They expressed their readiness to work together and join efforts to achieve a successful outcome at the 2020 review conference.