Steps needed for nuclear treaty goals
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-05-05 05:50

UNITED NATIONS: The three goals of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) must be promoted in a comprehensive and balanced manner, Zhang Yan, head of the Chinese Delegation to the 2005 Review Conference of countries party to the treaty, said on Tuesday.

"In light of the latest developments, challenges and problems in international security, it is urgent that the international community take more pragmatic and concrete steps to preserve and strengthen the universality, effectiveness and authority of the NPT," Zhang said during the general debate at the 2005 NPT Review Conference at the UN headquarters in New York.

"To achieve this, the three goals of the NPT - nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy - must be promoted in a comprehensive and balanced manner," he stressed, adding that the three goals are interlinked and inseparable.

Zhang stressed this conference is expected to make progress in promoting the three goals of the treaty. "China has always advocated that all states with nuclear weapons should explicitly commit themselves to destroying nuclear weapons in a complete and thorough manner, lowering the role of nuclear weapons in national security policy," he said.

Meanwhile, he pointed out that China opposes proliferation of nuclear weapons in any form, calls upon all those outside the NPT to join as non-nuclear-weapon states, and is in favour of continued efforts to enhance and improve the existing nuclear non-proliferation regime in accordance with new developments.

Zhang said the aims of nuclear non-proliferation must be achieved through an integrated approach addressing both the symptoms and root causes.

"The relation between non-proliferation and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy should be put in correct perspective and properly dealt with," he added. "The rights of non-nuclear-weapon states to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, under the IAEA safeguards shall be respected and preserved."

(China Daily 05/05/2005 page1)

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