China advocates for complete prohibition of nuclear weapons

VIENNA - China is committed to taking the path of peaceful development and advocates for complete prohibition and thorough destruction of the nuclear weapons, China's Vice-Foreign Minister Li Baodong said on Monday.

In the 20-year anniversary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT) in UN headquarter in Vienna, Li said China has made commitment on no-first-use of nuclear weapons and has unconditionally undertaken not to use or threat to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear free-zones.

"China is committed to taking the path of peaceful development and advocates for complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons," Li stressed.

As one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China has always been promoting the peaceful use of the nuclear energy, voting to support the non-proliferation regime, playing a key role in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue and other nuclear related issues in the past years.

"We should consolidate the political foundation of the entry-into-force of the treaty. Only common security can eradicate the root causes of the existence and proliferation," Li said.

CTBT is seen as a key part of the non-proliferation regime in the international norm, which would monitor and prohibit the nuclear test worldwide, and China has always been promoting the entry-into-force of the treaty.

"We should solidify the institutional guarantee of the entry-into-force of the Treaty," Li noted.

To facilitate the CTBT, the preparation mission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty organization has built monitor station all over the world to monitor possible nuclear explosion, but more work should be done to facilitate the entry into force of the treaty.