At UN, Chinese official urges 'world free of nuclear weapons'

A Chinese arms control official on Thursday urged the international community to "abandon a Cold War mentality and power politics" and establish "a world free of nuclear weapons".

Sun Xiaobo, head of the Chinese delegation and director-general of the department of arms control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that in today's world, "no one can stay immune or enjoy security alone".

"A certain country sticks to a Cold War mentality, develops military capabilities in all domains and seeks absolute security at the cost of other countries' security, leading to the increasingly severe international security environment and the difficulty of the international security governance," he said.

Sun spoke at the General Assembly of the United Nations Disarmament and International Security Committee, the First Committee of the 79th UN General Assembly.

"Only through advocating an equal and orderly multipolar world and a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, can we maintain international peace and security effectively," said Sun.

He urged "the complete prohibition and total destruction of nuclear weapons, the establishment of a world free of nuclear arms", and the elimination of threats posed by nuclear weapons and nuclear war, which he said serves the common interests of humanity and represents a shared aspiration of all nations.

"China calls on the implementation of the Joint Statement of the Leaders of the Five Nuclear-Weapon States on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Race, and all relevant parties should make sincere efforts to this end. As the coordinator of the P5 Mechanism, China will continue to make unremitting efforts in this regard," Sun said.

Nuclear disarmament should follow the principles of "maintaining global strategic stability" and "undiminished security for all" and take a step-by-step approach, he emphasized, adding that countries possessing the largest nuclear arsenals should "assume special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament and continue to make drastic and substantive reductions in their nuclear arsenals, so as to create necessary conditions for general and complete nuclear disarmament".

Countries with nuclear weapons should negotiate and conclude a treaty on "mutual no-first-use of nuclear weapons" or issue a political statement in that regard, in order to prevent a nuclear arms race and reduce strategic risks, Sun said.

All nuclear-weapon countries should "unconditionally commit themselves not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones, pending the complete elimination of nuclear weapons", Sun said.

In September 2021, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States announced a trilateral security pact known as AUKUS. The pact's primary focus is to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines. Those submarines will be built using American and British technology, a move to enhance Australia's military capabilities, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.

"China urges relevant countries to cease the development and deployment of the global missile defense system and cease the forward deployment of the land-based intermediate-range missiles outside their own territories against other nuclear-weapon states," Sun said.

China pursues a self-defense nuclear strategy and is highly transparent in terms of its nuclear policy and intention, Sun said. He noted that 60 years ago, China made a solemn declaration to the world that it undertakes not to be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances.

"China unconditionally commits itself not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones," Sun said. "China has always kept its nuclear force at the minimum level required for national security.

"China has no intention of pursuing an arms race or providing a nuclear umbrella and deploying nuclear weapons in other countries. China will never seek hegemony with nuclear weapons, nor bully or intimidate non-nuclear-weapon states," Sun said.

Regarding emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, Sun said that politicizing their governance, applying ideological biases, and decoupling or creating exclusive groups with high barriers will only weaken the global community's ability to tackle risks and challenges collectively. He called on the international community to reject such negative trends.