Countries with largest nuclear arsenals should reduce warheads first: Chinese official

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The countries with the largest nuclear arsenals should further conduct a significant and substantive reduction in their nuclear arsenals in a verifiable, irreversible and legally binding manner, said a Chinese disarmament official on Tuesday.

The principles of "maintaining global strategic stability" and "undiminished security for all" should be followed in the practices of nuclear disarmament, Fu Cong told the 10th Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The countries with the largest nuclear arsenals taking the lead in reduction will create conditions for other nuclear-weapon states to join the nuclear disarmament process, he said.

Nuclear-weapon states also need to work together to reduce nuclear risks, said Fu, head of the Chinese delegation and director-general of the Department of Arms Control of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

On Jan. 3 this year, the leaders of China, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom and France issued a joint statement, stressing that a nuclear war cannot be won and must not be fought, and reaffirming that none of their nuclear weapons are targeted at each other or at any other state. This historic statement is helpful in enhancing mutual trust among major countries, preventing nuclear wars, and avoiding an arms race, he said.

On this basis, the five nuclear-weapon states need to further strengthen communication on strategic stability, and conduct in-depth dialogue on reducing the role of nuclear weapons in their national security doctrines and on a broad range of issues, including missile defense, outer space, cyberspace, and artificial intelligence, said Fu.

Nuclear-weapon states should also strengthen dialogue with non-nuclear-weapon states to enhance mutual understanding and support, he added.

China is firmly committed to the path of peaceful development and a nuclear strategy of self-defense, and undertakes not to be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances, he said.

While firmly safeguarding its national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, China always keeps its nuclear capability at the minimum level required for safeguarding national security, he said. "We never compete with any country on the input, quantity or scale of nuclear capability, nor do we participate in any form of nuclear arms race with any other country. With a high level of stability, consistency and predictability, China's nuclear policy in itself is an important contribution to the international nuclear disarmament endeavor."