(26th April, 2018 Geneva)

Mr. Chairman,

The complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons and the ultimate attainment of a nuclear-weapon-free world, serve the common interests of mankind and constitute a shared aspiration of all countries.

In order to effectively promote nuclear disarmament, the international community should have a sense of historical responsibility of building a community of shared future for mankind through consultation and joint efforts, uphold a concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, stick to multilateralism with the basis of equal participation by all sides, and maintain the authority and effectiveness of the existing multilateral disarmament machinery. In concrete terms, all parties should make further efforts in the following areas:

I) Promote the building of a new form of international relations characterized by mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, fully respect and accommodate the legitimate and reasonable security concerns of all states, and strive to build a peaceful and stable international security environment.

II) Take fair and reasonable nuclear disarmament steps of gradual reduction towards a downward balance, relevant measures should follow the principles of “maintaining global strategic stability” and “undiminished security for all”.

III) Country possessing the largest nuclear arsenals bear special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament, it should effectively implement existing nuclear arms reduction treaties and on this basis, continue to further drastically reduce their nuclear arsenals in a verifiable, irreversible and legally binding manner. This would create conditions for other nuclear-weapon States to join in multilateral negotiations on nuclear disarmament.

IV) Reduce the role of nuclear weapons in national security doctrines, and abandon the policy of nuclear deterrence based on the first-use of nuclear weapons. All nuclear-weapon States should commit to no-first-use of nuclear weapons unconditionally, and conclude international legal instruments in this regard. The historic process of banning biological and chemical weapons shows that “no-first-use” is the most practical, feasible and most valuable means of nuclear disarmament at present.

V) All nuclear-weapon-states should commit themselves to the effective implementation of Article 6 of the NPT, and openly declare that they have no intention to seek permanent possession of nuclear weapons. Relevant nuclear-weapon States should put an end to the policy and practice of nuclear umbrella and nuclear sharing, and withdraw all nuclear weapons that are deployed in other countries.

VI) Strengthen preventive diplomacy and appropriately address impact on global strategic balance and stability posed by technological advances in fields such as outer space, cyber space, AI (artificial intelligence) etc., in order to create a conducive international environment for the nuclear disarmament process.

Mr. Chairman,

Certain country clings to the cold war mentality, hypes up threats from other countries as a pretext of building up its own nuclear capability. It seeks to strengthen the role of nuclear weapons in national security doctrine, to expand the scope of nuclear deterrence, and to lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. Such policy adjustments will bring serious negative impact to global strategic balance and the international security environment, and will also significantly increase the risk of nuclear arms race and the potential danger of a nuclear war. These irresponsible moves constitute not only an avoidance of its own nuclear disarmament obligation, but also a mockery of international nuclear disarmament efforts. Ultimately it will hurt itself by its own doing.

Over the years, China has actively supported international efforts in nuclear disarmament, earnestly fulfilling its obligations and significantly contribute to promoting nuclear disarmament through concrete actions.

— China remains committed to the path of peaceful development, adhering to a nuclear strategy of self-defense, and upholding an open, transparent and responsible nuclear policy.

— China has never deployed any nuclear weapons abroad, nor participated in nuclear arms race of any kind. Our nuclear force is always kept at the minimal level required by national security.

— China undertakes not to be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances, and unconditionally commits itself not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon States or nuclear-weapon-free zones. China is the only nuclear- weapon state that has made this commitment.

— China supports the early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, honoring its commitment to moratorium on nuclear test, and making steady progress in domestic preparation for the implementation of the Treaty. Since the first session of the PrepCom last year, a batch of IMS monitoring stations in China has been certified by the PTS, highlighting China’s firm support to the Treaty.

— China supports the early commencement of negotiation on FMCT in the Conference on Disarmament, on the basis a comprehensive and balanced program of work, and the mandate contained in the Shannon Report. The high-level FMCT expert preparatory group should conduct its work in strict accordance to its mandate, so as to ensure its outcomes would be conducive to the authority of the CD.

— China has issued several White Papers to elaborate its nuclear strategy, and submitted its national NPT implementation report. We fully engaged in dialogue and consultations with the other four nuclear-weapon States on confidence building measures and on implementing NPT review outcomes. We lead the P5 Working Group on the Glossary of Key Nuclear Terms, achieving results in 2015 as a first step, ready for new progress with continuous efforts.

Mr. Chairman,

We fully understand the good will of non-nuclear-weapon States to speed up international nuclear disarmament. We are ready to make unremitting efforts together with all parties to this end. The goal of nuclear disarmament cannot be achieved overnight. Following the principles of maintaining global strategic stability and undiminished security for all, nuclear disarmament should take a step-by-step approach. The relevant processes should uphold the principle of consensus, and precede within the framework of existing authoritative disarmament mechanisms.

The Chinese delegation has submitted a working paper on nuclear issues, which elaborates China's relevant positions. We hope the elements contained therein will be reflected in the report of this PrepCom.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.