Arms control and disarmament has been a major issue of concern to the people in the world. The United Nations pursues the upholding of international peace and security as its lofty goal and takes disarmament as a main means to accomplish this goal. To this end, the successive UN general assemblies and the committees concerned have reviewed disarmament and security issues as top items on their agenda and adopted many resolutions to promote the process of disarmament , stem the arms race and reduce the threat of war.


China loves peace and needs to develop itself in a peaceful environment. Since regaining its lawful seat in the United Nations in 1971, China has actively participated in various international conferences and meetings on reviewing disarmament. China observes the following basic principles regarding disarmament: China opposes the armed race and calls for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, chemical weapons and biological weapons and the drastic reduction of conventional armament. It calls for the prevention of arms race in the outer space and calls on countries with the largest nuclear and conventional weapons in the world to take initiative in drastically reducing armament. Since disarmament bears upon peace and security of all countries, all the countries have the right to participate in the discussion and settlement of disarmament on an equal basis. Disarmament should not be monopolized by a few big powers. Disarmament is aimed to promote world peace. Thus, while carrying out disarmament, it is imperative to oppose hegemony and power politics, stop aggression and resolve regional conflicts in a just and equitable way. The Charter of the United Nations and the basic principles of the international law should be observed in international relations and every effort should be made to establish a just and equitable new international order on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.


China has always been in favor of complete and thorough disarmament. It has taken an active part in the disarmament negotiations in the United Nations and put forward a series of proposals on disarmament. At the Second Special UN General Assembly on Disarmament held in 1982, China advanced six basic principles and four major steps for disarmament which were well received by other countries attending the assembly. In response to the United Nations? initiative on having an international year of peace, China held in march, 1986 in Beijing a meeting on upholding world peace at which it once again expounded its position on disarmament. In December, 1986, two resolutions on nuclear disarmament and conventional disarmament were put forward by China and adopted at the UN General Assembly. In 1987, as the host country, China convened in cooperation with the United Nations a regional seminar on the disarmament movement in the world. China not only stands for disarmament, but has also taken initiatives for disarmament. In June, 1986, China unilaterally declared a cut of one million troops, which was followed by a decision in September, 1997 to cut another half a million troops. China has thus made major contributions to international disarmament and upholding world peace.