Mr. Chair,

The Chinese delegation congratulates you on assuming the chairmanship of Main Committee I. China has always stood for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons.

At present, the international security landscape is undergoing profound and complex changes, which has severely worsened the environment for advancing nuclear disarmament. A certain nuclear superpower has wantonly trampled on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, waged wars in various places and stoked bloc confrontation. This has affected security threats and risk assessments of all countries and increased the risk of international and regional arms races. This nuclear superpower is spending enormous sums in modernizing its nuclear triads, ramping up technical preparations for the use of nuclear weapons in war-fighting, and developing low-yield nuclear weapons. Its impulse to seek absolute strategic advantage has exceeds its political will to fulfill its special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament.

The Review Conference must focus on the above-mentioned issues, encourage all parties to return to a rational and pragmatic approach and push the nuclear disarmament process back onto the right track. To this end, China advocates the following:

First, uphold the widely-recognized important principles of “maintaining global strategic stability” and “undiminished security for all” , and promote nuclear disarmament in a step-by-step manner. The Nuclear Weapon States possessing the largest arsenals should earnestly fulfill their special and primary responsibilities for nuclear disarmament by further reducing their nuclear arsenals, thereby creating conditions for other Nuclear Weapon States to join the nuclear disarmament process. China is concerned about the expiration of the New START treaty(namely Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms) , and calls on the relevant country to positively consider the Russian proposal and address the follow-up arrangements in a responsible manner.

Second, uphold international security and global strategic stability. The RevCon should express concerns over the lapse of arms control legal instruments such as the ABM Treaty and the INF Treaty. Relevant country is urged to stop developing and deploying missile defense systems that undermine global strategic stability. Relevant Nuclear Weapon State should withdraw all nuclear weapons deployed abroad, back to its own territory as soon as possible, and should not deploy nuclear weapons or build nuclear weapon infrastructure in other countries.

Countries participating in “nuclear sharing” and “extended deterrence” arrangements, must reduce the role of nuclear weapons in their national security policies and stop creating obstacles to nuclear disarmament.

Third, strengthen the common will of all countries to prevent nuclear war, and in particular，strengthen security assurances for Non-Nuclear-Weapon States. The five Nuclear-Weapon states should continue to implement the Joint Statement on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races, and should not list any country as a target of nuclear strikes. As a first step, all Nuclear-Weapon States should publicly commit to not seeking permanent possession of nuclear weapons, abandon the erroneous notion of using nuclear weapons in war-fighting, renounce policies of first use of nuclear weapons and enter into negotiations as soon as possible to conclude a treaty on Mutual No First Use of Nuclear Weapons.

Nuclear-Weapon States should respond positively to the legitimate demands of Non-Nuclear-Weapon States to be free from nuclear threats, begin negotiations at an early date to conclude an international legal instrument providing negative security assurances to Non-Nuclear-Weapon States and sign and ratify the protocols to nuclear-weapon-free-zone treaties.

Fourth, take a rational approach to address the transparency issue related to nuclear weapons. Nuclear-Weapon States differs from each other in their nuclear forces, policies and strategic security environments, leading to diverse emphasis regarding transparency. There is no one size fits all answer when it comes to transparency measures. Nuclear-Weapons States should explore transparency measures on a voluntary and equal basis and without compromising their national security, so as to enhance strategic mutual trust. Non-Nuclear-Weapon States participating “nuclear sharing” arrangements should likewise assume responsibilities for transparency.

China has already submitted multiple position papers elaborating its policies and stances on nuclear disarmament through the review cycle. China will continue to take concrete actions to uphold the international nuclear disarmament system and make contributions to strengthening the NPT regime.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.