China Urges Int'l Consensus on Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, September 04, 2003

China Urges Int'l Consensus on Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

It is imperative to further expand the international consensus on banning nuclear test explosions and speed up the ratification process so as to promote the early entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), a top Chinese diplomat said Thursday in Vienna.

Zhang Yan, China's ambassador to the Office of the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna and head of the Chinese delegation to the ongoing 2003 CTBT conference, told the conference that multilateralism is now confronted with challenge, and that international non-proliferation is in an increasingly grave situation.

"The conclusion of the CTBT represents a major step of milestone significance toward comprehensive and complete nuclear disarmament and a world free of nuclear weapons," Zhang said.

Although the CTBT has not yet come into force, its purposes and objectives have increasingly become basic international norms and played an indispensable role in preventing nuclear weapons proliferation, he added.

Zhang called on the international community to create a sound international security environment, to firmly uphold the purposes and principles of the CTBT, and to actively support and fully participate in the work of the CTBT preparation committee.

As for China's stance on the test ban issue, Zhang said China has all along stood for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, and worked hard to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

"The Chinese government supports and attaches importance to the treaty and has been working unswervingly for its early entry into force," he said.

Zhang stressed that China, as a nuclear weapon state and one of the 44 states whose ratification is required for the treaty to come into force, firmly supports the CTBT and fully realize its special responsibility for the treaty's entry into force.

At present, China's National People's Congress is performing its due ratification formalities in accordance with relevant constitutional procedures, said Zhang.

The Chinese ambassador pledged that the Chinese government "will continue to do its utmost to have the ratification procedure completed by the NPC at an early date."

The 2003 Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the CTBT kicked off on Wednesday in the Austria Center in Vienna, with the participation of delegates from 71 countries and 19 non-governmental organizations.

The three-day conference is expected to examine ways and means to facilitate the CTBT's entry into force, to renew global awareness of the treaty and to encourage countries which have not yet ratified it to do so.

Drafted at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and opened for signature on Sept. 24, 1996, the treaty bans all nuclear tests in any environment. To date, 168 states have signed the treaty and104 have ratified it. The treaty will come into force 180 days after all the 44 nuclear states deposit the documents of ratification to the United Nations.

The conference is the third of its kind, with the two previous ones held in 1999 in Vienna, and in 2001 in New York.

Questions?Comments? Click here

China Reaffirms Position on Nuclear Weapons, Tests

China Urges Acceleration of Process of CTBT's Entry into Force

Beijing Six-party Talks Reach Six-Point Consensus ( 17 Messages)

Who's Going to Close "the Gate of Hell"? ( 3 Messages)

DPRK Accuses US of Insincerity at Six-party Talks ( 16 Messages)

Commentary Urges No Interference with Chinese Yuan ( 18 Messages)

Why Japanese PM Proposes Amending Constitution Now ( 22 Messages)