China supports efforts to reinforce the protection of nuclear facilities and opposes using force to threaten countries which own nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes, a Chinese representative said on Monday in Vienna.

About 350 delegates from 91 signatory countries to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material began a five-day meeting here Monday on the revamping of the treaty, which they said fails to go far enough to safeguard nuclear power plants from terrorism.

Wu Hailong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters that China, a signatory to the treaty, has submitted to the meeting its proposed amendment.

The Chinese government always attaches importance to the protection of nuclear material and supports the active role of the IAEA in this regard, said Wu.

China supports the international community in its bid to improve and perfect related international legal mechanism in accordance with the changing international security situation, to prevent and combat terrorism, he said.

Since its formal entry into the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material in 1989, China has strictly carried out its duties under the treaty, Wu noted.

China also has seriously and responsibly participated in the process to amend the treaty since the process started on Nov. 11, 1991, he added.

China holds that any amendment to the treaty should help reinforce the protection of nuclear material and facilities for peaceful purposes, Wu said, noting that China opposes all forms of threats by force to countries which own nuclear facilities for peaceful goals.

The Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, signed in Vienna and New York in 1980, is aimed at promoting the peaceful use and protection of nuclear material. The ongoing meeting in Vienna will discuss more than 10 changes proposed by some 20 signatory countries.

Source: Xinhua