Working Paper Submitted by China

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Conference on Disarmament

General Assembly First Committee

UN Disarmament Commission

Special Session on Disarmament

Working paper submitted by China

The Chinese delegation hereby submits the following proposals for inclusion in the report of Main Committee I and the final document of the 2000 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons:
1. The States Parties to the Treaty believe that the complete prohibition and total elimination of nuclear weapons and the realization of a nuclear-weapon-free world will remove forever the menace of nuclear weapons facing humankind, thus greatly enhancing international peace and security.

2. The States Parties believe that the process of nuclear disarmament is closely linked to the international security situation and the national security environment of various States. Therefore, the States Parties commit themselves to a new concept of common security based upon mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation.

3. All the nuclear-weapon States Parties commit themselves to the goal of the complete prohibition and total elimination of nuclear weapons and to negotiate and conclude as soon as possible a convention on the complete prohibition of nuclear weapons.

4. The States Parties emphasize that any nuclear disarmament measures should follow the principle of maintaining global strategic stability and undiminished security for every State.

5. The States Parties welcome the declaration of the nuclear-weapon States that none of their nuclear weapons are targeted at any State, and urge all the nuclear-weapon States to renounce the nuclear deterrence policy characterized by "the first use of nuclear weapons", to commit themselves unconditionally not to be the first to use nuclear weapons and to conclude an international legal instrument to this effect.

6. The States Parties request that all the nuclear-weapon States commit themselves unconditionally not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon States or nuclear-weapon-free zones and that the relevant international legal instrument should be concluded.

7. The States Parties believe that the nuclear-weapon States possessing the largest nuclear arsenals bear special responsibility for nuclear disarmament. They should make further progress in their bilateral or unilateral disarmament process and continue to reduce drastically their respective nuclear arsenals, following the principle of irreversibility.

8. The States Parties welcome the ratification of START II by the Russian State Duma, call upon the United States of America to ratify the relevant protocols so that the Treaty will be implemented at an early date, and hope to see the inception of negotiations on START III as soon as possible.

9 The States Parties request that the nuclear-weapon States undertake to withdraw and return home all the nuclear weapons deployed outside their territories.

10. The States Parties reiterate that all States, and the nuclear-weapon States in particular, should support the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones, respect the status of those zones and undertake the relevant obligations.

11. The States Parties request that the nuclear-weapon States and the non-nuclear-weapon States concerned should forego the "nuclear umbrella" policy and the practice of "nuclear sharing".

12. The States Parties regret that the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty has not entered into force after being open for signature for over three years, and are deeply concerned over the rejection of the ratification of the Treaty by the United States Senate in October 1999. The States Parties call upon the States that have not signed or ratified the Treaty to accelerate the process of signing or ratification in order to promote the early entry into force of the Treaty.

13. The States Parties stress that the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty remains a cornerstone for maintaining global strategic balance and stability, and that any violation of the Treaty will disrupt the global strategic balance and stability and have a negative impact on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation efforts, thus undermining the interests of the whole international community.

14. The States Parties call upon the parties to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to fully and strictly abide by the Treaty, maintain the integrity and effectiveness of the Treaty and undertake not to conduct research on, develop, deploy or cause the proliferation of missile defence systems which undermine the global and regional strategic balance and stability and could trigger an arms race.

15. The States Parties express their grave concerns over the ongoing intensive research on and testing of outer space weapons, which will lead to the weaponization of outer space and a new arms race. The States Parties call upon the countries concerned not to conduct research on, develop, test, deploy or use any weapon, weapons systems or their components in outer space, and to undertake to destroy all such weapons currently in existence.

16. The States Parties regret that the Conference on Disarmament has not been able to reach an agreement on a comprehensive and balanced programme of work which will start the negotiations on the prevention of an arms race in outer space, nuclear disarmament and a fissile material cut-off treaty.

17. The States Parties urge the Conference on Disarmament immediately to:

– Establish an ad hoc committee on the prevention of an arms race in outer space and conduct negotiations;

– Establish an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament and conduct negotiations;

– Establish an ad hoc committee on a fissile material cut-off treaty on the basis of the Shannon report and the mandate contained therein and conduct negotiations.