China's efforts towards arms control and
disarmament have proven to the world that it is positive, sincere and
responsible regards resolving this issue. China has been and always will
remain a reliable force in the cause of safeguarding world peace and
promoting mankind's common development.
I. Promoting Peace and Development for All Mankind
Working for lasting world peace and creating a happy life and an
advanced culture for all mankind, lofty ideals held by all the world's
peoples, are likewise the sincerely held aspirations of the Chinese
people.
The Chinese nation loves peace dearly and has made major contributions
to peace and other progressive causes for all of mankind. Modern history
has served as grim witness to China's great sufferings and the humiliation
of the Chinese people as the result of imperialist and colonialist
invasion and partition. Countless Chinese sons and daughters shed their
blood or laid down their lives to free the nation from this cruel bondage
and plundering, advancing wave upon wave, until national liberation and
independence were finally won under the leadership of the Communist Party
of China. The Chinese people know only too well the true value of
independence, sovereignty and equality.
China's guiding principle of seeking peace and development has been
reflected in each of the constitutions the nation has adopted since the
founding of New China. The Common Programme of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference, which was passed at the First Plenary
Session of the CPPCC in September, 1949 and served as a provisional state
constitution, affirmed that China would "stand for lasting international
peace and friendly cooperation among the people of the world, and oppose
the imperialist policies of aggression and war." The Constitution of 1954
stipulated that "the steadfast policy of our country in international
affairs is to work hard for the lofty goal of world peace and progress for
mankind." The present Constitution, adopted in 1982, once again states
that China "strives to safeguard world peace and promote the cause of
human progress."
The forces for world peace have grown rapidly since the 1980s, and
peace and development have become the two major issues of the day. China's
scientific analysis of the development trends and characteristics of the
international situation has produced the conclusion that with the
concerted efforts of people throughout the world, a new world war can not
only be deferred but it can possibly be avoided as well. In the new era of
peace and development, the task of first importance facing the Chinese
people is to develop the economy and change the poverty and backwardness
of the nation. With this in mind, China has focused its development
strategy on economic construction.
China's modernization programme is an important component of the cause
for the common development and progress of mankind. A peaceful
international environment is necessary for China's development and a
prosperous and stable China, in turn, will increasingly benefit world
peace. For this reason, China unwaveringly pursues a foreign policy of
peace and independence. It resolutely protects its national independence
and sovereignty and opposes foreign interference; seeks to establish and
develop extensive, friendly relations with all the world's countries on
the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, strengthen unity
and cooperation with developing countries and actively develop
good-neighbourly relations with bordering nations; stands for the
proposition that all nations, big or small, are equal and opposes
hegemonism and power politics in any form; advocates the settlement of
international disputes through peaceful means; and opposes the threat or
use of force in international relations.
China's national defence policy is defensive in nature. Its basic goals
are to consolidate national defence, resist foreign aggression, defend the
nation's sovereignty over its land, sea and air as well as its maritime
rights and interests, and safeguard national unity and security. National
defence work in China is subordinate to and in service of the nation's
overall economic construction, adhering to the principles of "combining
peacetime with wartime" and "integrating the army with the people." In
terms of military strategy, China follows a policy of positive defence and
adheres to the idea of people's war. China does not seek world or regional
hegemony. China does not station any troops or set up any military bases
in any foreign country. China's national defence construction is not
directed against any country, and thus, does not pose a threat to any
country.
During the course of foreign policy implementation and national defence
construction, China attaches importance to the active role of arms control
and disarmament, holding that arms control and disarmament are conducive
to reducing and eliminating the danger of war and increasing factors for
international peace and security. Such controls and reductions will help
improve relations and mutual trusamong nations and will enable the
contribution of more resources, capital and technology to economic and
social development.
Protracted, unremitting efforts by the international community have led
to great progress in international arms control and disarmament in the
past few years. Nonetheless, mankind should remain coolly cognizant that
the path to international arms control and disarmament is still extremely
complex and difficult. While some progress has been made in nuclear
disarmament, the major nuclear powers, with the world's most sophisticated
and largest quantity of nuclear weapons in hand, have neither abandoned
their policy of nuclear deterrence nor stopped the development of nuclear
weapons and outer space weapons including guided missile defence systems.
On the one hand, they vie with one another in dumping their advanced
weapons on the international market, even using weapons transfers as a
means to interfere in other nations' domestic affairs. On the other, they
resort to discriminative anti-proliferation and arms control measures,
directing the spearhead of arms control at the developing countries.
China holds that the international community should promote fair,
rational, comprehensive and balanced arms control and disarmament and
observe the following principles:
- All nations should follow the purposes and principles for
safeguarding international peace and security contained in the Charter of
the United Nations and other relevant international legal norms. At the
same time arms control and disarmament is worked for, aggression must be
curbed. Regional conflicts must be fairly and rationally resolved and
force or threat of force should not be used in international relations.
Hegemonism and power politics should be eliminated in international
relations, so as to create an international environment and conditions
favourable to disarmament.
- The ultimate goal of disarmament is the complete prohibition and
thorough destruction of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass
destruction (including chemical and biological weapons), the complete
prohibition of outer space weapons, and reductions in conventional arms as
befits actual circumstances. The big powers, possessors of the largest and
most sophisticated nuclear and conventional arsenals, bear a special
responsibility in arms control and disarmament
- Preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The
prevention of proliferation is not in itself the ultimate goal. Only
through complete prohibition and thorough destruction of such weapons can
proliferation be effectively prevented. Preventing proliferation should
neither present an obstacle to the just rights and interests of all
countries in the peaceful use of science and technology nor restrict or
harm economic, scientific and technological development in developing
countries.
- All nations have the right to maintaining an appropriate national
defence capability and to legitimate self-defence. It is necessary at all
stages of the arms control and disarmament process to ensure all nations
from sustaining damage to their security. All nations, big or small, have
the right to join in discussions and decisions on arms control and
disarmament on an equal basis. The implementation of international arms
control and disarmament must not impair the independence and sovereignty
of any nation, entail the use of force or the threat of force, or
interfere with the internal affairs of any nation.
- All countries, particularly developed nations, should strictly
control the transfer of sensitive materials, technologies and military
equipment, practise restraint and halt the irresponsible transfer of
weapons.
- All nations should endorse, respect and support the arms control and
disarmament measures adopted after voluntary consultation, negotiation and
agreement between nations and in light of actual regional circumstances.
For many years China has adhered to these basic principles, bearing its
due share of international arms control and disarmament obligations and
responsibilities, working hard to promote peace and development for
humanity.
II. Military
Personnel Reduced by One Million
In May, 1985,
China solemnly declared that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) would
reduce military personnel by one million. This was the most representative
of China's many unilateral moves to disarmament, giving proof of the
nation's determination to actively promote arms control and disarmament.
This action stood in sharp contrast to the arms race pursued by the two
major military blocs existing in the world at that time.
China's vast land and large population have justified the necessity of
maintaining a standing army of a certain size in order to maintain
national security. The PLA is a people's army led by the Communist Party
of China. Its duty is to consolidate national defence, resist aggression,
curb subversion and efforts to split the nation, defend the motherland,
safeguard the people's peaceful labour, join in building the country and
strive to serve the people.
While meeting the precondition of ensuring the interests of the
national security, China has always kept its military personnel at a
minimum level. For a long period following the founding of the People's
Republic, China was subject to isolation, blockade, subversion and
sabotage by the imperialists and hegemonists, and, as a result, the PLA
was often on a combat-ready alert. Even when faced with such
circumstances, China made great efforts towards arms control and twice, in
1955 and 1958, effected large-scale disarmament. The 1980s saw marked
improvement in China's security environment. In order to concentrate on
rapid economic development and to further raise the quality of its armed
forces, the precept guiding China's army-building was strategically
shifted from always being prepared against a massive war of invasion to
peacetime construction. China carried out large-scale disarmament in order
to effect this goal.
As a prelude to this extensive unilateral disarmament, the Chinese
armed forces were reduced, reorganized and restructured between 1982 and
1984. In May, 1985, China decided to reduce its military personnel by one
million. Action on this scale was rare in the sphere of contemporary
international arms control and disarmament.
- Reducing personnel. By 1987, the 4.238-million-strong PLA had been
reduced to 3.235 million. Subsequently, still further reductions were
made. By 1990, the PLA manpower was reduced to 3.199 million, overshooting
the declared target of one million men. The 1.039 million demobilized
soldiers represented 24.5 percent of the army's original strength.
- Dismantling and merging portions of the military organization.
Reapportionment and merger reduced the number of military area commands
from eleven to seven. More than 5,900 units above the regimental level
were dispersed through dismantling, merging, demoting or reforming.
- Adoption of a civil position system. Most of the officers on active
duty working in scientific research, engineering, education, literature
and arts and public health were reclassified as working in civil positions
within the army.
- Reductions in weaponry. Throughout the armed forces 10,000 artillery
pieces of various kinds were removed from service, along with over 1,100
tanks, approximately 2,500 airplanes, and over 610 naval vessels.
- Opening certain military facilities to the public. Nationwide, 101
military airports and 29 military harbours have been opened to the public,
and some military facilities have been put to civilian use.
China's unilateral, massive reduction of its armed forces took place at
a time when the cold war was still on and the protracted disarmament talks
between the U.S. and the Soviet Union were still without outcome. This
action was not only conducive to slowing the arms race between the two
major blocs, the East and West, and to the relaxation of international
tension at the time, but also beneficial to the gradual creation of an
atmosphere of mutual trust among the world's nations, and the improvement
of the environment for arms control and disarmament and was thus a major
contribution towards promoting the process of the international arms
control and disarmament.
III. Maintaining a Low Level of Defence
Spending
China has consistently stressed rationally scaled expenditure on
defence. The costs of defence are appropriately allocated based on the
nation's financial capacities, while retaining the premise of overall
balance. Key areas are guaranteed attention, funds are rationally used and
strict economy practised so as to ensure maximum benefit and be sure that
the minimum requirements for national defence work are met within the
limited budget. Since the initiation of the reform and opening policy,
China has placed work in defence in a position subordinate to and in
service of overall national economic construction. Relatively major
reapportionments and reductions have been made so as to strictly control
defence spending.
China has consistently adopted a serious-minded attitude towards the
management of spending on defence. A complete administrative and
regulatory system tightly geared to the principles of strict control,
strict management and strict supervision has been established and fine
tuned. China's defence budget and final accounts are examined and approved
by the National People's Congress and must be strictly implemented once
approved. The state and military auditing departments examine and
supervise defence appropriations and the results thereby produced so as to
ensure that defence expenditure is strictly implemented and rationally
used.
In 1994, China's expenditure on national defence totalled 55.071
billion RMB yuan; 34.09 percent (18.774 billion yuan) was spent on living
expenses, principally on salaries, food and uniforms; 34.22 percent
(18.845 billion yuan) was spent on maintenance of activities, principally
military training, construction and maintenance of facilities, water,
electricity and heating; 31.69 percent (17.452 billion yuan) was spent on
equipment, including research, test, purchase, maintenance, transportation
and storage. Thus, maintenance-type activities absorb the largest portion
of the defence budget. Moreover, of this expenditure, in addition to that
spent to ensure the personnel's living and normal activities a
considerable sum, nearly 3.7 billion yuan, is spent to fund activities
associated with social welfare, such as pensions for retired officers and
schools and kindergartens for children of military personnel.
Plain living and hard working is the people's army's fine tradition.
The PLA economizes by frequently inventorying warehouses to make the best
use of stored goods and repairing rather than replacing old facilities and
equipment. In addition, in so far as is within its capacity it joins in
agricultural, sideline and industrial production and engages in business.
These activities are primarily undertaken to provide employment for the
families of military personnel, to improve life culturally and materially
in grass-roots units and to support the nation's overall economic
construction.
China's expenditure on national defence has consistently been kept at a
low level necessary to ensure that the requirements for national security
are met. Between 1979 and 1994 defence spending increased 6.22 percent
annually in absolute terms. Over that same period, the general retail
price index of commodities increased 7.7 percent annually. During these
sixteen years an expenditure of 581.294 billion yuan would have been
needed to maintain the 1979 level of defence spending. However, only 71.65
percent of this figure, 416.499 billion yuan, was appropriated.
Expenditure on personnel's living expenses was increased by a large margin
to keep up with the spiralling costs of living. In recent years, increases
in annual defence spending have for the most part simply matched price
increases or gone to ensure the standard of living of personnel.
China has a fairly low level of defence spending compared with that
announced by other countries. It spent only US$ 6.39 billion on defence in
1994 (calculated at the average annual exchange rate of the RMB yuan to
the US dollar), 2.3 percent that spent by the United States, 18.3 percent
that by Britain, 18.6 percent that by France and 13.9 percent that by
Japan. Per capita defence spending by that year was only US$ 5.36.
China's spending on defence is low in relative terms as well as
absolute terms. In 1979, defence expenditure in China accounted for 5.6
percent of the gross domestic product (GDP); in 1994, 1.3 percent. This
may be compared with 4.2 percent in the United States, 3.6 percent in
Britain and 3.18 percent in France. Again, in 1979, defence accounted for
18.5 percent of total expenditure by the Chinese government; in 1994, 9.5
percent. In the United States this figure stood at 18.9 percent, in
Britain 9.64 percent and in France 13.6 percent.
As these facts make clear, China has a pattern of low expenditure on
defence. As long as there is no serious threat to the nation's sovereignty
or security, China will not increase its defence spending substantially or
by a large margin. It will never threaten or invade any other
country.
IV. Peaceful
Uses for Military Industrial Technologies
Beginning at the end of the 1970s, China began a planned and
comprehensive transfer of defence technologies to civilian use. This
transfer is part of the nation's development strategy and will not only
promote national economic development but also help to consolidate China's
achievements in arms control and disarmament.
During the course of this transfer, China has effected a major
readjustment in military products research and production capacity,
converting two thirds to serving economic construction. In addition, it
has reformed the management system and the industrial and product
structures of the defence industry, putting its accomplishments in defence
technologies to civilian use.
In 1989, the central government established a "civilian applications of
military technology liason group" comprised of the State Planning
Commission, the State Scientific and Technological Commission and the
Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence. In
provinces and municipalities with concentrations of defence industries,
leading groups have been established to coordinate the transfer from
military to civilian use, strengthening organization in the organic
inclusion of such transfers in national, regional and industrial
development plans. Today, the government departments formerly in charge of
military production have already been changed into general corporations
within their respective trades and, in accordance with the principles of
the socialist market economy, will step by step develop into economic
entities engaging in research, production and business.
During the Sixth (1981-1985) and Seventh (1986-1990) Five-Year Plans
for economic and social development, China invested approximately four
billion yuan in projects aimed at effecting the transfer. During the
Eighth Five-Year Plan (1991-1995), an additional more than ten billion
yuan has been invested. The military industrial enterprises enjoy the same
series of preferential policies and reform measures the central government
offers for facilitating the operation of enterprises and follow the
contract responsibility system. As is stipulated in their contracts, these
enterprises will surrender a portion of their profits to the government in
addition to taxes. The remaining profits produced by civilian goods will
be mostly used to boost production of such goods and improve the lives of
those working for the enterprises.
Transforming China's defence industry gradually from its former
incarnation as a monolithic producer of military products to today's
diversified producer of products for military and civilian consumers has
ensured that the needs of peacetime national defence construction are met,
while at the same time producing high-quality industrial and consumer
goods for society at large, thus playing an important role in national
economic construction. As a result of technical transformation and new
construction under the direction of the national industrial policy,
approximately 450 production lines are now operating in the defence
industry at a certain economic scale producing civilian consumer goods.
The output value of civilian consumer goods produced by defence industry
departments has been increasing 20 percent per annum and in 1994
represented approximately 80 percent of the total output value of such
departments as opposed to 8 percent in 1979.
Today, such enterprises have the capacity to produce more than 15,000
products for civilian use in over 50 categories. Products include those
used in telecommunications, energy resources, transportation, textiles and
other light industries, medicine and health, and engineering and building
industries. Outputs of some products have made a substantial contribution
to the nation's total, for example automobiles (9 percent), motorcycles
(60 percent), freight trains (26 percent) and coal excavation equipment
(24 percent). In addition, these enterprises have used military facilities
and technology to bring many products and projects from the drawing board
to production including the Yun-5, Yun-7, Yun-8 and Yun-12 civil aircraft,
the MD-82 and MD-90 large passenger airplanes (produced in cooperation
with a foreign partner), the Galaxy-II supercomputer capable of handling 1
billion operations per second and its application software, the 300,000-KW
Qinshan Nuclear Power Station, shuttle oil tankers, multi-function
container ships, large air-cooled container ships and other new and
hi-tech products. Between 1984 and 1994, China launched 11 satellites for
civilian applications. Newly launched communications satellites have
increased satellite television coverage in China to 82 percent. The
meteorological satellite system has brought increased accuracy to weather
forecasting, substantially reducing economic losses due to natural
calamities. Satellite remote sensing technology has produced great
economic benefits.
China has established a centre for the application of the national
defence technologies and a network to disseminate products and information
in order to better convert such technologies to civilian use in a planned
way. In the last dozen or so years, more than 2,500 defence technologies
have been released for civilian use, greatly promoting technological
progress and development in relevant fields.
The defence industry has cooperated extensively with foreign partners
in developing products for civilian use. By 1994, over 300 such joint
ventures had been established in China.
China's efforts to benefit mankind through military technology have
drawn the attention of the international community. The seminars on the
transfer of military technology to civilian use jointly held by China and
the United Nations in Beijing and in Hong Kong received positive worldwide
response. The declaration on such transfers issued by the 1993 Hong Kong
seminar stated that world peace and sustained economic development are the
common wish of all the world's people; disarmament and peace are
complementary, and the transfer of military technology to civilian use is
an indispensable link in the chain of promotion of disarmament, and the
resulting promotion of peace and development.
The transfer of military technology to civilian use has contributed to
national economic construction in China and moreover provided various
countries in the world with successful experience for such conversion in
peacetime.
V. Strict
Control over the Transferof Sensitive Materials and Military
Equipment
The transfer of sensitive materials and military equipment is a major
issue in the field of international arms control and disarmament and one
which China has consistently approached with the utmost gravity.
China supports the three major goals set forth in the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT): preventing the spread of
nuclear weapons, accelerating nuclear disarmament, and promoting
international cooperation in the peaceful utilization of nuclear energy.
China has consistently stood for the complete prohibition and thorough
destruction of nuclear weapons, pursuing a policy of not supporting,
encouraging or engaging in the proliferation of nuclear weapons and not
assisting any other country in the development of such weapons. At the
same time, China holds that preventing the proliferation of nuclear
weapons should not proceed without due regard for the just rights and
interests of all countries in the peaceful use of nuclear energy,
particularly in the case of developing countries. There must not be a
double standard whereby anti-nuclear proliferation is used as a pretext to
limit or retard the peaceful use of nuclear energy by developing nations.
China holds that the safeguard regime of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) is an important component of the efforts to assure
the effectiveness of the NPT. Even prior to acceding to the treaty, China
undertook to fulfill the obligations stipulated by the IAEA Statute,
including the obligation to apply IAEA safeguard. Since 1992 when it
became a party to the treaty, it has strictly fulfilled all its
obligations under the Treaty, including the obligation to cooperate fully
with the IAEA in safeguard application. China follows three principles
regarding nuclear exports: exports serving peaceful use only, accepting
IAEA's safeguards and no retransfers to a third country without China's
consent. Only specialized government-designated companies can handle
nuclear exports and in each instance they must apply for approval from
relevant governmental departments. All exports of nuclear materials and
equipment will be subject to IAEA safeguard. China has never exported
sensitive technologies such as those for uranium enrichment, reprocessing
and heavy water production.
With a view to supporting IAEA safeguard, in November, 1991, China
officially declared that on a continuing basis it would report to the IAEA
any export to or import from non-nuclear-weapon states involving nuclear
materials of one effective kilogramme or above. In July, 1993, China
formally promised that it would voluntarily report to the agency any
imports or exports of nuclear materials, and all exports of nuclear
equipment and related non-nuclear materials.
In 1985, China declared that it would of its own free will submit part
of its civilian nuclear facilities to the IAEA for safeguards. In 1988
China and the IAEA signed an agreement on voluntary safeguard, under which
China provided the IAEA with a listing of facilities subject to such
safeguard and established SSAC. The system is supervised, administered and
operated respectively by the competent government department, the facility
concerned and technological support unit. The competent government
department is responsible for organizing the implementation of the
safeguard agreement between China and the IAEA. The nuclear facility
management is responsible for establishing measurement, recording and
reporting regimes in line with the requirements of the agreement, as well
as receiving on-site investigations by IAEA inspectors.
China has consistently advocated the complete prohibition and thorough
destruction of chemical weapons. It does not produce or possess chemical
weapons. China was in the first group of countries to sign the Convention
on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of
Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, and joined in the work of the
Preparatory Commission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons in a conscientious and constructive manner. China itself suffered
greatly from chemical weapons in the past. Large quantities of chemical
weapons abandoned by Japanese aggressor troops are found in China to this
day, which still threaten the safety and lives and the living environment
of the local people. China demands that, in keeping with the stipulations
of the convention, the country leaving chemical weapons in another country
destroy all such weapons as soon as possible. China hopes that the
convention will go into effect at an early date and be thoroughly and
effectively implemented, so as to free mankind as soon as possible from
the threat of chemical weapons and bring about a world free of such
weapons.
China has a massive civilian chemical industry. It is, however, very
cautious and responsible regards the export of chemicals that could be
used to manufacture chemical weapons and related technologies and
equipment, refusing such exports if they are to be used for the purpose of
manufacturing chemical weapons. In order to ensure these items if exported
not to be used in the production of chemical weapons, the Chinese
government has drafted regulations and measures for the control of their
exportation. A detailed list of chemicals subject to export control has
been drawn up in accordance with the Verification Annex of the convention.
Import and export of chemicals on this list and technologies and equipment
used in their manufacture are under the centralized management of the
Ministry of Chemical Industry (MCI). Business related to such imports and
exports is handled by specialized enterprises designated by MCI and the
Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC). MCI, MOFTEC
and the General Administration of Customs (GAC) take joint responsibility
for examining and approving imports and exports, issuing licenses and
making inspections. China insists that the governments of importing
countries provide assurances that the relevant goods imported from China
not be used to manufacture chemical weapons or retransferred to a third
country.
China has consistently advocated a complete prohibition and thorough
destruction of biological weapons. It opposes the production of biological
weapons by any country and their proliferation in any form by any country.
In 1984 China acceded to the Convention on the Prohibition of the
Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological)
and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, and since that date it has
fully and conscientiously fulfilled its obligations under the convention.
Since 1987 China has year after year reported to the United Nations on
convention-related information and data in accordance with the decisions
of the Review Conferences of the convention. China supports measures that
help strengthen the effectiveness of the convention. It will actively join
in discussions of the Ad Hoc Group on promoting international cooperation,
enhancing trust, strengthening verification, and other issues. With regard
to the transfer of military equipment and related technology, China
respects the right of every country to self-defence aimed at safeguarding
its own security in accordance with the relevant principles contained in
the Charter of the United Nations, but at the same time it is very
concerned about the adverse effects on world security and regional
stability arising from excessive accumulations of weaponry.
For many years until the early 1980s, China did not engage in weapons
export trade, and since then the volume of such exports has been limited.
In accordance with a resolution by the UN General Assembly, China
participates in the United Nations register of conventional arms
transfers. As these records make clear, China's exports of conventional
weapons are only a small portion of those of the United States, Russia,
Britain, France or Germany.
China consistently adheres to a series of principles on conventional
weapons transfers. The export of such weapons should help the recipient
nation increase its appropriate defence capacity. The transfer must not
impair peace, safety or stability regionally or globally. China does not
use trade in weaponry to interfere in sovereign states' internal affairs.
China strictly controls transfers of military equipment and related
technologies and has established an appropriate administrative
organization and operating mechanism to achieve this goal. The State
Administrative Committee on Military Products Trade (SACMPT), under the
leadership of the State Council and the Central Military Commission, is
responsible for the centralized control of transfers of military equipment
and related technologies. Its main function is drafting laws and policies
governing such transfers. It is mainly comprised of leading personnel of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Headquarters of the General Staff,
the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence,
MOFTEC and other relevant departments. As the administrative arm of the
SACMPT, the State Bureau of Military Products Trade is responsible for
handling day-to-day affairs.
Governmental departments and companies engaged in transfers of military
equipment and technologies must be authorized, registered and approved by
the government. Their business activities must remain strictly within the
scope of operation approved. Contracts for transfer of military equipment
and technologies require approval before gaining effect. Major transfer
items and contracts must be examined by the SACMPT and approved by the
State Council and the Central Military Commission. Stern legal sanctions
shall be taken against any company or individual who transfers military
equipment and technologies without proper governmental examination and
approval.
The principles and measures to prevent the proliferation of weaponry
and unwarranted transfers of military equipment that China has
consistently upheld have helped preserve world peace and regional
stability and promote the healthy development of international arms
control and disarmament.
VI. Actively Promoting International Arms Control and
Disarmament
China has always held that common
effort by all nations is necessary to realize disarmament and safeguard
world peace. It has long stressed and supported international community's
sustained efforts to promote arms control and disarmament. Since China was
restored to its rightful seat in the United Nations in 1971, it has even
more actively participated in international arms control and disarmament
activities.
China conscientiously attends meetings of the United Nations General
Assembly, the First Committee which considers issues on disarmament and
international security and the Disarmament Commission of the United
Nations. It sent highlevel delegations to the three UN special sessions on
disarmament issues and to the UN Conference on the Relationship Between
Disarmament and Development
China stresses and supports the conclusion of arms control and
disarmament agreements and treaties through negotiation. Beginning in
1980, it has formally joined in the work of the Geneva Conference on
Disarmament and has actively promoted negotiations on a wide variety of
disarmament issues and the conclusion of relevant conventions.
China appreciates and supports disarmament activities proposed by the
United Nations. In 1987, China, in cooperation with the United Nations,
hosted the Regional Symposium on World Disarmament Campaign in Beijing. In
response to United Nations' proposals, China carried out extensive
publicity on disarmament issues and implemented a series of nationwide
activities including an "International Peace Year" and a "Disarmament
Decade." On many occasions it sent representatives to UN expert group
meetings and symposiums on disarmament and international security issues,
conscientiously and responsibly making its own contribution to the
drafting of fair and rational research reports.
In international disarmament activities China has consistently given
active support to reasonable disarmament proposals and initiatives by the
Third World countries. In the early 1970s, China supported the proposal by
Sri Lanka and other countries that the Indian Ocean be designated a Zone
of Peace. In 1973, China signed the Additional Protocol II of the Treaty
for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean
(Treaty of Tlatelolco) and in 1987 the relevant protocols of the South
Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga). China has always
respected and supported the demands of the countries concerned for the
establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones on the basis of voluntary
consultation and agreement and in accordance with actual local
circumstances. Given this consistent position, China welcomes the African
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty agreed upon by the African nations, and
supports the proposal by relevant nations on the establishment of
nuclear-free zones in the Korean Peninsula, South Asia, Southeast Asia and
the Middle East. Correspondingly, China holds bilateral consultations with
various nations on arms control and disarmament issues, either on regular
or ad hoc basis.
China has acceded to a series of major international arms control and
disarmament treaties and conventions, including the Protocol for the
Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases,
and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, the Convention on Prohibition
or Restriction on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be
Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, the
Antarctic Treaty, the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of
States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and
Other Celestial Bodies, the Convention on the Prohibition of the
Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological)
and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, the Treaty on the Prohibition
of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass
Destruction on the Seabed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil Thereof,
and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. China is also
signatory to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,
Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their
Destruction. China attaches great importance to the active role these
international legal documents play in promoting international arms control
and disarmament and has earnestly and conscientiously fulfilled its own
obligations under the agreements. A Chinese delegation is currently
actively participating in the negotiation on the Comprehensive Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty and the Convention on Banning the Production of Fissile
Materials for Nuclear Weapons or Other Nuclear Explosive Devices.
China is actively promoting the international arms control and
disarmament process with both real actions on its own part and many
realistic and reasonable proposals. As early as 1963, the Chinese
government issued a statement calling for the complete, thorough, utter
and resolute prohibition and destruction of nuclear weapons. China has
persistently exercised great restraint in the development of nuclear
weapons and its nuclear arsenal has been very limited. It has developed
nuclear weapons for self-defence, not as a threat to other countries. It
has not joined and will not join in the nuclear arms race and has
consistently maintained restraint over nuclear testing.
The Chinese government has from the beginning opposed nuclear blackmail
and the nuclear deterrent policy. On October 16, 1964, the Chinese
government offered a solemn proposal: a summit conference be held to
discuss the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear
weapons and that nuclear-weapon states commit themselves not to use
nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free
zones or against each other. From the first day it gained nuclear weapons,
China has solemnly undertaken not to be the first to use nuclear weapons
at any time and in any circumstance and unconditionally not to use or
threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or
nuclear-weapon-free zones. China as a nuclear-weapon state never shies
away from its due obligations, advocating that nuclear-weapon states
should undertake not to be the first to use nuclear weapons and repeatedly
proposing that nuclear-weapon states negotiate and conclude an
international treaty on the no-first-use of nuclear weapons against each
other. In January 1994, China formally presented a draft for the Treaty on
the No-First-Use of Nuclear Weapons to the United States, Russia, Britain,
France and other countries, proposing that the five nuclear-weapon states
hold first-round discussions on the treaty in Beijing as soon as possible.
On April 5, 1995, China made another official statement, reiterating its
unconditional provision of "negative security assurance" to all
non-nuclear-weapon states, at the same time undertaking to provide these
nations with "positive security assurance." These positions taken by China
have won the support of a great many countries without nuclear weapons.
China advocates prevention of the proliferation of nuclear weapons as
part of the process of eliminating such weapons. In May 1995, at the
Conference on the Review and Extension of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, China supported the decision to
indefinitely extend the treaty and the three decisions on the principles
and objectives for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, on enhancing
the review process of the treaty and on the Middle East
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. China holds that the results of the conference
accord with the interests of all the parties to the treaty and will help
maintain world peace, security and stability. China believes that the
indefinite extension of this treaty reaffirms the objectives of
international cooperation in nuclear disarmament, the prevention of
nuclear proliferation and the promotion of the peaceful use of nuclear
energy and should not be interpreted as permitting the nuclear-weapon
states to retain possession of nuclear weapons forever.
During the cold war, China resolutely opposed the arms race between the
two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, and stressed that
the key to success in disarmament laid in the two superpowers taking real
action on their own initiative. In 1978 at the First Special Session on
Disarmament of the United Nations, China proposed that, as the two
superpowers had more nuclear and conventional arms than any other country,
they must take the lead in disarmament. In 1982 at the Second Special
Session on Disarmament of the United Nations, China went a step further by
putting forth a concrete proposal: The United States and the Soviet Union
should stotesting, improving and producing nuclear weapons and should take
the lead in drastically reducing their stockpiles of all types of nuclear
weapons and means of delivery. China's proposal that the "two superpowers
take the lead" met with uniform approval from the international community
and has played an active role in promoting negotiations between the two
nations, creating actual progress towards disarmament.
In an effort to step by step realize the objective of building a world
free from nuclear weapons, in 1994 China put forward a complete,
interrelated proposal for the nuclear disarmament process at the 49th
Session of the UN General Assembly. All nuclear-weapon states should
declare unconditionally that they will not be the first to use nuclear
weapons and immediately begin negotiations towards a treaty to this
effect; efforts to establish nuclear-weapon-free zones should be supported
and guarantees given not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against
non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones; a comprehensive
nuclear test ban treaty be negotiated and concluded no later than 1996;
the major nuclear powers should implement existing nuclear disarmament
treaties as scheduled and further substantially reduce their nuclear
weapon stockpiles; a convention banning production of fissile materials
for nuclear weapons be negotiated and concluded; a convention prohibiting
all nuclear weapons be signed, whereby all nuclear-weapon states undertake
to completely destroy existing stocks of nuclear weapons under effective
international supervision; prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons
while promoting nuclear disarmament process and international cooperation
in peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Nuclear disarmament and conventional disarmament have all along been
the two priority tasks in the sphere of disarmament. In 1986, China
presented two proposals on nuclear and conventional disarmament for the
first time at the UN General Assembly, pointing out that the United States
and the Soviet Union had special responsibilities both for nuclear and
conventional disarmament. Subsequently, for five years China had presented
these two proposals to the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, and
they had been adopted by consensus. This action on China's part played an
important role in generating real progress in nuclear and conventional
disarmament in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
China opposes the arms race in outer space. Beginning in 1984, it has
on numerous occasions proposed to the UN General Assembly draft
resolutions on preventing such arms race. China maintains that outer space
belongs to all mankind and should be used exclusively for peaceful
purposes. No country should develop any kind of weapon to be used in outer
space: outer space should be kept "weapon free."
In recent years, the issue of transparency in armaments has attracted a
great deal of attention in all countries. In 1991, China submitted a
working paper to the Disarmament Commission of the United Nations entitled
"Basic Positions on Objective Information on Military Matters," presenting
an overview of China's position: Transparency in armaments is aimed at
advancing peace, security and stability for every country and region and
the entire world; accordingly the fundamental principle that the security
of individual states should not be compromised should be upheld. The
specific measures for transparency should be decided on through equal
consultations by all countries and be implemented on voluntary basis.
These principles play an active role in promoting the implementation of
proper and feasible transparency measures.
China attaches great importance to regional disarmament. In 1991, China
submitted a working paper on regional disarmament to the Disarmament
Commission of the United Nations containing a complete set of principles
and positions. Bilateral, regional and multilateral disarmament should be
mutually promoting. The creation of favourable external conditions and
environment is absolutely necessary in the promotion of regional
disarmament; countries outside the region, particularly those with the
largest arsenals, should actively cooperate with and give energetic
support to regional disarmament efforts. In considering regional
disarmament issues, interregional differences in security environment and
level of armament should be acknowledged and respected; in terms of
measures to be taken or process to be followed there is no model
applicable for all regions. China's position as above was adopted in the
main in the Disarmament Commission's final document.
China is located in the Asian-Pacific region, and understandably is
specially concerned with the security, stability, peace and development in
this region. In 1994, China presented three basic objectives for the
region's security: maintenance of stability and prosperity in China,
safeguarding long-term peace and stability in its surrounding environment,
and initiating dialogues and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect
and equality. In cognizance of the Asian-Pacific region's particular
circumstances, China holds that with regard to security and cooperation in
the region the following principles and measures to realize them should be
followed and adopted: On the basis of the Charter of the United Nations
and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence [mutual respect for
territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression,
non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual
benefit, and peaceful coexistence], establish a new mutual respect and
friendly relationship between nations; with promoting common economic
development as the objective, establish economic relations based on
equality, mutual benefit and mutual cooperation; settle conflicts and
disputes between nations within the region through consultation on the
basis of the principle of equality and peaceful resolution, so as to step
by step remove the factors of instability in the region; with the
promotion of the region's peace and security as the purpose, adhere to the
principle of arms only being used in defence and refrain from any form of
arms race; and promote various forms of bilateral or multilateral
dialogues and consultations on security issue so as to strengthen trust
and understanding. China's position has won understanding and support from
most of the Asian-Pacific countries.
China has consistently stressed friendly, good-neighbourly relations
with adjacent countries and has actively promoted measures to establish
bilateral trust. In recent years, China has held multi-level consultations
with a number of neighbouring countries and has taken a series of
practical actions. China and the former Soviet Union signed an Agreement
on Principles Governing the Mutual Reduction of Military Forces and the
Enhancement of Confidence in the Military Field in the Border Areas. The
leading figures of China and Russia issued a joint statement "on no first
use of nuclear weapons against each other and on not targeting their
respective strategic nuclear weapons at each other." China and India
concluded an Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquillity Along
the Line of Actual Control in the Border Areas. At the two nations'
request, China issued a statement providing security guarantees to Ukraine
and Kazakhstan.
Concluding Remarks
Looking back over mankind's long history of war and peace, one is
deeply struck by the fact that peace does not come easily and thus should
be doubly treasured.
In recent years, while there has been some relaxation in the
international situation, peace has not prevailed in the world. On the
regional level, tensions persist. Armed conflicts and local wars break out
continuously and hegemonism and power politics are still lingering on.
While old contradictions have yet to be fundamentally resolved, new
contradictions emerge. International arms control and disarmament is still
a long-term, arduous task. The complete eradication of the disaster of war
and the realization of a complete and lasting peace, therefore, remain a
highly complex and difficult task before the peace-loving people of the
world.
The world wants peace, nations want development and society wants
progress--this has become the irresistible tide of the day. As long as the
peoples of all nations work together, adhering to the road of peace and
development, continuing to unflaggingly promote the arms control and
disarmament process, and sparing no effort to establish a new peaceful,
stable, fair and reasonable international political and economic order on
the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and other
commonly recognized standards for international relations, a long-lasting
peace is possible, and the righteousness of peace and development will
ultimately and veritably triumph over the evils of war.
In the future China will unswervingly promote arms control and
disarmament as it has in the past, joining together with the peace-loving
people of all the nations in the world, working untiringly to bring a
peaceful, stable, prosperous and happy new world into the 21st
century.
