[5Whatdoesitmeanthatnuclearpowerscan’tfightanuclearwar?Willitpreventanarmsrace?】
#5核国发声核战打不可# At the beginning of the new year, on January 3, Beijing time, the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states of China, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France jointly issued the “Joint Statement on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding an Arms Race” “(Referred to as “Joint Statement”). 5 The nuclear powers emphasized that “a nuclear war cannot be won or won”. What does this mean?
The five countries emphasized in the joint statement that they will continue to look for bilateral and multilateral diplomatic methods to avoid military confrontation, enhance stability and predictability, enhance mutual understanding and trust, and prevent an arms race that is useless and endangering all parties. The five countries are determined to conduct constructive dialogue on the basis of mutual respect and recognition of each other’s security interests and concerns. The joint statement embodies the political will of the five countries to prevent nuclear war, and also voices the common voice of maintaining global strategic stability and reducing the risk of nuclear conflict.
The five major powers also emphasized that existing nuclear weapons must only be used for defensive purposes, and that all countries must strictly abide by the principle of nuclear non-proliferation, and that countries with nuclear weapons must not aim at each other and must guard against accidental launches of nuclear weapons. The statement also emphasized that “nuclear disarmament” must be carried out through various forms of negotiations, and ultimately a world free of nuclear weapons will be created.
On June 12, 1968, the United Nations General Assembly passed the “Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.” The treaty entered into force in March 1970, and its purpose is to prevent nuclear proliferation, promote nuclear disarmament, and promote international cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The treaty is the cornerstone of the international nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation system, and an important part of the post-war international security system.
The United Nations was originally scheduled to hold the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in New York this month, but due to the new crown epidemic, the review conference was postponed to later this year. The French Broadcasting Corporation website published an analysis that despite the delay of the conference, the five countries still hope to use the joint statement to reassure the world that all concerns about the risk of nuclear war are unfounded.
In response to the joint statement, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu emphasized that China has always actively advocated the concept of “nuclear wars cannot be won or cannot be fought”, and has played a strong leading role in the joint action of the five countries. During the negotiation of the joint statement, China also promoted the inclusion of important content such as reaffirming not to target nuclear weapons at each other or any other country, which played an important role in promoting the five countries to reach a positive and weighty statement. Ma Zhaoxu said that the five nuclear-weapon states are both permanent members of the UN Security Council and nuclear-weapon states statutory under the NPT. They all bear the common responsibility of preventing nuclear war and maintaining world peace. The five countries should take the joint statement as a new starting point, increase mutual trust, strengthen cooperation, and play an active role in building a world of lasting peace and universal security.
According to the website of the Russian Satellite News Agency, the Russian President’s Press Secretary Peskov recently stated that there is still a need to convene a summit of leaders after the five nuclear-weapon states have issued a joint statement. Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier proposed to hold a meeting of the leaders of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and all countries have expressed their interest in participating in this summit. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement: “We hope that under the current severe background of the international security situation, agreeing to issue such a political statement can help ease international tensions.”
Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a non-party non-governmental organization in the United States, also welcomed the joint statement. He believes that doing it is more important than saying it. Kimball said on Twitter that “every country is upgrading and modernizing its lethal arsenal to varying degrees. The risk of a catastrophic nuclear war still exists, and these five countries must fulfill their promises.”
According to an article published on the Voice of America website, Timothy Heath, an expert on international defense at the RAND Corporation, believes that the leaders of the five countries have the will to avoid launching a nuclear war that may cause devastating disasters, and they do not want to see it. The use of nuclear weapons and the increased risks of war and terrorism brought about by nuclear proliferation.
At the same time as this “Joint Statement” was released, the Associated Press reported that the Biden administration has conducted a comprehensive internal assessment and review of the US nuclear weapons policy in the past year. He had previously expected that he might further reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the United States, and even make a promise to “not use nuclear weapons in the first place.”