国内英语新闻:China calls for advancing international disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation proce

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday called on all states to make joint efforts to advance the international disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation process.

Wang Qun, the Chinese ambassador for disarmament affairs, made the appeal in a speech delivered at the General Debate of the First Committee of the 65th Session of the UN General Assembly.

"We welcome the positive progress that has been made in the international arms control and disarmament field since the beginning of this year. To advance the international disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation process, joint and unremitting efforts are called for on the part of the entire international community," Wang said.

He said that China welcomes the recent signing of a new bilateral nuclear disarmament treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation, and wishes to see the early ratification of the treaty.

"In the meantime, we hope that they, as countries with largest nuclear arsenals and special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament, will continue to make drastic and substantive reductions in their nuclear arsenals, so as to create the necessary conditions for the ultimate realization of complete and thorough nuclear disarmament," he said.

"When conditions are ripe, other nuclear-weapon states should also join the multilateral negotiations on nuclear disarmament," he added.

On issues concerning nuclear non-proliferation, Wang urged the international community to work to safeguard the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and strengthen the safeguards function of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"It is essential that all states strictly fulfill their non- proliferation obligations and strengthen their export control systems," he said. "Practices of utilizationism and double standards should be discarded."

The ambassador stressed that China wishes to see peaceful solution to regional nuclear issues through dialogues and negotiations, and hopes that the six-party talks on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula could be resumed and the dialogue between Iran and E3+3 -- the United States, Russia, Britain, China, France and Germany -- could be restarted at an early date.

REVITALIZING DISARMAMENT TALKS

Wang highlighted the importance of revitalizing the work of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) so as to take forward multilateral disarmament negotiations.

"We are of the view that CD's position and role are irreplaceable," he said.

In this regard, Wang stressed the three essential principles in advancing the work of CD -- enhance CD's authority and position; respect CD's rules of procedure, particularly its consensus rule; and treat the legitimate security concerns of each member state as equal and address them in an earnest manner.

"China, for its part, has all along been active and supportive of CD's work," he said.

"In the meantime, it is also imperative that CD reactivate its substantive work on such core issues as the prevention of an arms race in outer space, nuclear disarmament and security assurances for non-nuclear-weapon states," he added.

SAFEGUARDING GLOBAL COMMON SPACE

The ambassador also called for the "active pursuit of a preventive diplomacy in safeguarding a global common space," including outer space and cyber space.

"Outer space is the common wealth of mankind, and the peaceful use and exploration of outer space is in the interest of the whole human-being," he said, urging the early conclusion of a new legal instrument on the prevention of weaponization in outer space.

Cyber space constitutes a new dimension of multilateral arms control diplomacy, Wang said.

"States should exercise effective administration over cyber space and maintain its security, and avoid it from becoming a new battlefield and a tool of interfering in other countries' internal affairs," he said.

China hopes that the international community will work on the basis of a first UN report on the issue of information security to "explore effective ways of combating cyber threats and preserving the sound international cyber order," Wang added.