UNGA President welcomes P5's statement on nuclear disarmament
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China says its nuclear arsenal will continue to be "modernized".
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China and other powers pledged to create a world free of atomic weapons.
Abdulla Shahid, the UN General Assembly President, welcomed the statement by the five nations, emphasizing that nuclear war cannot be won.
In their joint statement, the five countries stated their nuclear weapons were not targeted at each other.
According to Shahid's Spokesperson Paulina Kubiak, "President Abdulla Shahid welcomes the joint statement made by the five nuclear powers who are also the Permanent members of the security council."
"The commitment to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligations, including Article VI obligation and the desire to increase mutual understanding and confidence, and prevent an arms race that would benefit none and endanger all, is the right message to the entire planet as we begin the new year."
AUKUS Pact undermines nuclear non-proliferation: Beijing
Cong said on Tuesday that the AUKUS agreement between the US, UK, and Australia might lead to the breakdown of the nuclear non-proliferation system.
In a briefing, the Director-General said "AUKUS, the trilateral agreement on the development of nuclear submarines, is an extremely serious matter. The crux of the problem is that if this plan is implemented, it would mean that the United States and Britain, being two nuclear states, will hand over to Australia, which is not a nuclear country, weapon-grade uranium."
Cong accused the US and the UK of double standards and stressed that the IAEA's safety guidelines do not guarantee that Australia will not use materials to develop nuclear weapons.
"We believe that this would be a malicious exploitation of a loophole in the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, and if many countries do it, it would mean the collapse of the nuclear nonproliferation regime."
Prevention of nuclear non-proliferation
A day after world powers agreed to avoid the spread of nuclear weapons, China said Tuesday it would continue to "modernize" its nuclear arsenal and urged the US and Russia to cut their stockpiles.
In a joint declaration, the US, China, Russia, the UK, and France, agreed to complete future disarmament of atomic bombs, which the US previously deployed during the bombing of Japan in the second world war.
The pledge comes at a time of increased tensions between the nations and rising anxiety over China's military modernization, particularly after its armed services reported that it developed a next-generation hypersonic weapon that could hit targets fivefold the speed of sound or even faster.
The US has also stated that China is planning to increase its nuclear arsenal to 700 warheads by 2027, and maybe 1,000 by 2030.
Regarding the possibility of deploying nuclear warheads near the Taiwan Strait, Cong asserted that they are the "ultimate deterrent, they are not for war or fighting."
