China ‘pushed for big 5 nuclear nations pledge’ to not target other countries

In era of suspicion about China’s growing arsenal and the Aukus agreement, major nuclear-armed powers commit to using nuclear weapons only for defence

Vice-foreign minister Ma Zhaoxu says the joint statement will help ‘replace competition among major powers with coordination and cooperation’

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China’s vice-foreign minister Ma Zhaoxu says China has always adhered to a nuclear strategy of self-defence. Photo: AP Photo

Published: 3:00pm, 4 Jan 2022Updated: 7:12pm, 4 Jan 2022

China pushed for the world’s major nuclear states to explicitly reaffirm that they would not target any nation with nuclear weapons as part of a new non-proliferation agreement.

The United States, China and three other nuclear-armed countries collectively known as the “P5” pledged on Monday to use nuclear weapons only for defensive purposes.

The five powers, which also include Russia, France and Britain, said “none of our nuclear weapons are targeted at each other or at any other state”.

On Tuesday, Chinese vice-foreign minister Ma Zhaoxu said the agreement was a positive step and China pushed for the reaffirmation.

“The joint statement issued by the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states will help increase mutual trust and replace competition among major powers with coordination and cooperation,” state news agency Xinhua quoted Ma as saying.

“China also promoted the inclusion of reaffirming [the countries would not] target nuclear weapons at each other or any other country.”