China pledges full support to Conference on Disarmament
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China has always and will continue to fully support the Conference on Disarmament, a senior Chinese official said here on Friday.
China supports the Conference on Disarmament in concluding a comprehensive and balanced program of work as soon as possible, and launching negotiations on the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty at an early date, Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun told a high-level meeting on revitalizing the work of the Conference on Disarmament.
China also backs beginning substantive discussions on the prevention of an arms race in outer space, security assurances to non-nuclear-weapon states and other agenda items, he said.
"These accord with the common interests of all parties," Zhai said.
The meeting, held on the margins of the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly, also addressed how to advance multilateral disarmament negotiations.
Zhai said in order to revitalizing the Conference on Disarmament, its status as the sole multilateral disarmament negotiating body should be maintained and strengthened.
Countries should also respect and protect the rules of procedure of reaching unanimity through consultation, and value and treat equally the proper security concerns of each country, he added.
Top UN officials including Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Joseph Deiss attended the meeting, urging countries to build on recent achievements in the field of disarmament and to step up efforts to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction.
Despite adopting its first program of work in over a decade last year, the Geneva-based Conference -- the world's sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum -- has been unable to translate this breakthrough into substantive progress.
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