UN discussions on nuclear disarmament once again. For instance, Qiao Guanhua, who was then China’s foreign minister, reaffirmed the country’s commitment to no first use in his speech as the first representative of the People’s Republic of China to participate in the UN General Assembly. He sharply pointed out that “if the United States and Soviet Union are really keen on disarmament, they should assume the obligation of no first use of nuclear weapons. This is not a difficult thing to do. Whether or not they are able to do this is a strict test of their genuine desire for disarmament.”36 In 1982, for the first time in history, China brought forth a concrete package of proposals on nuclear disarmament during its participation in the second special session of the UN General Assembly devoted to disarmament. One important component of the proposal was that as long as the United States and the Soviet Union each reduced their nuclear arsenals by 50 percent—and also ceased all tests, improvements, and manufacturing of nuclear weapons on a permanent basis—the Chinese government would be willing to do the same. Furthermore, China would be willing to negotiate with other nuclearweapon states on reducing their respective arsenals according to reasonable proportions and procedures. This recommendation was subsequently referred to as the “three stops and one reduction” plan. Often overlooked, however, is the fact that the first article of this package was about the non-use of nuclear weapons. As a first step toward nuclear disarmament, the proposal, echoing China’s statement from October 1964, suggested that “all nuclear states should reach an agreement on the non-use of nuclear weapons. Before reaching this agreement, each nuclear state should unconditionally undertake the non-use of nuclear weapons on non-nuclear states and nuclear-free zones; and no-firstuse of nuclear weapons on each other at any time and under any circumstances.”37 After the Cold War, China further actively promoted the conclusion of a multilateral treaty among nuclear-weapon states for a mutual pledge of no first use. In January 1994, China formally proposed a draft of such a treaty to the other four nuclear-weapon states. In September 1994, China and Russia mutually agreed not to use nuclear weapons first against each other or to target each other with strategic nuclear weapons. When then– U.S. president Bill Clinton visited China in June 1998, China made strong efforts to persuade him to conclude an agreement between their two countries for mutual no first use, but the United States balked at doing so. However, both parties did ultimately reach an agreement not to target each other with nuclear weapons. At the same time, China gained a reputation among non-nuclear-weapon states as a responsible nuclear-weapon state by calling for all nuclear-weapon states to unconditionally provide both negative and positive security assurances to all non-nuclear-weapon states and to negotiate and conclude an international legal instrument to ensure this as soon as possible. China’s consistent commitment to no first use and its efforts to popular-
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UNDERSTANDING CHINESE NUCLEAR THINKING