27 years on, China's commitment to the NPT treaty

Editor's note: Zhu Lijiang is a professor of International Law and vice dean of the School of International Law at China University of Political Science and Law. The article reflects the author's views, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of nuclear Weapons (NPT) is a global pact aiming to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, promote cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.

It is a landmark treaty in the field of nuclear non-proliferation and represents the only binding International legal commitment to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon states.

Delegation members from the UN Security Council's five permanent members (from left) Philip Barton of the UK, Andrea Thompson of the U.S., Fu Cong of China, Nicolas Roche of France and Oleg Rozhkov of Russia pose for a photograph during their meeting in Beijing, January 30, 2019. /MOFA photo

China officially became the 144th state party to the NPT on March 9, 1992, and Saturday marks the 27th anniversary of its membership. Interestingly, China's perception of the treaty experienced changes over time. In the 1970s, it used to criticize the treaty as it considered it to be a conspiracy and a mean used by the two nuclear weapon states, the USSR and the U.S. to prevent other countries from obtaining the nuclear weapons.

It also criticized the treaty of lack of a provision on the pledge of nuclear-weapon states of not threatening to use or using nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states. However, in the 1980s, the change of domestic and International situation prompted China to shift its attitude on the NPT where it concluded that the treaty is essentially beneficial to world peace and development.

Since its accession to the NPT in 1992, China has been making consistent efforts to ensure nuclear non-proliferation. It ratified and acceded to relevant treaties, such as the nuclear-weapon-free zones treaties and the Protocol Additional to the IAEA Safeguards Agreement. The country is the first UN Security Council permanent member to conclude this important protocol, which significantly increased the IAEA's ability to verify the peaceful use of all nuclear materials in states with comprehensive safeguards agreements.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry addresses the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of nuclear Weapons (NPT) at the United Nations General Assembly. New York, U.S., April 27, 2015. /VCG Photo‍

It also actively participates in the International Law-making in fighting against proliferation. For example, the country supported Resolution 1540 (2004) of the UN Security Council which requires all UN member states to adopt legislation to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and their means of delivery, and establish appropriate domestic controls over related materials to prevent their illicit trafficking, filing in the gap of the non-proliferation obligation in the NPT.

In the domestic context, China has created a national legal system on non-proliferation since 1980s and has regularly revised regulations and measures and updated the items in the control lists, which address not only issues relating to the control of nuclear export, but also the control of nuclear dual-use items, related technologies and the delivery tools. Violation of the regulations and measures will entail administrative punishment and even criminal responsibility.

Recently in the face of the doubt over whether these regulations and measures can eradicate all proliferation activities because they are low in the Chinese legal hierarchy, China is preparing to lift relevant Laws to a higher level and draft a national Law on export control aimed at performing International obligations of non-proliferation. The draft Law on export control has now been put online by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce for soliciting public opinion.

In addition to the Law-making efforts, the country has also been working on raising the capacity of Law enforcement and institution building. An inter-agency export control coordination mechanism has been established and the staff of competent authorities is regularly trained.

The dissemination and education of the legal knowledge of non-proliferation in agencies, enterprises, institutions, and universities are also highly important. After all, non-proliferation meets Chinese national interest and it is believed that China will increase efforts and make more contribution to world peace and security.

However, while countries including China have made considerable contribution to the International nuclear non-proliferation, the NPT is facing increasing challenges at the current time as the world is returning to power confrontations, which can be seen from the abolishment of the Treaty on The Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF) signed by the U.S. and Russia, as well as the U.S. withdrawal of from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal framework and re-imposing sanctions on Iran.

Moreover, some de facto nuclear powers including India, Pakistan, the DPRK, and Israel are not parties to the NPT, which contains a provision of withdrawal, making it vulnerable as it cannot prevent countries from withdrawing in the future.

Moreover, the successful operation of the NPT also depends on whether the activities of non-state actors like terrorists can be controlled within the framework since they pose a unique risk of nuclear proliferation. Finally, the compliance mechanism of the NPT is also facing challenges. The failure to reach an agreement on the substantive part of the draft Final Document in the 2015 review conference should serve as a lesson.

The International community including China needs to come up with innovative measures to take up the above challenges.

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