China Perspective

China hopes for accord on securing nuke material

By Hu Haiyan and Ma Liyao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-08 08:31

BEIJING - China is hoping the international community would arrive at a consensus on the protection of nuclear material and facilities, and stave off likely threats from nuclear terrorism, during next week's nuclear security summit in Washington, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"President Hu Jintao will give a speech at the summit he will analyze the global nuclear security situation and put forward China's proposals on strengthening international cooperation in this area to meet challenges," Vice-Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said.

During the Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Disarmament Summit last year, President Hu had urged participants to eliminate the threat of nuclear war.

China has always supported the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, while emphasizing that the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy should be actively promoted.

"China's nuclear policy and strategic intentions are clear. Since the 1960s we have repeated our position on many occasions and that has never changed," Cui said, without elaborating.

Participants at the April 12-13 summit are expected to discuss how countries can cooperate to safeguard nuclear material and infrastructure from falling into the hands of terrorists, said Li Bin, a professor studying arms control issues at the Beijing-based Tsinghua University.

"There has already been much international cooperation in this regard, and that will continue. Rather than putting forward some specific measures, it is likely that the participants will just express their shared interests and common ground on the issue," Li said.

Hu and US President Barack Obama are also expected to meet on the sidelines of the summit, Cui said.

After the summit, Hu will pay a state visit to Brazil and attend the second summit of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations.

The BRIC meet will mainly focus on the world economy, Group of 20 (G-20) affairs, reforming international financial institutions, climate change and mutual cooperation.

"China highly values the second summit of the BRIC nations and hopes the summit will promote the recovery and sustainable growth of the world economy, and enhance concrete cooperation among the four nations," Cui added.

As emerging powers, the BRIC countries were trying to seek more ways to cooperate on garnering better development space in global affairs, said Sun Hongbo, an expert in Latin America studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"The BRIC is now in its initial stage of sharing common understanding and strategies. There are some disputes within the four members, but it won't affect the general cooperative framework," Sun said.