United Nations, November 15 On the 15th, Geng Shuang, China‘s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, called on the international community to find ways to establish a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.

Geng Shuang said at the Third Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction that day that historical and current conflicts in the Middle East are complicated and intertwined. Practice has long proved that military confrontation is not the right way out Therefore, dialogue and cooperation are the realistic way to achieve regional security. China encourages all countries to uphold the concept of common security, strengthen dialogue and communication, ease tensions, manage conflicts and differences, eliminate misunderstanding and hostility, continue to accumulate mutual trust, and create conditions for the final political and diplomatic resolution of each other’s security concerns. All countries should also strive to build various formal or informal regional dialogue platforms, maintain a sustainable dialogue process, and find feasible paths and realistic solutions for the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. China‘s “Gulf Region Multilateral Dialogue Platform” initiative can make positive contributions to this end.

Geng Shuang said that major power competition and external interference are important reasons for the continued turmoil in the Middle East. China urges relevant countries to abandon narrow political self-interest, stop forming cliques and provoking confrontation, and make tangible contributions to maintaining regional security. At the same time, countries in the region should increase their awareness of autonomy, strengthen mutual trust and cooperation, jointly resist political interference by countries outside the region, and strive to build a collective security mechanism in the Middle East. The nuclear-weapon states should earnestly assume their due responsibilities and actively participate in the process of the conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

Geng Shuang said that international arms control legal instruments such as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons are aimed at establishing a Middle East free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. The district has laid a solid foundation. This foundation can only be strengthened, not weakened. All countries that have not yet joined the above treaties should join as soon as possible and strictly abide by the obligations of the treaties. In particular, Israel should accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as soon as possible as a non-nuclear-weapon state and place all nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards. Individual nuclear-weapon states should abandon double standards, earnestly fulfill their responsibilities, avoid nuclear cooperation that is contrary to the purpose and purpose of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and set the correct direction for the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

Geng Shuang said that China has always supported the establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, signed and ratified all protocols to treaties open for signature of nuclear-weapon-free zones, and strictly fulfilled relevant obligations. China is also the only country that unconditionally promises not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free zones. In January this year, China also actively promoted the five nuclear-weapon states to issue a joint statement, reiterating the important consensus that “a nuclear war cannot be won or fought”. In the above spirit, China is willing to work with relevant parties to build more consensus and inject more impetus into the international process of establishing a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.