UN General Assembly
1971

55. France has obviously not acquiesced in such a prospect. That is why it has insisted on keeping the possibility of providing itself with the necessary means to secure its defense and maintain its independence. But it remains nonetheless highly in favor of any undertaking for true disarmament, which in an age of nuclear armaments demands, first of all, settlement of the problem of those armaments. How can that be achieved, if not by consensus between the States which possess them? That is why France just recently again recalled that it favored a conference of the five nuclear Powers. It hopes that the requirements for such a conference will one day be met.