UN General Assembly
1994

The peoples of the world have long lived in the shadow of a nuclear holocaust, due to the all-out nuclear arms race between the two super-Powers during the cold war, which resulted in a massive stockpiling of nuclear weapons. Now the international situation has drastically changed. Not only can we avert another world war, but the chances have increased for the complete prohibition and thorough elimination of nuclear weapons and for mankind ultimately to eliminate the threat of a nuclear war. China has always stood for the complete prohibition and thorough elimination of all weapons of mass destruction. The Chinese Government holds that a convention on the complete prohibition of nuclear weapons should be concluded in the same way as the conventions banning all biological and chemical weapons, respectively. As a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, China is in favour of its extension. Yet a mere extension of the Treaty is obviously not sufficient. With a view to ultimately ridding mankind of the threat of a nuclear war and ushering in a nuclear-weapon-free world,