Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 22. 1973

The Chinese Position

The Chinese Position

The Chinese position on nuclear testing has been clear for many years, though there have been systematic attempts to distort it. As an issue of foreign policy, the issue of nuclear arms falls within the ambit of the Five Principles and also within the clear statement that "At no time, neither today nor ever in the future, will China be a superpower subjecting others to aggression, subversion, control, interference or bullying". (Peking Review. April 20, 1973) On the question of the use of arms Chinese representatives have repeatedly made it clear the China believes that it is not arms that lead to war "The crucial question is who wields the arms and what kind of policy they serve (Peking Review, Nov 3, 1972.)

A mere opposition to arms in themselves is pointless, as it overlooks the different uses to which arms may be put, at the simplest level it equates attack with defence. Such a position is one which plays directly into the hands of those already holding the dominant power in the world. China has always been in favour of disarmament, but has opposed the use of this just aspiration on the part of people striving for peace, by those who wish to cover their own world hegemony.

Photo of an atomic mushroom cloud