France, China declare support for non-proliferation of nuclear weapons

April 7, BPN. Following a meeting in Beijing, French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed their commitment to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), noting that a nuclear war cannot be won.

The joint statement recalled the NPT’s three pillars: nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, and the right to peacefully use nuclear energy.

France and China reaffirmed their support for the January 3, 2022 joint statement of five nuclear states, China, France, Russia, the UK and the USA, “On Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races.” Beijing and Paris have now called on the world to refrain from any actions likely to aggravate the risk of tension.

They say they intend to strengthen cooperation to protect the credibility and effectiveness of the arms control and nonproliferation regime, advancing the international arms control process.

Both parties support all efforts to restore peace in Ukraine on the basis of international law and the UN Charter, the statement reads.

In a meeting with Xi Jinping on April 6, Emmanuel Macron touched on the possible deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. “Macron […] asked Xi to press Russia to comply with international rules on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons,” Reuters wrote.

According to the news agency, the Chinese leader replied, without mentioning Russia, that all nations should respect obligations on not using nuclear arms.

In an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel on March 25, Vladimir Putin said that a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus would be completed by July 1. “We don’t pass [nuclear weapons to Belarus]. And the USA does not pass them to its allies. Basically, we do everything that it has been doing for decades. It has them in certain allied countries, preparing their carriers and their crews,” he said.

Alaksandr Łukašenka was on an official visit to China from February 28 to March 2, less than a month before Putin’s announcement. During Łukašenka’s visit to China, the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus was not discussed, at least publicly.