CPAFFC Delegation Attends Global Zero Summit

CPAFFC President Chen Haosu led a delegation to attend the Global Zero Summit in Paris， France from February 2 to 4. The event aimed to promote a new phase in the “Global Zero” movement: working to reach a binding and verifiable agreement on elimination of all nuclear weapons worldwide. More than 200 public figures from around the world participated. US President Barack Obama， Russian President Dmitry Medvedev， British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent messages to the conference. Among the political， military and business leaders present and delivering speeches were George Schultz， former US Secretary of State; Mikhail Margelov， Member of the Federation Council and Vladimir Lukin， Chairman of the Constitutional Commission of Russia; Malcolm Rifkind， former UK Foreign Secretary; Michel Rocard， former French Prime Minister; Yasuo Fukuda， former Japanese Prime Minister; Jaswant Singh， former Indian Minister for External Affairs; Sartai Aziz， former Pakistani Foreign Minister; Amr Moussa， Secretary General of the League of Arab States; Mary Robinson， former President of Ireland; Jordan Queen Noor; and Ernesto Zeddillo， former Mexican President. CPAFFC President Chen Haosu spoke at the Plenary Session on February 4 and signed the Global Zero Declaration in his own name.

“Global Zero” is an initiative for worldwide total nuclear disarmament first put forward by some well-known American personages. It was founded in Paris in December 2008. In June 2009， Global Zero offered a four-phase action plan for the total elimination of all nuclear weapons by 2030， including specific goals for each phase.

At the current conference in Paris， the participants mainly evaluated and discussed the possibility of implementing the action plan and hoped to elicit greater support worldwide. In view of the possible conclusion of a new round of the strategic nuclear arms reduction treaty between theU.S. and Russia， they worked to drive forward the Global Zero initiative so as to achieve the desired target in 20 years.

Most of the participants affirmed the Global Zero initiative as good news for humanity. They gave many suggestions concerning the realization of the Global Zero Action Plan， the popularization of the Global Zero concept among youth and the general public， effective interaction with governments of various countries， etc.

This was the first time that the CPAFFC sent a delegation to attend the conference. During the meeting the delegation made full use of every opportunity to meet delegates from other countries to exchange information and views and publicize China’s nuclear policy and its practices.

In his speech Chen Haosu voiced his support for the Global Zero initiative. He stressed that the Chinese Government and people have always called for complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons and have been making unremitting efforts over the years. Chen proposed that a precondition should be set for Global Zero Action Plan， that is all countries with nuclear weapons should make solemn commitment not to be the first to use nuclear weapons， thus leading to the formation of an internationally recognized political-military mechanism to lower the possibility of using nuclear weapon to zero. The United States and Russia， the biggest nuclear powers possessing over 90% of all nuclear weapons in the world， have special and foremost responsibility， he said. If they would commit themselves not to be the first to use nuclear weapons， then peoples in other countries with or without nuclear weapons would feel much relieved. When there was no possibility of using nuclear weapons， it would be easier for countries with nuclear weapons to abandon them， for no one wanted to pay dearly for something useless.