The 4th Nuclear Security Summit: a clear common interest
- By Tim Collard
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E-mail China.org.cn, April 2, 2016
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Photo taken on March 30, 2016 shows the International Media Center at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C., United States, March 30, 2016. The Nuclear Security Summit 2016 will be held here from March 31 to April 1. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) |
The fourth Nuclear Security Summit is being held in Washington DC on March 31and April 1, with Chinese President Xi Jinping in attendance.
One great disappointment is the absence of Russia from the summit, claiming a lack of cooperation from the USA in the preliminary work. Given that the two countries between them possess 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons, this means that progress towards disarmament - which itself would improve security by reducing the number of targets for interference - is likely to be limited. (However, U.S. officials have confirmed that, even outside the summit, constructive bilateral dialogue on nuclear security issues is continuing.)
In contrast, the relationship between China and the U.S. in nuclear security cooperation has shown a distinctively positive trend. Just recently, on March18, China and the U.S. inaugurated a bilateral center of excellence to establish best nuclear security practice, in Changyang industrial park near Beijing. This was originally agreed in 2011 and has now come to fruition, demonstrating that this series of summits produces tangible results.
The Chinese priorities for the summit, as set out by Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong at a press briefing before President Xi's departure, are to consolidate the international consensus on nuclear security, promote capacity-building in individual countries and boost cooperation between them, and establish common practice and a global nuclear security culture.
China's view is that this should not be an occasion for international rivalry or nit-picking, as the dangers this summit is intended to address are not great-power conflicts, for which an appropriate dispute resolution structure already exists, but those of unauthorized access to nuclear weapons by non-state entities and terrorist groups. Here the Chinese view does not significantly differ from that of the U.S. and other major players: in February Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Washington as part of the preparation for the summit, and achieved a broad consensus of views on the issue with President Obama. At the opening of the summit, President Obama welcomed the participation of "a peaceful, strong China."
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