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Disarmament DocumentationRussia-China Discussions, March 5-6'Russian-Chinese Consultations on Strategic Stability Issues', Russian Foreign Ministry Statement, Document 400-07-03-2002, March 7. A regular round of bilateral interagency consultations on strategic stability issues took place in Beijing March 5-6 on the instruction of the leaderships of Russia and the PRC. The Russian delegation was led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Georgy Mamedov, and the Chinese by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Guanya. During the consultations, the sides noted the importance of enhancing and developing the coordination of foreign policy efforts by Russia and China with a view to building a reliable system of strategic stability based on international legal mechanisms and the system of disarmament and arms control treaties and agreements. Mamedov informed the Chinese side of the progress in Russian-American talks on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons and the related problem of strategic defensive arms, stressing that the Russian side advocates the fullest possible reflection in the documents being elaborated, of the new strategic realities that have evolved in relations between Russia and the USA and in the world since the end of the Cold War and of clear-cut legal obligations for radical, real and verifiable SOW [strategic offensive weapons] reductions to 1,700-2,200 deployed nuclear warheads within 10 years in accordance with the earlier reached agreements of the Presidents of the two countries. During the meeting the sides also held an in-depth exchange on a broad range of topical non-proliferation issues, the joint solution of which has been adversely affected by the US decision to leave the ABM Treaty unilaterally. They are especially worried in this regard by the course of the preparation for the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the non-enactment of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty and the situation with the strengthening of the mechanism of implementation of the conventions on chemical and biological weapons. The sides also agreed to step up Russian-Chinese diplomatic collaboration in the UN, at the Conference on Disarmament and other forums, aimed at preventing the placement of strike weapons in outer space. They concurred that strengthening the international non-proliferation regimes is particularly important now, in conditions of the growth of the threat of international terrorism and the unsettledness of major regional conflicts. © 2002 The Acronym Institute. |