China Agrees to Sign Global Nuclear Treaty

In a major step toward more effective safeguards against the spread of nuclear weapons, Premier Li Peng announced Saturday that China has decided “in principle” to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Together with an announcement by France earlier this year that it intends to sign the treaty, Li’s statement, made to visiting Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, means that the world’s five acknowledged nuclear powers will all be signatories of the treaty. About 135 other nations have also signed.

Li said that China has decided to sign the treaty “for the purpose of promoting comprehensive prohibition and thorough destruction of (existing) nuclear weapons,” according to a report by the official New China News Agency.

China’s decision was welcomed in the United States, where the White House said, “This is something that we have been seeking for a long time.”

President Bush’s press secretary, Marlin Fitzwater, in a written statement issued in Kennebunkport, Me., where Bush is vacationing, added that “we look forward to early ratification by China of the treaty.”

The treaty bans the transfer of nuclear weapons and related technology.

Li did not clarify why China believes that its signing of the treaty will contribute to the elimination of existing nuclear arms, nor did he say when Beijing will sign.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman later stressed that China will not attach any conditions to its signing.

Li also reiterated China’s longstanding claim that it has never engaged in nor supported nuclear proliferation.

Western nations, however, have in the past expressed concern that Chinese assistance to some Third World countries in fields of nuclear research could contribute to weapons proliferation.

“We are indeed very happy that the Chinese government saw fit to come to this decision and announce it today,” Sadaaki Numata, a spokesman for Kaifu, told reporters in Beijing.

“We, the Japanese, believe very strongly in enhancing the importance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” Numata said. “Our people have experienced nuclear weapons dropped on us. Therefore, it has been a very important policy of our government to call on the non-signatories to sign.”

Encouraging China to sign the treaty was a major goal, if not the key purpose, of a June visit to Beijing by Reginald Bartholomew, U.S. undersecretary of state for international security affairs.

Bartholomew said at the time that the United States “very much” wanted to see China sign. For Beijing to do so, he said, “would be a major contribution” to the world’s efforts to control the spread of nuclear arms.

Kaifu’s arrival here Saturday for a four-day visit marks the full normalization of Sino-Japanese relations, which were strained by Beijing’s brutal army crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in June, 1989. Kaifu is the first head of government from a major industrialized democracy to visit Beijing since the massacre. China and Japan now appear poised to raise their relationship to a new level of friendship.

On his way to Beijing, Kaifu’s plane reduced altitude to give the Japanese leader a closer look at areas near Shanghai afflicted by severe flooding in July. After his arrival, Kaifu announced a $1.5-million contribution for flood relief, which comes in addition to a previous $500,000 donation.

Kaifu and Li attended a signing ceremony for a $360,000 donation to the China Art Gallery to purchase Japanese-made equipment. The two leaders also discussed plans for exchanges of high-level visits and other activities next year to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations.

The new warmth in Beijing-Tokyo ties comes as China and Vietnam, split bitterly since the late 1970s, are also patching up their relations. The two sides, which have supported opposing factions in Cambodia, are now pushing for a settlement in that war-torn nation.

A joint communique issued Saturday, at the end of a visit to Beijing by Vietnamese Vice Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien, called for the various factions in Cambodia to “let bygones be bygones (and) realize national reconciliation.” The communique requested a political settlement based on a U.N. proposal for ending the conflict.

The two sides also exchanged views on “the normalization of relations between the two countries and on the early restoration of such business ties as economic relations and trade, communications and postal service,” the communique said.

The official New China News Agency quoted Nien as having “expressed his delight at the outcome of the consultations.”

Numata, in his briefing for reporters, said Li told Kaifu that China is engaged in “very conscious efforts to improve its relations with neighboring countries.”

Numata said that Li made the comment while noting that China recently approved the use of Chinese ports for goods shipped to and from Mongolia, a landlocked nation that until last year was tightly aligned with the Soviet Union.

Kaifu will travel to Mongolia on Tuesday for an overnight visit before returning to Tokyo.