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Commentary: Voice of Justice for Defense of Peace
The "Resolution Draft on Safeguarding and Observing the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM for short)" jointly tabled by China, Russia, Belarussia and Kyrgyzstan was adopted on November 20 by the 55th UN General Assembly with an overwhelming majority of 88 votes for and five votes against.
The Resolution calls on the ABM treaty contracting parties to fully and strictly abide by this treaty and refrain from deploying any anti-ballistic missile system capable of protecting the whole area of a country. The Resolution also stresses that violation of this treaty will disrupt global strategic stability and world peace and hinder the nuclear disarmament process.
Last year, the 54th UN General Assembly had adopted the resolution on "Safeguarding and Observing the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty" for the first time with an overwhelming majority.
The fact that the UN General Assembly this year again passed a similar resolution fully demonstrates the will and determination of the vast majority of countries around the world to oppose US development and deployment of a national missile defense system, and their unwillingness to see the vigorous efforts to be impacted, efforts made by the international community in the fields of military control, disarmament and prevention of nuclear proliferation after the conclusion of the Cold War; it reflects the common voice of all nations and people, including the Chinese people, in their expectations for the achievement of the goal for peace, security and development.
The ABM treaty, reached between the United States and the former Soviet Union in 1972, is seen as a cornerstone of global strategic stability and international security as well as US-Soviet (Russian) nuclear disarmament.
In recent years, however, the United States, in a bid to obtain absolute military superiority and under the pretext of preventing certain "rogue" countries from launching possible missile attack on it, vigorously pushes forward the development and deployment of theater missile defense (TMD) system and national missile defense (NMD) system in flagrant disregard of the explicit stipulations of the ABM.
This move of the United States will seriously undermine the global strategic stability, trigger a new arms race, lead to the deterioration of the international security situation, and has thus naturally encountered the strong opposition from the international forces of justice.
In the face of the enormous international and domestic pressure, in early September this year, US President Bill Clinton declared that his country would temporarily not deploy the national missile defense system.
But it must be noted that this decision of the United States was made under the circumstance wherein the technology of the United States has not reached the set standard and its move has met with the resolute opposition of the international community, its plan for the national missile defense system has not been abolished, but instead the country continues to vigorously research and develop the system and conduct relevant tests. Regarding this, peace-loving people should maintain a sober understanding.
At the turn of the century, how to promote the disarmament process and safeguard international security is a major and urgent question to the common concern of various countries around the world. The old security concept using intensification of arms race as the means does not help guarantee international security, still less construct lasting world peace, the self-interest of an individual country seeking absolute nuclear advantage will eventually suffer serious losses.
For this reason, we advise the United States, which owns the world's largest nuclear arsenal and bears special responsibility on the issue of nuclear disarmament, to seize the hour and size up the situation, listen more carefully to the voice of the international community, strictly abide by and conscientiously carry out the ABM Treaty, and quickly and thoroughly abanbon its plan for the national missile defense system which harms others but does not benefit itself.
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