Experts at an international symposium in Beijing on Wednesday
called on the global community to "make concerted efforts" on arms
control and disarmament.
Around 40 experts from Germany, the US, Russia and China
attended the two-day Chinese-German Symposium on International
Security China, which opened on Tuesday with arms control at the
top of the agenda.
Although the authority of the UN and other international
organizations has been challenged by unilateral approaches and
interventionism, it is still an "indispensable" institution for
promoting arms control and disarmament, said Li Genxin, secretary
general of China Arms Control and Disarmament Association.
Acknowledging that little progress has been made in arms control
since 2003, Li called for all countries, especially big powers, to
"make active endeavors" in the area.
Jurgen Bornemann, a senior military official with the German
Federal Ministry of Defense, said Germany and the EU were convinced
that a multilateral approach to security, including arms control,
disarmament and non-proliferation, provides the best option to
maintain international order and stability.
He ascribed the achievements of conventional arms control in
Europe to "mutual trust and transparency."
For the German government, diplomatic and political measures are
of particular importance in fighting the proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction (WMD) and delivery systems, he said.
Deborah Nutter, an international studies professor of Tufts
University in Boston, said that "the United States believes
military deterrence has a role to play on international
issues."
Nutter argued that the US stance on arms control and disarmament
was related to the nation's sense of vulnerability following the
September 11 terrorist attacks.
"Arms control and disarmament efforts still remain focused in
US-Russia relations and in Europe," said Alexander Nikitin,
director of the Center for Political and International Studies in
Russia. "While in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, where the
conflicts, wars and terrorist challenges are concentrated, arms
control elements remain extremely rare and disarmament remains
rather limited."
Nikitin referred to the spheres of nuclear issues and
contradictions as "less negotiable" than they were in the Cold War
and Post-Cold War decades.
Some experts are also concerned about the revolution in military
weapons, saying it would exert a profound impact on arms control
and disarmament.
"Space-based weapons, deployment of missile defense systems and
wide applications of sophisticated weapons would pose risks to the
global strategic balance," said Li.
Li also voiced his concern that the increasing accessibility of
high tech weapons to terrorists would make counter-proliferation
even harder still.
(Xinhua News Agency November 18, 2004)