A nuclear war “cannot be won and should never be fought.” Therefore, the permanent members of the UN Security Council consider avoiding a war between the five nuclear powers as “one of our main responsibilities”. China, Russia, France, United Kingdom and United States released a joint statement about this on Monday.
This had been discussed for months, a spokesperson for the United States Department of State said. The document harks back to a statement that became the slogan of the first summit between Ronald Raegan and Mikhail Gorbachev, who spoke in Geneva in 1985 about international diplomacy, the arms race and the devastating outcome of a nuclear war between Cold War rivals the US and the Soviet Union.
Statement harks back to key Reagan-Gorbachev . meeting
The publication Monday evening should have coincided with the start of the international consultations of the signatories of the international Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). That conference was postponed for a second time due to the corona pandemic. The researcher found that the five nuclear weapon powers apparently had this statement ‘up their sleeve’ Oliver Meier, who specializes in disarmament for the peace and security research institute IFSH in Hamburg, is “slightly astonishing,” he says over the phone.
How important is this statement?
“This is a positive step. Many people may think that everyone has long assumed that there are only losers in the use of nuclear weapons. But these five nuclear powers have long disagreed on a common formulation. In recent years, nuclear weapons have become increasingly visible on the international stage and discussions about security and their arsenals have expanded. Under President Trump, the US seemed to view its nuclear arsenal as an important asset against any enemies. With this statement, the five nuclear powers are publishing a view that is more in line with the Non-Proliferation Treaty that they have signed.”
But the countries are not banning their nuclear weapons?
“In the statement, the five reiterated that they see a defensive role for nuclear weapons in deterring aggression. This is how wars are averted, they say. Nuclear powers cling to that idea.”
Meier clarifies: “The statement is mainly about the nuclear doctrine”, the policy in which the strategy for the nuclear arsenals is laid down. “These words are only really important if they prove to be a starting point for actions that reduce the risk of the use of nuclear weapons, or even reduce the nuclear arsenals. New treaties should be concluded on disarmament.”
China, Russia, France, the UK and the US are not the only countries with nuclear weapons. Should other countries care about this statement?
“These ‘P5’ have a separate status, because they state that they want to adhere to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and that they want to work on disarmament in that context. Precisely because they place themselves within that framework, they can be held accountable for the promises made. In that sense, the statement offers an opportunity to test their benevolence: what are you really going to do?
“It is different for Israel, North Korea, India and Pakistan. Israel does not publicly admit that it has nuclear weapons technology. India and Pakistan are highly critical of the international treaty for diplomatic and political reasons, while North Korea says it is still one of the club’s signatories. For all these different political reasons, it is very unlikely that the names of these four would also be stuck under this new statement.”
How should we see the reference to the Reagan-Gorbachev duo?
“If the choice of this formulation is intended not only technically, but also diplomatically or historically, that would be very nice. The meeting between those two presidents was arguably the most important turning point in the Cold War. Looking back, we call this the moment when the two countries entered into serious talks about disarmament and mutual control over it. Hopefully in a few years we can say that this recent statement also marked the start of a new set of steps to reduce the risk of nuclear war. ”
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