United Nations, Oct 9

Chinese Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs Wu Haitao here has called on the international community to advance nuclear disarmament in a step- by-step manner.

"Some progress has been made in the nuclear disarmament process, but the continuous and further promotion and eventual attainment of a nuclear-weapon-free world remains an arduous task," reported Xinhua citing Wu during a meeting of the First Committee of the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Tuesday.

The UNGA's First Committee deals with disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community and seeks out solutions to the challenges in the international security regime.

"Nuclear proliferation issues are still prominent," Wu said, adding that the international community should make joint efforts to further promote the process of disarmament.

In doing so, countries should first advance nuclear disarmament in a step-by-step manner and reduce proliferation risks comprehensively, he noted.

"Nuclear-weapon states should abandon the nuclear deterrence doctrine based on the first use of nuclear weapons and make an unequivocal commitment of no-first-use of and not using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones, negotiate and conclude a legally-binding international instrument in this regard at an early date," said the Chinese ambassador.

Countries with the largest nuclear arsenals should continue to take the lead in making drastic and substantive reductions in their nuclear weapons, the Chinese envoy added.

By:IANS