Beijing Says AUKUS Pact Undermines Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published January 04, 2022 | 11:10 AM
BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th January, 2022) The AUKUS trilateral defense agreement between the United States, the UK and Australia could lead to the collapse of the nuclear non-proliferation regime, Director-General of the Arms Control Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Fu Cong said on Tuesday.
"AUKUS, the trilateral agreement on the development of nuclear submarines, is an extremely serious matter. The crux of the problem is that if this plan is implemented, it would mean that the United States and Britain, being two nuclear states, will hand over to Australia, which is not a nuclear country, weapon-grade uranium," the diplomat said at a briefing.
Cong stressed that the current International Atomic Energy Agency's safeguards system does not provide any way to verify that Australia will not use the materials to create nuclear weapons.
"We believe that this would be a malicious exploitation of a loophole in the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, and if many countries do it, it would mean the collapse of the nuclear nonproliferation regime," Cong said, accusing the UK and the US of double standards.
In mid-September, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia unveiled their trilateral defense pact, which saw Canberra ditch a bilateral $66 billion submarine deal with Paris, which condemned the move as a betrayal of trust between the states. On December 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed that the AUKUS partnership undermines nuclear balance and increases tensions in the region.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
HEC reviews curricula for environmental sciences degree programme
ICC Asia looking forward to an action-packed Asia Cricket Week
Yuvraj Singh named ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Ambassador
Greece hands Olympic flame to 2024 Paris Games hosts
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
World must act on neurotech revolution, say experts
Charles & Catherine's cancer diagnoses
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
King Charles to resume some public duties during cancer treatment: palace
US defense chief announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
Heavy rains cause damage to Spezand-Taftan railway track
Woman stabbed in Israel, attacker killed: police
More Stories From World
-
NFL will allow players to wear Guardian Cap helmets in games
2 hours ago -
Football: German Bundesliga table
2 hours ago -
Football: Italian Serie A result
2 hours ago -
Football: German Bundesliga results
2 hours ago -
US troops to leave Chad in second African state withdrawal
2 hours ago -
Plastics pollution may be solved without production cap: Canada minister
2 hours ago
-
Biden stalls on menthol cigarette ban fearing Black vote backlash
2 hours ago -
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
2 hours ago -
6,000 French police to welcome Olympic torch amid bonus boost
2 hours ago -
Taiwan hit by several quakes, strongest reaching 6.1-magnitude
3 hours ago -
'Ballistic' Bairstow stars as Punjab pull off record T20 chase
3 hours ago -
Tennis: ATP/WTA Madrid Open results - 2nd update
3 hours ago