China and International Agreements, Organizations, and Regimes

This section surveys China's participation in and positions on various international agreements, organizations, and regimes related to arms control, nonproliferation, disarmament, security, and nuclear safety.

A note on sources: Much of the information on the agreements, organizations, and regimes listed below, as well as the relevant supporting documentation (such as treaty texts), has been obtained from the websites of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), US Department of State, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

For more in-depth information about the various agreements, organizations, and regimes listed below, please consult the Inventory of Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimes, which can be found on the CNS website at: http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/.

CHINESE PARTICIPATION AND POSITIONS

Normal type: Existing international agreement, organization, or regime
Italics: International agreement, organization, or regime not currently in existence (e.g. under negotiation)

AGREEMENT, ORGANIZATION, OR REGIME	CHINESE PARTICIPATION AND POSITIONS	DATES OF PARTICIPATION
Antarctic Treaty	Yes; Consultative Party	Acceded 8 June 1983; Consultative status 7 October 1985
Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty	NA; Stated support; Stated opposition to revision	NA
Anti-personnel landmine (APL) ban [Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Treaty)]	No; Favors phased ban; Opposed to total ban	NA
Joint US-China statement	Agreed to "actively pursue" in the CD commencement of negotiations on an APL export ban and agreed to work toward early ratification of Amended Protocol II of CCW	27 June 1998
Arms Control in the Middle East (ACME) (Permanent-5 Talks)	Suspended participation	Participated 1991-1992; Suspended participation November 1992
ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)	Yes	1994-Present
Australia Group (AG)	No; Declined May 1997 US invitation to join	NA
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)	Yes	Acceded 15 November 1984
Joint US-China statement	Agreed to support establishing a practical and effective compliance mechanism for BTWC and improving transparency	27 June 1998
Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)	Yes	Signed 13 January 1993; Ratified 25 April 1997
Joint US-China statement	Agreed to cooperate in implementing the CWC "within a multilateral framework"	29 October 1997
US-China Summit Statement	Agreed to improve controls on the export of dual-use and related production equipment; China announced expansion of its chemical precursor control list	27 June 1998
Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS)	Yes	Observer 1980; Member 1981
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)	Signed; Not ratified	Signed 24 September 1996
Announced a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing	Yes	29 July 1996
Temporarily dropped its insistence that peaceful nuclear explosions (PNEs) be allowed under a CTBT	Yes	6 June 1996
Joint US-China statement	Agreed to work to bring the CTBT into force "at the earliest possible date"	29 October 1997
Conference on Disarmament (CD) (link to CD website)	Yes	1980-Present
Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency	Yes	Signed 26 September 1986; Ratified 10 September 1987
Convention on the Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident	Yes	Signed 26 September 1986; Ratified 10 September 1987
Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS)	Yes	Signed 20 September 1994; Ratified 9 April 1996; Entered into force 24 October 1996
Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material	Yes	Acceded 10 January 1989
Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage	No; Stated that amount of compensation for nuclear damage caused by every single nuclear incident is too high	NA
Detargeting agreements
With Russia	Yes	Agreement reached 3 September 1994
With the United States (Summit Statement)	Yes; Called a non-targeting agreement	27 June 1998
Environmental Modification (ENMOD) Convention	No	NA
Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT)	NA; Stated support for negotiations on a treaty	NA
Joint US-China statement on stopping production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons	Agreed to "earliest possible achievement" of FMCT	4 October 1994
Joint US-China statement	Agreed to seek the "early start of formal negotiations" on the FMCT	29 October 1997
Geneva Protocol (Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous, or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare)	Yes; Ratified with reservations attached	Became state party 1929 (before establishment of PRC in 1949); Declared it would abide by the Protocol 13 July 1952, as long as other signatories did the same; Acceded 9 August 1952
Inhumane Weapons Convention (IWC)/ Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW)	Yes	Signed 15 September 1981; Deposited 7 April 1982
Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty	NA; Stated support	NA
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (link to IAEA website)	Yes; Member of the IAEA's Board of Governors	Applied September 1983; Member 1 January 1984
Pledge (to US) not to provide assistance to unsafeguarded nuclear facilities	Yes	Announced 11 May 1996
IAEA Model Protocol Additional to Safeguards Agreements	Supported adoption	1997
Requirement of IAEA safeguards for nuclear exports	Yes; Facility-specific, not full-scope	Announced 1985
Provision of information on peaceful nuclear exports to non-nuclear-weapon states	Yes	Letter to IAEA November 1991 (INFCIRC/207/Add.2)
Voluntary safeguards on part of its civilian nuclear facilities	Yes	Announced 1985; Agreement with IAEA 20 September 1988 (INFCIRC/369)
Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management	No; Objects to the lack of provisions on the transboundary movement of radioactive waste, possibly in reaction to Taiwan's reported plans to dispose of radioactive waste in North Korea	NA
Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO)/US-DPRK Agreed Framework	No; Stated support for Korean denuclearization	NA
London Convention (on nuclear dumping)	Yes	Adherence took effect 21 February 1994
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)	Seeking membership as of February 2004	Met with MTCR in Paris to discuss membership, February 2004; Written assurance (to US) February 1992 to abide by original 1987 guidelines
Joint US-China statement on missile proliferation	Accepted "inherent capability" concept; Agreed to a complete ban on exports of all ground-to-ground missiles prohibited by MTCR	4 October 1994
Joint US-China statement	Agreed to "build on" the 1994 joint statement; Reaffirmed its commitment to the MTCR "guidelines and parameters"	29 October 1997
US-China Summit Statement	Agreed to "actively study" MTCR membership	27 June 1998
No-First-Use (NFU) and Negative Security Assurance (NSA) Agreements	Proposed multilateral NFU and NSA agreements among P-5 countries	NFU treaty presented January 1994
Bilateral with Russia (NFU)	Yes	3 September 1994
Bilateral with Ukraine (NSA)	Yes	December 1994
Bilateral with Kazakhstan (NSA)	Yes	February 1995
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)	Yes	Announced intention to sign 10 August 1991; Ratified 29 December 1991; Acceded 9 March 1992
Announced acceptance of the principle of nuclear nonproliferation	Yes	1984
Went along with 1995 indefinite extension of Treaty	Yes	May 1995
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (link to NATO website)	NA; Stated opposition to NATO expansion	NA
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)	Yes	NA
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZs)	Stated support for additional NWFZs in the Middle East, Central Asia, Central Europe, Korean Peninsula, and South Asia; In its nuclear weapon declaratory policy, China states that it will not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against NWFZs
Treaty of Bangkok (Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Treaty)	Announced in July 1999 at ARF meeting that it would sign the protocols	NA
Treaty of Pelindaba (African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (ANWFZ) Treaty)	Signed protocols 1 and 2	Signed 11 April 1996; Approved by the Standing Committee July 1997
Treaty of Rarotonga (South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone (SPNFZ) Treaty)	Signed and ratified protocols 2 and 3	Signed 10 February 1987; Ratified 21 October 1988; In force 21 October 1988
Treaty of Tlatelolco (Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean)	Signed and ratified protocol 2	Signed 21 August 1973; Ratified 2 June 1974
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) (link to OPCW website)	Yes; Founding member upon entry into force of CWC (on 29 April 1997); Member of the Executive Council, elected for two years (1997-1999)	29 April 1997-Present
Outer Space Treaty (OST)	Yes	Acceded 30 December 1983
Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT)/Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT)	No	NA; de facto participation since its last atmospheric test on 16 October 1980
Announced permanent halt to its atmospheric testing	Yes	21 March 1986
Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty (PNET)	No	NA; Has never conducted peaceful nuclear explosions (PNEs)
Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage	No; Objects to the lack of provisions on the transboundary movement of radioactive waste, possibly in reaction to Taiwan's reported plans to dispose of radioactive waste in North Korea	NA
Seabed Arms Control Treaty	Yes	Acceded 28 February 1991
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START) 1 & 2	NA; Stated support	NA
Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT)	No	NA; de facto participation since its 21 May 1992 test (660 kT yield)
United Nations Conference on the Relationship Between Disarmament and Development	Yes
United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC) (link to UNDC website)	Yes	1979-Present
United Nations First Committee (link to UN First Committee website)	Yes
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) (link to UNGA website)	Yes	1971-Present
United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (UNROCA) (link to UNROCA website)	Yes	Agreed to UNGA resolution establishing Register 1991; Yearly submissions to the Register
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) (link to UNSC website)	Yes	1971-Present
United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM)	Yes	1991-Present
United Nations Special Sessions on Disarmament (three sessions)	Yes	1978, 1982, 1986
Wassenaar Arrangement	No; Urged to join by US	NA
Zangger Committee (ZAC)	Yes	Attended as observer in May 1997; Joined 16 October 1997

[CHINA AND MULTILATERAL EXPORT CONTROL REGIMES]

Updated: 03/11/2004

This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2007 by MIIS.