Prof. ST Hsieh
Director, US-China Energy Industry Forum
626-376-7460
June 24, 2023
It is good and important for the US to convene a nuclear weapons meeting to “discuss nuclear weapons issues including strategic risk reduction.”
However, it is not reasonable for only the five nations, the US, China, France, Russia, and United Kingdom to dictate the global “strategic risk reduction,” because it is public information that: India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel have nuclear weapons. They all should be invited to the Nuclear Weapon Club.” In fact, the “strategic risk” is much more serious for these nuclear powers which are not members of the “Exclusive Nuclear Weapon Club.” Because they are not bound by the NPT and prone to regional warfare. For example, Israel has openly threatened the world that “it will never allow Iran to become a nuclear power.” Israel says what it means: if Israel were convinced herself that Iran has produced a nuclear bomb then Israel will use her nuclear weapon to strike Iran first! How does the “exclusive nuclear power club” address Israel’s announcement of unilateral first strike against Iran?
The US, under the Trump Administration, unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA agreement, now Biden Administration had to re-engage Iran directly!
DPRK’s nuclear arsenal is also a real threat, even to the US homeland, but there is no real contact or mechanism to deal with DPRK on de-nuclearization, after the collapse of the six-party negotiation mechanism and “Trump’s summit” fiasco. Biden administration has not made any direct contact with DPRK but pressed China to “make efforts!”
It is time for the “exclusive nuclear club” to invite other nuclear powers and jointly manage nuclear war crisis!
US convenes nuclear weapons meeting with China, France, Russia, UK
Fri, June 23, 2023 at 7:56 AM PDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States this month convened a meeting of working-level experts from China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom to discuss nuclear weapons issues including strategic risk reduction, the State Department said.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the talks were part of “a routine, continuing dialogue.”
The department said in a statement on Friday that Washington hosted the meeting on June 13-14 in Cairo among the five nuclear weapons states, describing it as “an ongoing exchange in the context of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).”
The experts were drawn from the countries’ respective ministries of foreign affairs and defense, the department said. They “discussed strategic risk reduction, as well as nuclear doctrines and policy,” it added.
The NPT, which took effect in 1970, aims to halt the spread of nuclear weapons-making capability and guarantee the right of members to develop nuclear energy for peace means.
The treaty allowed the five nuclear weapons states – who are the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – to keep their nuclear arsenals.
A State Department spokesperson said expert representatives had also met in Dubai in February as part of the dialogue under the NPT, which the United States is currently chairing.
“We found both multilateral conversations to be professional and useful,” the spokesperson said in an emailed response that did not address the question of whether any bilateral talks took place.
(Reporting by Rami Ayyub and Simon Lewis; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Grant McCool)