BEIJING, October 16. /TASS/. Chinese authorities are ready to cooperate with all interested parties to ban nuclear weapons, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

"China is ready for cooperation with all parties aimed at [instituting] a complete, thorough prohibition and total destruction of nuclear weapons," she said at a briefing. "China will continue efforts to create a world free from nuclear weapons."

China’s commitment to not use weapons of mass destruction first "has become an important consensus and a priority for international arms control" over the past decades, the Chinese diplomat clarified. In 1964 Beijing announced that it would "never at any time or under any circumstances" be the first to use nuclear weapons, Mao Ning recalled.

"History and reality have repeatedly proven that the No First Use policy contributes, first and foremost, to building strategic mutual trust, advancing the process of nuclear disarmament, effective strategic risk reduction, strengthening the global strategic balance and stability," she added.

The Non-Proliferation Treaty was concluded in 1968. It legitimized the nuclear arsenals of Russia, the United Kingdom, China, the United States and France. Other states, having signed the document, are deprived of the right to create or acquire weapons of mass destruction. More than 190 countries are parties to the agreement. Israel, India and Pakistan remain outside the treaty. North Korea withdrew from it in January 2003.