UNITED NATIONS, August 23. /TASS/. Beijing calls for preserving the existing arms control regime following the dismantling the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun said on Thursday. He was speaking at an emergency session of UN Security Council convened upon the request of Russia and China.
"The world is currently going through a stage of deep changes, unseen in the last 100 years. Peace, progress and cooperation remain irreversible trends of our time, and the powers of peace should dominate over elements of war. At the same time,due to factors of destabilization and insecurity, the multilateral approach remains an effective measure of responding to common challenges," the diplomat said.
He called on the UN Security Council to "decisively defend the world order where international law and UN Charter prevail." "We need to decisively defend the concept of comprehensive and inclusive security," he noted.
"Withdrawal from the INF Treaty follows unilateral goals and represents US steering away from its international commitments. Their true aim is to make it so that the Treaty does not constrain their actions any longer as they strive for absolute unilateral military advantages," the diplomat said.
"China has always adhered to defense security policies," he added. "All Chinese intermediate-range ground-based missiles are stationed on the territory of China, they are purely defensive and do not present a threat to any country," he stressed.