UNITED NATIONS, September 27./TASS/. China has castigated the construction of nuclear submarines by non-nuclear weapon states as a violation of the non-proliferation regime, China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun told a session of the UN Security Council on Monday.
"China objects to [the] utilitarian approach to the non-proliferation treaty or the application of the double standards there to. <…> assisting non-nuclear weapons states in building nuclear submarines not only will intensify the arms race to the detriment of international non-proliferation regime as well as international and regional security and stability," China’s permanent representative said.
"It also runs counter to the spirit of the NPT," the diplomat stressed. The Chinese government "has scrupulously upheld the moratorium and has never waived in its support for [the] Treaty at the political level," the ambassador said.
On September 16, Australia, the UK and the US announced a new strategic security pact dubbed AUKUS. Under the agreement, Australia plans to build at least eight US-designed nuclear-powered submarines and equip its forces with American-designed cruise missiles, among other things. Because of this deal, Canberra terminated a major defense contract with France, who blasted this decision as "a stab in the back." China warned that the creation of AUKUS would ramp up the arms race and urged the AUKUS participants to abolish its "Cold War mentality" and "narrow-minded geopolitical concepts.".