U.S. Arms Control: A "Model" of Constant Malicious Fouls (Global Hotspot)

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

A few days ago, the US State Department released the 2022 Arms Control Compliance Report, accusing China of failing to comply with its moratorium on nuclear testing and missile non-proliferation commitments, and questioning China's implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention. In this regard, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that every year the United States concocts the so-called "arms control compliance report," posing as a referee and judge, pointing fingers and making irresponsible remarks about other countries' arms control and non-proliferation policies and practices, and flaunting itself as a "model" and whitewashing itself, which is very absurd.

In fact, the United States has a poor record of compliance in arms control and nonproliferation. Withdrawing from the INF Treaty and the Open Skies Treaty, revoking the signing of the Arms Trade Treaty, repeatedly taking a stand on the Iranian nuclear issue; providing nuclear submarine technology to Australia, cooperating in the development of hypersonic weapons, selling to other countries toadhik cruise missiles that can carry nuclear warheads, and attacking the international nuclear non-proliferation system; exclusively blocking the negotiation of the Verification Protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention, and setting up biological laboratories and carrying out biological military activities around the world... Countless facts have proved that the United States is the "model" for continuous malicious fouls in the field of global arms control and non-proliferation.

Slandering China has no real evidence

"In its 2022 Arms Control Compliance Report, the United States' accusations against China are baseless and are entirely groundless speculation and 'unwarranted' accusations, and even 'presumptions of guilt.'" Zou Zhibo, deputy director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, selected three examples from the report to refute in an interview with this reporter: First, the United States doubted China's compliance with the "moratorium on nuclear testing" commitments, and doubted whether China's nuclear test site Lop Nur had violated the promise of "zero-yield" test activities, but did not provide any evidence. In fact, any equivalent nuclear test at a conventional nuclear test site like Lop Nur can be detected not only by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization's global monitoring system, but also by the high-precision reconnaissance satellites of the United States. But so far, no surveillance system or reconnaissance satellite has found evidence of China's breach of its commitments. It can be seen that the suspicions of the United States are purely fictitious; second, the United States accuses China of violating the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), speculating that companies with Chinese background continue to export MTCR-controlled items related to the missile program, but has not provided any evidence; third, the accusations of China's violation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) are even more outrageous, saying that the United States does not have enough information to confirm that China has destroyed biological weapons, so it suspects that China has not complied, which is completely a "presumption of guilt" in legal theory. It's ridiculous.

"The China-related arguments of the '2022 Arms Control Compliance Report' concocted by the United States are not new at all, and they are still a 'teacher's grandfather' posture." Liu Chong, executive director of the Institute of International Security of the China Academy of Contemporary International Relations, told this newspaper that the United States' groundless accusations of China's arms control and compliance are very overbearing and ridiculous. For example, China has been managing its own exports of missiles and related objects under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and is supposed to be a member of the Mechanism. However, on the one hand, the United States has long blocked China's accession to the MTCR, and on the other hand, it complained that it did not have enough information to know whether China was complying with the agreement.

"The US accusations against China are purely a matter of catching wind and shadows and making things up." Wang Wenbin said that China has always acted in a responsible manner, conscientiously fulfilled its international obligations and commitments, firmly committed itself to multilateralism, and always adhered to safeguarding the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law. In recent years, China has actively participated in the deliberation process of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Biological Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention, promoted the negotiation of legal instruments on foreign air control, issued the Global Data Security Initiative, and submitted position papers to the United Nations on regulating the military application of artificial intelligence, thus making important contributions to strengthening and improving the international arms control and non-proliferation system and safeguarding world peace and security.

What is the intention of the United States to accuse China without any basis? Zou Zhibo believes that the first is to hinder the development of China's strategic nuclear forces; the second is to divert attention, reduce the pressure of its breach of contract, and cover up its bad behavior of seriously violating international arms control treaties and non-proliferation mechanisms; and third, it serves the goal of inciting clique politics and camp confrontation.

It is difficult to conceal one's own bad deeds by transferring contradictions

Even if it does everything possible to slander and smear China and try to divert contradictions, the United States can hardly hide its own bad deeds.

"The U.S. compliance record in the field of arms control and non-proliferation is a completely negative example, seriously undermining the current international arms control system and seriously violating the non-proliferation mechanism." Zou Zhibo said that in terms of undermining the national arms control system, the United States has successively withdrawn from the INF Treaty and the Open Skies Treaty, revoked the signing of the Arms Trade Treaty, exclusively blocked the conclusion of the Verification Protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC); and is the only state party that has not complied with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and completed the destruction of stockpiled chemical weapons. In terms of violating the non-proliferation mechanism, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear agreement in 2018, resulting in the invalidation of the Iranian nuclear agreement, and the repeated positions of the United States on the Iranian nuclear issue, resulting in the current progress of the Iranian nuclear negotiations in Vienna; according to the evidence obtained by Russia in Ukraine, the United States has set up biological laboratories in Ukraine, which is a major suspicion of violating the BWC; the United States led the establishment of the United States, britain, and Australia Trilateral Security Initiative (AUKUS), and provided weapons-grade nuclear materials to Australia, a non-nuclear-weapon country. There is a serious violation of the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

"On the issue of a moratorium on nuclear testing, the United States has called on other countries to stop nuclear tests, but it has continued to conduct critical nuclear tests. This is purely a hegemonic act of 'only state officials are allowed to set fires, and the people are not allowed to light lamps'. Liu Chong believes that what the United States has done has seriously undermined the global strategic balance and stability and hindered the international arms control and disarmament process. Instead of introspecting itself, the United States continues to pour dirty water on other countries, in essence, to create an excuse for itself to get rid of its treaty obligations and to find scapegoats.

According to data released by the United States itself, the United States controls 336 biological laboratories in 30 countries around the world. The labs are part of the so-called Biological Synergy Program, part of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, part of the U.S. Department of Defense, and controlled by direct Pentagon funding.

In order to sabotage international biological arms control negotiations and open the door to biological experiments for itself, the United States does not hesitate to move against the trend of the times. "At the end of the 1990s, when all parties basically agreed on the verification protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention, the George W. Bush administration issued a report opposing the verification protocol, giving three reasons: one is to affect the legitimacy of the US biodefense program; the other is to leak advanced technology of the United States; and third, the verification is not enough to prevent the biological weapons research and development process of other countries. These reasons have fully exposed the double standards and hegemonism of the United States. Liu Chong introduced.

Under the manipulation of the military-industrial complex, the global arms sales of the United States have risen against the trend. On March 14 this year, sweden's Stockholm Institute for International Peace released a report on global arms sales trends, showing that in the five years from 2017 to 2021, although the global arms trade volume fell by 4.6% compared with 2012-2016, U.S. arms exports increased by 14% against the trend in the same period, and the global share rose from 32% to 39%.

"The United States is currently the world's largest arms exporter, and its arms exports, including missiles and other weapons of mass destruction, have become a source of global instability and war. The United States has previously revoked the "Arms Trade Convention" it signed, which has proved that the United States is the main culprit in the global proliferation of missile weapons. Liu Chong said.

In recent years, U.S. military spending has repeatedly reached new highs. On March 16, local time, US President Biden signed the 2022 fiscal year federal budget, of which defense spending reached $782 billion, an increase of 5.6% over the previous fiscal year. On March 28, the Biden administration submitted a draft federal government budget for fiscal year 2023, including the defense budget, to Congress. The draft shows that the total amount of the U.S. defense budget in fiscal year 2023 is $813.3 billion, breaking the $800 billion mark for the first time in history.

Behind the high military expenditure is the frequent foreign military intervention of the United States. According to the Smithsonian Institution Magazine, since 2001, the wars and military operations launched by the United States in the name of "counter-terrorism" have covered "about 40% of the countries on this planet." According to Brown University's "Cost of War" program, these so-called "war on terror" have claimed more than 800,000 lives, displaced more than 38 million people, and cost more than $8 trillion.

Exacerbating risks endangers world peace

"The Best Way for the United States to use multilateralism to restrain other countries is to first use multilateralism to restrain itself." Mahbubani Mahbubani, the former rotating chairman of the United Nations Security Council, said in an interview with the website of Canada's Globe and Mail. From a range of international treaties such as the Paris Agreement to the INF Treaty, and from UNESCO, the Human Rights Council to a range of international organizations such as WHO, the international community can look at which country has most often undermined, abandoned or sought to withdraw from multilateral agreements in recent years. There is no doubt that the United States has done the most such things.

Adam Smith, chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, has said that the United States has been seeking overwhelming military superiority, which is impossible and undesirable. This could easily send the wrong signal and plunge the world into a new Cold War.

The United States' vigorous pursuit of "double standards" in the field of global arms control and non-proliferation will have a serious negative impact on the international security order and the global security situation.

• The international arms control process will be seriously hindered. "Arms control and disarmament are a barometer of major country relations and the international situation. At present, the United States not only provokes great power antagonism in arms control and non-proliferation, but also escalates the confrontation between major powers in strategic and geopolitical security, and international arms control and disarmament will inevitably fall into difficulties. Zou Zhibo analyzed.

• The deterioration of the international security order will accelerate. "In recent years, in the face of declining comprehensive strength, the United States has sacrificed the banner of values to maintain its world hegemony, so as to pull Western allies and partners to suppress countries that do not obey themselves." Now, the United States is taking the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as an opportunity to promote camp confrontation and create divisions under the banner of "democracy against autocracy.". This divisive climate and confrontation are bound to worsen the global security environment. Zou Zhibo said, "The United States taking the lead in undermining the arms control system and non-proliferation mechanism will cause the international security order to be undermined and there is a danger of disorder." ”

"The scientific and technological revolution is a double-edged sword. While emerging technologies have brought progress to human civilization, they have also brought many new challenges to global security. Non-traditional security risks are gradually rising, and the governance rules of the international community cannot keep up with the normalization of global security chaos. All countries in the world should strengthen cooperation and jointly address global security risks. Liu Chong believes that as a responsible major country, China has put forward global security initiatives, a new security concept and the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind in the field of international security governance, which have received positive responses from many countries and international organizations. China is consistent in its words and deeds, has always advocated the peaceful settlement of international disputes, promoted the construction of a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation and a community with a shared future for mankind with universal security, adhered to multilateralism and the principle of consultation, co-construction and sharing, strived to safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, and is committed to strengthening international security cooperation, improving the global security governance system, and jointly addressing global challenges, thus contributing wisdom and strength to global security governance and world peace and development.

Reporter Jia Pingfan