China: The US-UK-Australia nuclear submarine cooperation has once again cast the South Pacific region under the haze of nuclear proliferation

Beijing, 28 Sep (China News Service) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a regular news conference on 28 September that the us-Britain-Australia nuclear submarine cooperation has once again shrouded the South Pacific region under the haze of nuclear proliferation, and the three countries of the United States, Britain, and Australia should abandon the outdated Cold War mentality and refrain from harming the innocent people of the South Pacific island countries.

A reporter asked a question, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Sogavare said in his speech at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly on the 26th that Solomon Islands is a party to the South Pacific Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, firmly supports regional denuclearization, and does not want the history of nuclear pollution in the region to repeat itself. The sea is the lifeblood of the survival and development of Pacific island countries such as the Solomon Islands and does not support any nuclear testing, stockpiling and dumping of nuclear material in the Pacific. Considering the recent agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia on nuclear submarines, it may expose the South Pacific region to similar risks again. What is China's comment on this?

Hua Chunying said that the South Pacific region is a victim of nuclear pollution and a hard-hit area. Many people may not know that between 1946 and 1958, the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, causing irreparable and irreparable harm to the life, health and safety of local residents and the local ecological environment. The United States dumped nuclear waste in the Pacific Ocean a total of 63 times, resulting in the Marshall Islands people suffering from it, and the incidence of cancer, leukemia, newborn birth defects and other diseases has increased significantly. In soil samples from islands such as Bikini Atoll, concentrations of plutonium-239 and plutonium-240 were more than a thousand times higher than in Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Hua Chunying stressed: The us-Britain-Australia nuclear submarine cooperation undermines the "South Pacific Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty," causing the South Pacific region to once again be shrouded in the haze of nuclear proliferation, and it is natural that it will be concerned and questioned by regional countries and even the international community. The people of the South Pacific region should not once again fall prey to the political and military confrontation of individual countries. The united States, Britain, and Australia should abandon the outdated Cold War mentality, withdraw the relevant erroneous decisions in a responsible manner, and refrain from harming the innocent people of the South Pacific Island Countries again. (End)

Source: China News Network