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China regrets Indian N-tests

China has deplored the recent nuclear tests conducted by India, saying they were undertaken against the "tide of times'' and affected adversely peace and stability in south Asia.

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan told the UN general assembly yesterday that the tests "were to be regretted''. But he refrained from using the phrase when mentioning Pakistan's test. He merely said, "Pakistan, too, conducted nuclear tests.''

Jiaxuan suggested that the tests in the subcontinent not only led to an escalation of the tension between the two countries, but also dealt a "heavy blow'' to international nuclear disarmament and the mechanism for the prevention of nuclear proliferation. This, he said, had roused great concern in the international community.

The Chinese foreign minister expressed hope that both countries would adhere to the recent communique of the five permanent members and the resolution of the Security Council on the matter, and give up their plans to develop nuclear weapons and immediately and unconditionally accede to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Jiaxuan appealed to India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue through "peaceful means''.

China felt that the nuclear tests in south Asia had put more pressure on the international non-proliferation mechanism to prevent further proliferation of nuclear weapons and to enhance the universality and authority of the NPT, Jiaxuan said.

Upholding the NPT did not imply that nuclear weapon states had the privilege of possessing nuclear weapons forever. The fundamental way to eliminate the danger of nuclear proliferation was through destruction of such weapons, and China as a nuclear power, would never shirk its responsibility on the question of the ultimate complete prohibition and through destruction of nuclear weapons, he said.

UNI

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