Acceptance of China’s initiative to renounce the first use of nuclear weapons under an international treaty. Until now, China has repeatedly stressed that it develops and deploys nuclear weapons only for defensive purposes.
At the second preparatory meeting of the 11th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) to be held in July 2024, the Chinese representative proposed that the five officially nuclear-weapon States, namely the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain, renounce the initial use of nuclear weapons through the treaty. IALANA calls on the German government to accept this proposal and invite its allies, the United States, France and Britain, to resume it and initiate such negotiations.
The United States and NATO have so far refused to take such a step. However, given the growing strategic tensions, a confidence-building measure is urgently needed. An international treaty renouncing the first use of nuclear weapons would significantly reduce the risk of a nuclear war, especially for Germany.
Such a treaty would be an important but modest step towards the complete disarmament of all nuclear weapons under strict and effective international control. All States in the world, particularly the nuclear-weapon States, remain bound by customary international law, in its 1996 advisory opinion at the request of the United Nations General Assembly, the International Court of Justice declared that its obligation under Article 6 of the NPT was universal customary law. The refusal of the nuclear-weapon States to even begin such negotiations constitutes a serious violation of international law.
