Discussion in China about the future of its nuclear policy seems to be becoming more open. Hong Kong daily, South China Morning Post reported on Sept. 22, that a former Chinese arms control official told a gathering of arms control experts last week that, given the increasing U.S. military pressure, China should reconsider its no first-use policy on nuclear weapons.
According to a transcript of his speech released on Sept. 22, Sha Zukang, who was the Chinese ambassador for disarmament affairs to the UN in Geneva in the 1990s and is now retired, said China had taken the “moral high ground” with its pledge not to be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time or under any circumstances, when it first gained nuclear capabilities in 1964.