China urges largest nuclear states to negotiate a 'no-first-use' treaty

https://www.reuters.com/world/china-urges-un-define-roadmap-exempt-non-nuclear-states-nuclear-threat-state-2024-02-28/

"Nuclear-weapon states should negotiate and conclude a treaty on no-first-use of nuclear weapons against each other or make a political statement in this regard," Sun said.

China and India are currently the only two nuclear powers to formally maintain a no first use policy. Russia and the United States have the world's biggest nuclear arsenals.

138 points · 33 comments · view on lemmy.world

33 Comments

TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 46 pts · 2y (11 replies)
[ removed ]
Crikeste@lemm.ee · 5 pts · 2y (10 replies)

It’s China. Literally nothing they do can be sensible to dumbfuck Americans, it goes against their nationalistic exceptionalism and false propaganda.

hansl@lemmy.world · -3 pts · 2y (9 replies)
[ removed ]
kaffiene@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y (8 replies)

Unlike the US

RedAggroBest@lemmy.world · -3 pts · 2y (1 reply)
[ removed ]
kaffiene@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y

No this is about hypocrical apologists for a hypocritical nation being hypocritical.. That's you and the US, just in case you were wondering

hansl@lemmy.world · -4 pts · 2y (5 replies)

So you agree that China is the hypocrite? Great.

kaffiene@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y (4 replies)

Yes. As is the US

hansl@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 2y (3 replies)

But the US is not signing the treaty.

kaffiene@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y

So?

Pons_Aelius@kbin.social · 31 pts · 2y (6 replies)

The French will never agree.

Their stance has always been, if France is threatened we will use every weapon in our arsenal.

They do not have end the world stocks of nukes like the US or Russia so their attitude is, "Fuck with us and we will end you."

Zellith@kbin.social · 16 pts · 2y (4 replies)

They do not have end the world stocks

I think you overestimate how many nukes it would take to cause the end of the world. Unless you mean "every piece of land is a radioactive wasteland" end of the world.

tetris11@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 2y (3 replies)

If just India and Pakistan were to go to nuclear war with each other, in their small localized region of the world, 27 million people would die from the carnage. The resulting nuclear Autumn would be enough to change agriculture and starve 250 million people worldwide.

Kurzgesagt Video with timestamp: https://youtu.be/LrIRuqr_Ozg?si=Nn6YuO0llyB-B6If&t=380

hglman@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 2y

Seems like incredibly low totals.

PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks · 3 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://piped.video/LrIRuqr_Ozg?si=Nn6YuO0llyB-B6If&t=380

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y

It's says an error about watch lists for me. Try yewtu.be instead

hglman@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 2y

How so, that is exactly inline with "no first use".

Balthazar@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 2y (2 replies)

I'm all for countries vowing not to use nuclear weapons first, but what is the point of a treaty? If a country does use nuclear weapons first, I think other countries are going to be less concerned about breaking the treaty and more concerned about WW3 and Armageddon. And given that both the US and Russia have shown scant regard for treaties in recent years with major changes to policy, surely the treaty wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on.

catloaf@lemm.ee · 30 pts · 2y

If a country does use nuclear weapons first, the other countries aren't going to be concerned with the treaty at all because the first country already broke it.

TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 26 pts · 2y
[ removed ]
wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 2y (10 replies)

That is obviously fake news the libs and MAGAs told me Chyyyyna bad!

TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 19 pts · 2y (7 replies)
[ removed ]
BartsBigBugBag@lemmy.tf · 9 pts · 2y (4 replies)

Russia also maintains a no first strike policy, unless that changed since I last got stuck in a rabbit hole about nuclear policy. The US is the only major country in the world to maintain a first strike policy with nuclear weapons that I know of.

Ranvier@sopuli.xyz · 9 pts · 2y (2 replies)

Kind of? They call it that sometimes but it doesn't look like a true no first use policy in the same vein as China's and India's. Putin also threatens nuclear weapons if NATO troops were to get involved in Ukraine, and openly questions the policy.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/europe/russia-putin-nuclear-weapons-intl/index.html

I'm not sure any nuclear country would stick to these policies if they truly faced an existential threat, whether that threat was nuclear or not. Russia's policy has a carve out for any existential threat including conventional weapons. US and Russian policies are pretty close, basically okay to use for any existential threat. Doesn't hurt to try and negotiate more no first use policies and reinforce the norm though.

Looks like the UK, France, and Pakistan also lack no first use policies.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_first_use

As far as I can tell the article is correct, China and India are the only current nuclear powers with true no first use policies. If that's incorrect happy to learn more though. Israel not on here cause officially not a nuclear power, but hey we weren't born yesterday.

BartsBigBugBag@lemmy.tf · 7 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Wow great info, thanks so much for doing all that legwork! It makes sense that Putin would put less stock into the policy than did his predecessors, because while the leaked Soviet archives show the USSR was genuinely terrified of nuclear war and mostly built up in response to US expansion of nuclear programs, I feel like Putin sees it more as a tool for intimidation.

Alsephina@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 2y

The post-USSR Russian Federation and Yeltsin, a US tool ironically enough and traitor to the USSR, were the ones who revoked Russia's no-first-use nuclear policy from 1993 through 1997.

TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 2y
[ removed ]
wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2y

because they set up their nuclear arsenal with this far more reasonable and less aggressive strategy

Yes.

rottingleaf@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 2y

it’s only because they set up their nuclear arsenal with this far more reasonable and less aggressive strategy

I'm sure US and Russia would do the same if not for starting earlier. There are advantages to catching up too.

thebardingreen@lemmy.starlightkel.xyz · 9 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Folks, very smart people are saying it. I talk to CEOs, generals, every day they tell me. They tell me China is a problem, they say "we've got a problem with China. We've gotta do something about China." Everybody's saying it. That's what they tell me.

InternetUser2012@midwest.social · 2 pts · 2y

Should have thrown in a "I'm a very stable genius" somewhere.

ikidd@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y

I fail to see the point of such a treaty. This planet isn't surviving a nuclear war long enough to hold anyone accountable over it anyway.

False@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y (1 reply)

This would be a mixed bag because it could open the door on more conventional wars since it would left the threat of MAD.

explodicle@local106.com · 2 pts · 2y

I think this applies more to our typical bullying. Against another nuclear state, this treaty is meaningless.

jackpot@lemmy.ml · 0 pts · 2y

this is largely symbolic, it doesnt change anything

Linkerbaan@lemmy.world · -3 pts · 2y

Agreements? Concentions? Those never get broken.

Geneva anyone?

naturalgasbad@lemmy.ca · -5 pts · 2y (1 reply)

China and India are the only responsible players on the world stage and it shows.

Cojncidentally, they're also the two nuclear-armed countries who have been involved in the fewest conflicts, and who's conflicts have been resolved the most quickly.

hglman@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 2y

Also, they have been fighting each other without guns.