In September 2021, the US, UK and Australia announced the establishment of a trilateral security partnership, AUKUS, to develop nuclear submarine cooperation. In this connection, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has conducted, since November 2021 an inter-governmental discussion process on the question of “Transfer of nuclear materials in the context of AUKUS and its safeguards in all aspects under the NPT”. This standalone agenda item was adopted three times by consensus by the Board.
On the nature and potential proliferation risk of the trilateral nuclear submarine cooperation under AUKUS, the spokesperson of the permanent Chinese mission in Vienna gave the following opinion:
The AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation is a serious violation of the NPT and the three countries have always tried to conceal the nature of their nuclear proliferation act. Article I of the NPT stipulates that “Each nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons directly or indirectly; and not in any way to assist, encourage, or induce any non-nuclear-weapon State to acquire nuclear weapons”; Article II stipulates that “Each non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to receive the transfer from any transferor whatsoever of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or of control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly. ”
The above provisions explicitly set out the nuclear non-proliferation obligations of nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon states, with a clear definition of acts of nuclear proliferation and provide the legal basis for those obligations. Under the above provisions, the AUKUS trilateral cooperation involving the transfer of nuclear-weapon material from nuclear-weapon states to a non-nuclear weapon state is illegal and an outright act of nuclear proliferation.
No matter how the three countries refer to their nuclear submarine cooperation under AUKUS, including as naval power reactor, the basic fact remains that via this trilateral cooperation nuclear-weapon material will be transferred from nuclear weapon states to a non-nuclear weapon state. No matter how the nuclear weapon material involved is handled, including being sealed in nuclear submarine power reactors, there is no denying the fact that nuclear weapon material will be transferred illegally from nuclear weapon states to a non-nuclear weapon state. This is what we call the "original sin" in the AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation.
China calls on the three countries to stop this proliferation act immediately by abandoning their nuclear submarine cooperation and help to uphold the NPT, preserve the international nuclear non-proliferation system, conform to the wishes of the Member States, allay the concerns of the international community and maintain international peace and security.