"Outer space has become a widely-concerned issue at the conference," said Liu Jieyi, director of the Department of Arms Control and Disarmament of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Liu said an early conclusion of an international legal instrument on the prevention of outer space weaponization would enhance the common security of all countries.

"A Disarmament Agenda for the 21st Century," an international conference sponsored by the United Nations (UN) and the Chinese Foreign Ministry, ended Thursday in Beijing.

Some 40 senior governmental officials and experts from more than 20 countries attended the meeting.

Participants unanimously agreed it is essential to further enhance international co-operation, maintain international arms control and a non-proliferation system, and push forward the multilateral process of arms control, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.

Participants had in-depth discussions on major topics including the role of the UN in the sphere of disarmament, the prevention of the arms race in outer space, missile proliferation, nuclear disarmament, military revolution and conventional arms disarmament.

Participants stressed that unilateralism is not only of no help, but also a trigger to the further proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Concluding the conference, concerns were raised about the US "go-it-alone" trend.

The US was accused of withdrawing from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM), and vetoing the Biological Weapons Convention and the International Criminal Court and its Nuclear Posture Review, which was revealed last month.

Source: China Daily - main text is unedited from CD's English translation as published

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