By: Katherine Szetu, Ibis Almada, John Mark Shorack, and Paul Ji.
The UN just held their 2013 press conference where they talked about nuclear proliferation. Representatives of different nations came forward to express their nation’s stand on the possession of nuclear weapons. At the end of the meeting, they came to a conclusion as a community, and held a press conference where they talked about their concluding proposals. The Secretary of State of the United States was present during the whole process.
The Secretary of State is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser.
- Serves as the President’s principal adviser on U.S. foreign policy;
- Conducts negotiations relating to U.S. foreign affairs;
- Grants and issues passports to American citizens and exequaturs to foreign consuls in the United States;
- Advises the President on the appointment of U.S. ambassadors, ministers, consuls, and other diplomatic representatives;
- Advises the President regarding the acceptance, recall, and dismissal of the representatives of foreign governments;
- Personally participates in or directs U.S. representatives to international conferences, organizations, and agencies;
- Negotiates, interprets, and terminates treaties and agreements;
- Ensures the protection of the U.S. Government to American citizens, property, and interests in foreign countries;
- Supervises the administration of U.S. immigration laws abroad;
- Provides information to American citizens regarding the political, economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian conditions in foreign countries;
- Informs the Congress and American citizens on the conduct of U.S. foreign relations;
- Promotes beneficial economic intercourse between the United States and other countries;
- Administers the Department of State;
- Supervises the Foreign Service of the United States.
http://www.state.gov/secretary/115194.htm
These were the positions that each nation held:
U.S. Secretary of State:
The United States was the first country to develop nuclear weapons. We were the only ones to actually use them on human targets. That is why we know the consequences that nuclear weapons bring more than anybody else in the world. On April 5th, at the Prague Speech, President Obama called for the United States to lead international effort toward a world free of nuclear weapons. As one of the two large powers responsible for the creation of such a myriad of nuclear weapons, the United States feel responsible in getting rid of them now.
Although many analysts say that the geopolitical conditions do not permit the global elimination of nuclear weapons, the President and I believe that a gradual reduction of such weapons will reap benefits, slowly but most definitely, in the coming future. It is extremely hard and costly to safely and environmentally to successfully get rid of nuclear weapons. I propose that all the nations of the world come together to start getting rid of the nuclear weapons: first by making sure no more are produced, second by getting rid of the nuclear weapons that they already have in position.
Foreign Minister of North Korea:
We have always wanted to own a nuclear weapon. We have always had the resources and manpower to achieve such a deed, but the disagreements and snide remarks from other countries have made us hesitate. In that short time of hesitation, the other worlds started to boom and prosper while the only thing that prospered is our barren lands! Our leader is not happy by this fact and wishes to be granted the right to create and own their nuclear weapons.
Our leader was so generous to offer that he will only use it to maintain peace and intimidate his enemies. He also said that he does not care what the final decision is because he is going to use the uranium they were able to get to make their own nuclear weapon whether the rest of the world agrees or not. We already have the knowledge, technology, and the resources to make it. It would be wise for the world to just let us have it.
Foreign Minister of Russia:
Russia, in 1968, accompanying Great Britain and the United States signed the Non-Proliferation Act. This act states that the countries that already possess nuclear weapons must slowly move towards disarmament, including Russia and the United States.
Russia, recognized as one of the five-nuclear countries, still maintains a position of slowly lowering the amount of nuclear weapons in the world and in our country. This is why they signed the Non-Proliferation Act in 1968. Their goal is to move towards the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. However, they do not wish to renew the Cooperative Threat Reduction Act which has the purpose “to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction and their associated infrastructure in former Soviet Union states.” Russia, wants to with its own money and economy deal with their nuclear weapons.
Foreign Minister of France
Guided by the principle “to strive for a safer world and a more just international order founded on the rule of law and collective security, to prevent threats to peace, to respect the right of self-defence, to opt out of the arms race and move towards general and complete disarmament.” France is against nuclear proliferation. Since always France has made sure they keep their nuclear usage at low as possible.
France has been and example, sided by the United Kingdom on nuclear disarmament. They were the first country to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the first to decide to shut down any of the places they had that were being used to build nuclear weapons and missiles. In 2008 France voluntarily reduced the number of their nuclear ballistic missile submarines by one-third. When France had the presidency of the European Union (2008) it committed to making sure that Europe would have initiatives for disarmament.
Foreign minister of China:
The Chinese nuclear program started in the mid-1950s and In 1964, China conducted its first nuclear weapon test. It possesses some 400 nuclear weapons and a variety of short-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles. However, It is the only nuclear weapons state to adhere to a policy of no-first use of nuclear weapons. In 1992 China acceded to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a nuclear-weapon state (NWS) and is the only NWS that has ratified the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Additional Protocol.
Even Though, China has sponsored many disarmament resolutions in the United Nations, its actions prove the contrary. China has modernize its nuclear arsenal, in addition to increasing its military capabilities, and despite promises to ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, it continues to maintain its nuclear test site. In addition, China was also a proliferator to countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the 1980s and 1990s, which led the United States to exert pressure on the country to adhere to international nonproliferation treaties, and especially export controls regime. Most importantly, as a mediator between the United States and North Korea, China has been one of the main players in the Six-Party talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
The following is what the assembly concluded:
UN press information officer:
It has come to our attention that there are several nations that agree on the fact that nuclear proliferation might cause future problems, and that they wish to reduce the amount of nuclear arms in the world. However, there were couple of nations that wanted to have nuclear technology, and even though many of the other nations have tried to convince them out of it, they stood firm on their stands. As a world community, we should all take a look at history and learn from our pasts. The United States, as the only nation to use nuclear power against an actual enemy, stated that they know better than anyone of the destructiveness of the weapons. There is nothing they regret more than using such drastic measures. They lament the losses and developmental setbacks that Japan has had to go through. Furthermore, the Russian Foreign Minister has talked about the Cold War and how they were able to accumulate such a nuclear force that they combined with the United States could explode the whole Earth 27 times. In addition to their statement, however, they pointed out that such an explosive power did not give them much in return. Both nations saw the dangers in using even one single nuclear warhead, and the possibility of a World War III, which would practically mean the end of the world. With all that said, the majority of the United Nations believe that we should strive toward a non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Our jointed efforts and resources should go to the dismantling and removing of all the existing nuclear weapons. As a community, we can agree that there are more than enough nuclear warheads already circulating between us. The United States, France, and Russia have been acting as the forerunners in the efforts to rid the world of such powers. The other two states, with some of the other nations who still advocate for nuclear proliferation, must take into account that no matter what their motives, there can no longer be any production of such a weapon of mass destruction. However, the rest of the governments have agreed to co-own the nuclear weapons with such governments in order to stop production, but only to fulfill their desire to have nuclear power. The co-owning nation will not have exclusivity nor complete power over what happens with the weapons; they will be subject to and strictly supervised by the whole UN General Assembly, and each nation will be assigned a collateral. The collateral will hold the ultimate passkey or activation code for the nuclear warhead, and in order for the other nation to use the nuclear weapon, they would need to get clearance from their collateral. The nations who oppose non-proliferation will be forced to sign a pact against the reconstruction of such weapons, and asked to give up their complete authority over their current nuclear weapons, if they have them. Any nation in the UN that reject this proposal will be subject to expulsion from the alliance, and may be declared as international threat.
U.S. Government Honors. 