Arms control dialogue intensified

In June 2022 the FES Berlin published the study China´s role in multilateral arms control by Prof. Michael Staack and Dr. Oliver Meier: https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/19484.pdf

In April 2023 FES Beijing initiated an exchange on arms control between German security experts and Chinese thinktanks like CICIR and CACDA (China Arms Control and Disarmament Association).

In November/December 2023 organized a week -long exchange in Beijing between German arms control experts like

Prof. Michael Stack, Chair of Political Science at Helmut Schmidt University of the Bundeswehr (Germany´s armed forces);
Dr. Oliver Meier, Policy and Research Director at European Leadership Network (ELN);
Prof. Angela Kane, Chair of Dialogue Advisory Group, Senior Advisor to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs
as well as Prof. Götz Neuneck, former Deputy Director of Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH) at University of Hamburg with the following Chinese thinktanks:

-Chinese Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR)

-Grandview Institution

-CACDA (China Arms Control and Disarmament Association)

-Chinese People´s Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD)

-The Global Governance Institution (GGI)

-and the China Foreign Affairs University

Experts from both countries agreed that we currently experience times of profound international change and uncertainty.

During a visit by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in November 2022, China's head of state and KPC party leader Xi Jinping spoke out against the use of nuclear weapons in Eurasia and the threat with nuclear weapons.

This consensus at top level has ultimately highlighted issues of hard security such as Russia's war of aggression, but also arms control, as necessary areas of dialogue and possible areas of cooperation in tense times.

Both countries declare that they regard non-proliferation and disarmament as global goods. As with climate protection and the global development agenda, it seems that there is a shared interest in reducing threats and risks to humanity and strengthening regional stability through international cooperation.

In these tense times, stabilizers and concrete areas of cooperation are needed to restore trust. Against this backdrop, it is crucial to work together to further develop cooperative areas for the protection of global goods and identify common interests, while discussing opposing viewpoints, constructively resolving differences and jointly reducing the risks of escalation.

Arms control appears to be one of the central and most promising topics for these objectives.