A common enemy: China, US pledge joint battle against nuclear terrorism in landmark declaration
President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama, meeting at nuclear security summit in Washington, say Paris and Brussels terror attacks have heightened fears of possible ‘dirty bomb’ attacks in future
China and the United States have pledged closer cooperation to battle “nuclear terrorism”, amid growing fears of extremists attempting to develop “dirty nuclear bombs” in the wake of the attacks on an airport and railway station in Belgium last month.
In what analysts called a “pragmatic” joint declaration released by President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama following their meeting in Washington, the two countries agreed to hold annual talks on nuclear security.
The two sides held their first such meeting in Stockholm, Sweden in February. Beijing and Washington also pledged further cooperation on technology and training programmes that help prevent terrorists in obtaining nuclear material.
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The declaration was announced alongside a global nuclear security summit in the US capital attended by more than 50 world leaders. It comes at a time when the international community is growing more alert to the possible deployment by terrorists of small nuclear devices –
so-called “dirty bombs” – and the exposure of nuclear facilities to terrorist attack.
The Sino-US joint statement was a “pragmatic” one that highlights the two nations’ common interests in nuclear safety and fighting terrorism, experts said.
“It’s a key document that contains a lot of details on future cooperation. It was more than political paperwork,” said Tong Zhao, a nuclear security specialist at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Centre for Global Policy in Beijing.
The two sides stressed a common will to prevent terrorists, criminals and other unauthorised parties from obtaining radioactive materials, the document said.
