assina Zerbo (C), executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), presents certifications during a joint ceremony in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Jan. 30, 2018. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)
Four China-hosted nuclear activity monitoring stations were presented with certificates by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) Tuesday in Guangzhou, south China.
They include two radionuclide stations in Guangzhou and Beijing, and two primary seismic stations in Hailar and Lanzhou, bringing the total number of such facilities in China to five, nearly half of the 11 planned stations in the country.
In December 2016, a radionuclide monitoring station in Lanzhou,northwest China, was certified by the CTBTO.
The Vienna-based CTBTO works under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), a multilateral treaty to ban all nuclear explosions in any environment. One of its major tasks is to build an International Monitoring System, which consists of more than 300 stations around the globe, to monitor potential nuclear tests. The five stations in China are part of the system.
"Certification of these monitoring stations is a symbol of China's continued dedication to achieving the goals of the CTBT," said Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBTO, at a joint ceremony for certification held in Guangzhou.
"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. To build a world without nuclear weapons, we have to first build a world without nuclear tests," Zerbo said, adding that the newly-certified stations in China would further consolidate progress in completion of the International Monitoring System.
"The Chinese science community is active, ambitious, and particularly innovative. I hope more Chinese scientists would join us in global nuclear activity monitoring," Zerbo said.
Shi Zhongjun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna, said at the ceremony that China took an active part in the global efforts to bring the CTBT into force, and was ready to work with other parties to contribute to nuclear nonproliferation.
"Ending nuclear explosions is not our only goal. We are also preparing the ground for a world free from nuclear weapons," Zerbo said. "We hope China will continue to show leadership in this process."
