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Nuclear deal 'no guarantee': Analysts

By Peng Kuang and Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-07 11:04

Chinese analysts said Monday whether the new US-Russian nuclear agreement will change the nuclear landscape worldwide remains to be seen.

Shen Dingli, executive dean of the Institute of International Studies at Shanghai-based Fudan University, said the move by the Russia and US could have limited impact.

"There is still a long way to go as both countries still have the amount of nuclear power to destroy the Earth two to three times," he said. "Other countries still feel endangered by the threat of nuclear weapons. The nuclear-free policies are far from being embraced worldwide."

Related readings:  Obama, Medvedev sign pact to reduce nuclear stockpiles  Chinese, Russian ministers discuss DPRK nuclear issue  China's nuclear power to rise 10-fold by 2020  DPRK vows to enlarge nuclear arsenal  Pyongyang warns of nuclear war amid tensions

Teng Jianqun, a strategy researcher and deputy secretary-general of China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said the world's two largest nuclear arsenal holders have set an example for the world to choose practical cooperation over old-fashioned Cold War conflicts.

Other analysts said the two countries seek to cut nuclear arsenals not just for the vision of a nuclear-free world, but also to relieve the financial burden that maintaining them represents.

However, some experts believe that some issues, such as the US plan for its missile defense build-up in Eastern Europe, are likely to remain thorny.

"Unlike US, Russia surely has more complicated security concerns because it is geographically close to quite a few US allies in Europe," said Wan Chengcai, a Beijing-based expert on Russian policies. "It is a tradition for Russia not to truly trust the Americans."