Leaders say working together on security crucial for stability

Xu Dazhe, chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority, meets US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in Washington on Thursday. YIN BOGU/XINHUA

China and the United States pledged on Thursday to step up their cooperation in nuclear security.

In a joint statement, the two countries said they will work together to foster a peaceful and stable international environment by reducing the threat of nuclear terrorism and said they would strive for a more inclusive, coordinated, sustainable and robust global nuclear security architecture.

They applauded the successful completion of the first round of bilateral discussions on nuclear security that wrapped up on Feb 20 in Stockholm.

"We plan to continue this dialogue on an annual basis, so as to intensify our cooperation to prevent nuclear terrorism and continue advancing Nuclear Security Summit goals," the statement said.

The statement was released after a meeting between President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the 4th Nuclear Security Summit, aiming to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists.

China and the US both played an important role in the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran last summer and in UN Security Council Resolution 2270 in early March on sanctioning the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for its nuclear bomb and missile tests.

Xu Dazhe, chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority, said on Thursday that China will continue to expand cooperation in nuclear security with the US and other nations.

He mentioned the March 18 opening in Beijing of the Nuclear Security Center of Excellence, a state-of-the-art joint training project between China and the US.

"We will turn the center into a platform for international exchange, a platform for technological research and a platform for improving China's capabilities in nuclear security," Xu said.

Li Wei, deputy chief of the Department of Customs Control and Inspection of the General Administration of China Customs, applauded the China Customs Radiation Detection Training Center that opened in 2012.

That joint program between China and the US, inked in 2011 under then President Hu Jintao, signaled new progress between the two countries in preventing and fighting nuclear terrorism and threats, he said.

The center, located in Qinhuangdao, a coastal city in Hebei province, is used in the training of professionals from China and other Asia-Pacific nations and regions.

China and the US have also cooperated in installing radiation detection devices at mega ports, including Yangshan Port in Shanghai.

Li said the Yangshan project, the ownership and maintenance of which was turned over by the US to China in January, has been praised by both sides as exemplary and a model that is applicable all over the world.