International

China awaits U.S. explanation on 'n-hit list'

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE MARCH. 12. Beijing said today that it was waiting for an "official'' and "more clear-cut'' explanation from the United States about the possibility of using nuclear weapons against China, Russia and five other nations.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman, who spoke on the issue for the second day in succession in Beijing, said some American officials had made statements on a secret U.S. Government report leaked to the media.

China, he said, was a peace-loving country, which did not pose a threat to any other nation. "China has always held that nuclear weapons should be comprehensively prohibited and thoroughly destroyed,'' the spokesman maintained.

``Countries with nuclear weapons should undertake unconditionally not to be the first to use them and not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states or nuclear weapon-free regions,'' Mr. Sun said.

He noted that China and the United States had in place an agreement whereby both countries consented not to target each other with nuclear weapons.

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