Context:

China’s top legislative body has voted in favor of the country’s bid to join the UNsponsored ATT, which seeks to regulate international trade in conventional military equipment.

About Arms Trade Treaty

• The ATT was established in December 2014. Key principles of membership include-
  • Self-defense rights
  • The intent to settle disputes through peaceful means
  • To refrain from issuing threats or use of force against the territorial integrity of any country
  • To respect human rights
• The treaty has a global membership of 106 countries, with Namibia the most recent to join in April.
• Major military exporters including France, Germany, Israel, Spain, and the United Kingdom are members of the treaty.

China’s participation in conventional arms control

• China actively implements the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA) and participates in the work of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (UNROCA) for successive sessions.
• China serves as the contracting party of the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its annexed Protocols and actively fulfills its obligations under the convention, submitting reports of the PoA, the UNROCA, and the CCW in time.

India’s participation in conventional arms control

• Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM)
• CPPNM – 2005
• Chemical Weapons Convention- 1993
• Biological Weapons Convention
• International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism
• Australia Group
• Missile Technology Control Regime
• Nuclear Suppliers Group: India is not a member, but vowed to “harmonize” its export controls with those advocated by the voluntary 45-member group.
• India is prohibited from importing key nuclear materials and technologies from group members because New Delhi does not subject its entire nuclear enterprise to safeguards administered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
• Wassenaar Arrangement
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Additional Protocol: IAEA approved India’s additional protocol on March 3, 2009. India ratified it in June 2014.
• Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism
• Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation.