Peter Wilson

The UK approach is set out in an FCO paper, Lifting the Nuclear Shadow: Creating the Conditions for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons. We are transparent about our own deterrent, and how it works. We are ambitious for the Non Proliferation Treaty Revision Conference that will be held in 2010. And we set out some key questions for how to reach our ultimate goal. We should be aiming for a nuclear weapons free world.

Thinkers in China see the global debate moving - in the UK and France, in the US, and in Russia too. There is also a long standing Chinese commitment to no first use. China's nuclear arsenal, like those of the UK and France, is relatively small, but increasing. China is making a welcome expansion to its nuclear civil power, which will help combat climate change - announcing this week that it will begin work on five new nuclear power stations. Thinkers here make some key points:

- there is momentum in the international debate - and in order to make the bargain at the heart of the NPT work, the P5 need to show we are serious about disarmament;

- the P5 should have a unified approach;

- questions of nuclear posture, policy and confidence building measures all need to be on the table when we talk about weapons reduction.

This debate is welcome. North Korea, and Iran, demonstrate the importance of this issue - and the need for longer term solutions, that will also provide a context for dealing with these immediate and pressing cases. We need to - and can - make progress.