The United States, Russia, China and two other countries with nuclear weapons on Monday issued a joint statement affirming that nuclear war must be avoided and that the role of such armaments should be limited to defensive purposes and to deter aggression.China hailed the statement, which also vows to continue to seek diplomatic approaches to avoid military confrontations and prevent an arms race, as the first of its kind released by the leaders of the five so-called nuclear-weapon states.While the United Nations and Japanese antinuclear advocates welcomed the move, it remains unclear wheth…READ FULL ARTICLE
