Beijing - China said yesterday it would "speed the process" towards ratifying the nuclear test ban treaty, raising the possibility that the United States may soon be the only declared nuclear power not to have ratified the document.
Russia's parliament ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty last week, joining Britain and France as the three nuclear powers to have done so.
"We welcome the approval of the CTBT by the Russian Duma," the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mr Sun Yuxi told a news conference. "I believe the National People's Congress will speed the process of approving the treaty," Mr Sun said.