Page 178 - 国际安全研究2019年第5期

Vo1. 37, No. 5, September/October 2019

stability will be consolidated with the development of China’s strategic nuclear
forces, the maintenance of economic interdependence and the improvement of the
bilateral mechanisms for dialogue, exchange and cooperation.
[Keywords] Sino-US composite strategic stability relationship, strategic stability,
economic interdependence, strategic mutual trust, dialogue and cooperation
mechanisms
[Author] WANG Zhengda, Lecturer and Ph.D., School of Public Administration,
Shandong University of Political Science and Law (Jinan, 250014).

108 The Focus and Trend of Debate on Arms Control of Lethal
Autonomous Weapons Systems under the UN CCW Framework
XU Nengwu and LONG Kun

[Abstract] In the context of the rapid growth of big data and the significant
advancement of computing power and algorithms, there is an increasing necessity
and urgency for limiting or even prohibiting the research and development of Lethal
Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) in order to reduce and prevent the growing
legal, ethical, and security risks in the military field. Since 2013, LAWS has become
a topic of heated debate in the global arms control arena and the United Nations
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) has become a core platform
on which three informal expert meetings and three formal governmental expert
meetings have been convened. Technically, the meetings have mainly discussed the
definition and characteristics of LAWS with all parties basically agreeing that the
arms control over LAWS should not impede the technological innovation of
artificial intelligence (AI) in civil engineering while remaining divided on whether
and how to formulate a feasible definition of LAWS. Ethically, the meetings have
primarily focused on the impact of LAWS on human rights and morality with all
parties generally agreeing that the right to decide life and death should not be
delegated to machines while remaining divided on whether machines may become a
moral subject. Legally, the meetings have been principally targeted at the impact of
LAWS on the existing international humanitarian law (IHL) with all parties on the
whole agreeing that IHL is still applicable to the regulation of LAWS while
remaining divided on whether additional regulatory mechanisms other than the
existing international law should be introduced. Militarily, the meetings have
discussed the proliferation risks of LAWS with all parties essentially agreeing that
the responsibility for the development and deployment of LAWS rests with states
and their military commanders while remaining divided in terms of possible policy
choices among making preventive prohibitions or taking a hands-off approach or
even encouraging the development of LAWS. Looking ahead, the CCW is likely to
push forward the formulation of a working definition of LAWS that can be basically
accepted by all parties, explore possible methods of embedding human ethics and
morality into autonomous systems, establish a legal review mechanism of LAWS
and formulate a political declaration or legal instrument advocating suspension of
LAWS deployment by all states. In this context, China should continue to actively
participate in and lead the discussions about the arms control of LAWS under the
framework of CCW, deal carefully with the ethical and legal challenges as well as
strategic risks brought by LAWS and safeguard China’s national interests as well as

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