Historic Reconnection with the Chinese Affiliate
IPPNW-GLO’s Policy Director Chuck Johnson has been leading the IPPNW Geneva Liaison Office’s involvement in strengthening cooperation and dialogue with health professionals, professional associations and academics in China. Chuck, along with Dr. Joseph Hodgkin from the US chapter of the Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility and Dr. Tilman Ruff from Australia’s Medical Association for Prevention of War, visited China to attend the Medical Ethics Conference of the Chinese Medical Association on humanitarian disarmament from 17th to 19th July, 2026.
The three had a productive week, meeting with IPPNW’s Chinese affiliate, the Chinese Medical Association, and connecting with other medical professionals and disarmament colleagues to advance our shared mission of peace, disarmament, and global health. The three addressed the conference in various capacities, including Dr. Hodgkin, who gave compelling remarks in Mandarin on the consequences of nuclear weapons and the duty of physicians to work toward disarmament.
This experience offered a meaningful chance to reconnect with China since the IPPNW World Congress meeting in Beijing in 2004. After the conference, the team met with dozens of senior academics, health officials, and organizational leaders. Together they outlined several concrete next steps, including events and joint articles in leading Chinese health and science journals on how the health community plays a vital role in preventing nuclear war.
By reopening these lines of communication, IPPNW demonstrates that even during periods of intense global tension, health practitioners can be a bridge to peace. We urge the United States, Russia, and China to return to the negotiating table to finish what Reagan and Gorbachev came so close to achieving: saving humanity from the threat of nuclear war.
