Mr. Chairman:

This year the Special Committee on the Charter considered a number of issues such as "Maintenance of international peace and security," "Strengthening of the role of the Organization and enhancing its effectiveness," "Peaceful settlement of disputes," "Proposals concerning the Trusteeship Council" and "the working methods of the Special Committee." It made progress on some of the issues. The report of this session of the Special Committee reflects such progress in a comprehensive and objective manner. The Chinese delegation would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Saeid Mirzaee-Yengejeh, the Chairman of the Special Committee, other members of the bureau and all the delegations for their respective contributions and efforts. I'd also like to make a few comments on the following issues:

At this session of the Special Committee, the Russian delegation submitted a revised working document entitled "Basic conditions and standard criteria for the introduction of sanctions and other coercive measures and their implementation." The aim of the document is to standardize the conditions and criteria for introducing sanctions, so that sanctions can achieve their intended purposes quickly and at the same time minimize their negative impacts on humanity. In the view of the Chinese delegation, this document could serve as a useful basis for further considering the issue of sanctions. The Chinese delegation endorses the choice of the Special Committee to consider the document paragraph by paragraph. Due to the time constraints, this session of the Committee only covered first part of the document in the first reading. We hope that the Special Committee next year will continue its consideration of the document in order to reach consensus as soon as possible.

Mr. Chairman,

The Special Committee at this session discussed once again a proposal submitted by the Russian Federation and Belarus at the previous session of the Special Committee with respect to the use of force according to Chapter VII of the Charter (A/AC.182/L.104/Rev.1). The Chinese delegation believes that this draft resolution still has strong relevance today and is important to maintaining and strengthening a collective international security system with the UN Security Council as its core. We support its further consideration on a priority basis at future meetings.

On devising a set of guiding principles for UN peacekeeping operations, we agree to the thrust contained in the working document submitted by the Russian delegation entitled "Fundamentals of the legal basis for United Nations peacekeeping operations in the context of Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations"and support its in-depth discussion. In the view of the Chinese delegation, discussions of peacekeeping issues by other United Nations bodies do not affect the consideration of the same issues by the Special Committee from the legal perspective in connection with the UN Charter. Further more, as the rule of law further strengthens in the international community, the Sixth Committee and the Special Committee on the Charter should play a more prominent role in wider areas including peacekeeping. At the same time, the Chinese delegation is in favor of communicating and coordinating between relevant bodies on issues of common concern through existing channels or by other means, so that a more comprehensive and objective view of the issues could be obtained.

Mr. Chairman,

Another issue of priority being considered under "Maintenance of international peace and security" is "Implementation of Charter provisions related to assistance to third States affected by sanctions". This is an issue of the greatest concern to developing countries. As always, the Chinese delegation supports the reasonable views of many developing countries. In our view, use of sanctions as settlement of international disputes should be minimized. Provisions on sanction and assistance as contained in the Charter are two aspects of the same issue and are equally important. The just demand by third States affected by sanctions should be fully understood and practically supported by the international community. The Chinese delegation welcomes the conclusions and proposals by the ad hoc expert group which could serve as a basis for formulating a set of recommendations in order to evaluate negative effects on third States as a result of preventive measures or application of sanctions. Feasible measures, such as establishment of a fund and setting up of standing consultative mechanism to assist third States should also be actively explored.

We have taken note of the progress made by the Special Committee on the issue of "Peaceful settlement of disputes."The informal working papers submitted by Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom which emphasized the use of existing mechanisms in settling disputes merits further study.

Mr. Chairman,

With respect to the present status and the future of the Trusteeship Council, the Chinese delegation believes that, despite the fact that the Trusteeship Council has fulfilled its historic mandate entrusted by the Charter, it should not be abolished, nor should it change its mandate. Any change of the mandate of the Council or its abolishment would entail a revision of the Charter of the United nations and should be dealt with appropriately in the context of the reform of the Organization.

With respect to the "Working methods of the Special Committee and Identification of new subjects," the Chinese delegation appreciates the efforts made by the Japanese and other delegations for improving the working methods and enhancing the effectiveness of the Special Committee. Together with others, we will do our best to improve the committee's working methods and efficiency.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.