Mr. President,

First of all, the Chinese Delegation wishes to express its gratitude to you for presiding over this meeting and appreciation of the efforts made by the Delegation of Singapore for its convocation.

With a history of more than 50 years, United Nations peacekeeping operations have developed into a comprehensive and complex integrated project.  From the UN perspective, as the authorizer of peacekeeping operations and the central agency for making decisions for their set-up or deployment as well as the development of relevant policies and guidelines, the Security Council is at the core of all such operations from beginning to end.  And the Secretariat and troop-contributing countries have on their shoulder the important task of implementing the mandates of the Security Council. For many years, the troop-contributing countries' cooperation and support regarding UN peacekeeping operations have been an effective guarantee for Security Council's ability to perform its functions of maintaining international peace and security.  Their contributions are for all eyes to see.  At the same time, there is much room for improvement in terms of coordination with troop-contributing countries.  In the case of Sierra Leon, in particular, the peacekeeping operation faced more difficulties because of the lack of sufficient consultation and coordination with the troop-contributors when changing and adjusting the mandate of the peacekeeping mission there.  This lesson should be learned and remembered well in order to best prevent similar cases in the future.  

The success of a peacekeeping operation depends on not only the clear and sound division of work but also good communication and cooperation between the decision-maker and the task-performer.  Therefore, the Chinese Delegation actively supports the strengthening of cooperation between the Security Council and troop-contributing countries as well as between the Secretariat and the troop-contributing countries.  It maintains that importance should be attached to keeping regular consultations with troop-contributing countries and listening to their pertinent views in all stages of the set-up and implementation of a peacekeeping operation.  In recent years, Council members have held close consultations with troop-contributing countries in the form of troop-contributing countries meetings (TCC meetings) regarding questions related to peacekeeping operations, which have played a role in ensuring the smooth implementation of peacekeeping operations.  We believe that such a mechanism should continue and be improved and, without prejudice to the efficiency of the work of the Security Council, more flexible forms of exchange and communication with troop-contributing countries should be considered to inspire free exchange of views.  Troop-contributing countries should also be encouraged to express to the Council their concerns in a more timely and flexible manner.  All this should become an important component of the effort to improve the working methods and increase the transparency of the Security Council.

As to strengthening cooperation between the Secretariat and troop-contributing countries, we support the establishment of closer partnerships between the Secretariat and troop contributors and the Secretariat should do its utmost to provide conveniences to the latter.  We would recommend that the Secretariat continue to give timely and accurate briefings to troop-contributing countries, which should be in line with those given to the Security Council.

Mr. President,

The Chinese Delegation endorses the proposal for the establishment of a Security Council working group on peacekeeping operations.  In our view, one of the primary tasks of this working group should be to explore ways to strengthen cooperation between the Security Council/the Secretariat and troop-contributing countries, on the basis of the pains and gains of recent peacekeeping operations.   Its scope of task should include how to improve the content as well as form of the TCC meetings, what other ways to strengthen cooperation between the Council and troop-contributing countries, and how to encourage and give full play to the initiatives of troop-contributing countries.  The working group should listen to the views of non-members, troop-contributing countries in particular and this should be done in a flexible way.  The Chinese Delegation will take an active part in the endeavor of the Working Group and join hands with all Member States, especially troop-contributing countries, to strengthen cooperation between the Security Council and troop-contributing countries, so as to make UN peacekeeping operations more effective and successful.

Thank you, Mr. President.