Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, I wish to congratulate you on your reelection to the chair of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.  My congratulations also go to the other members of the Bureau.  We thank the Secretary-General for his comprehensive and informative report for this meeting.  And we also want to thank Deputy Secretary-General Jean-Marie Guehenno for updating us with further details.

As requested by this special committee, the Secretariat has conducted a comprehensive managerial review of peacekeeping operations.  It has been the first self-examination by the United Nations in this field since it began to carry out peacekeeping operations and therefore is of enormous importance.  The Chinese Delegation appreciates efforts by the Secretary-General and relevant bodies to have made this happen.  The Secretary-General's report provides an in-depth analysis of the shortcomings of the Secretariat and other relevant agencies and puts forward recommendations for strengthening the Secretariat's overall capacity for information analysis, the formulation of policies and guidelines as well as planning and commanding of peacekeeping operations.  This delegation shall support the Secretariat to take measures by increasing the allocation of human resources, adjusting and optimizing its organizational structure and enhancing the efficiency and quality of its work, so that we could cease to be kept on the run by the peacekeeping missions.  Ernest efforts should also made to enable the UN Headquarters to play out its potentials as "the brain" of the peacekeeping operations and make the "command and control" of such operations more coherent and consistent. It is a common understanding of the majority of Member States that the standby arrangements system should be enhanced.  We have noted that relevant recommendations by the Brahimi report are being gradually implemented, including the one about the creation of a on-call list of military/civilian police personnel and civilian specialists.  In this regard, on the one hand, we welcome the Secretariat to keep up its consultations with Member States and, on the other hand, we encourage cooperation by the latter.  Moreover, we look forward to the early launching of the Galaxy Project, so that the recruitment of civilian personnel for peacekeeping operations will be more standardized.  The Chinese Delegation hopes that relevant recruitment procedures will continue to be transparent and that the principles of equitable geographical distribution and balance between developing and developed countries are well observed.

To strengthen the peacekeeping capacity of the United Nations, it brooks no delay to improve the standby arrangements system and enhance rapid deployment capacities.  Therefore, along with reforming mechanisms and systems, maximum optimization of the existing resources of the United Nations system should be made, for the purpose of full utilization and performance of the potentiality of the existing mechanisms and systems, so as to create a synergy for peacekeeping operations.  The Secretary-General's report has made explorations concerning the division of work and cooperation among different bodies of the Secretariat in peacekeeping operations.  It is imperative for the special committee to make further efforts in this regard during its review of the report.

In recent years, participation by civilian police in peacekeeping operations has been going up.  It is time to draw up lessons from past experience in this aspect every step of the way so as to promote standardization and professionalism in civilian police activities.  We look forward to the early issuing by the Secretariat the principles and guiding rules in this regard and taking real action to help developing countries with civilian police training so as to create favorable conditions for their participation.

Mr. Chairman,

It is a solemn pledge made at the Millennium Summit by world leaders to strengthen UN peacekeeping operations.  To fulfil it, however, takes the support of all Member States.  China will continue its active support for strengthening the UN's peacekeeping capacity and gradually step up its own participation in UN peacekeeping operations.  We believe that this Special Committee will be able to make a positive contribution to the better peacekeeping role of the United Nations.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.