Mr. President,

Thank you, Mr. President.

Just now on the draft resolution submitted by the Russian Federation, in which Article 6 of the Biological Weapons Convention is invoked, and the request is made to the council to initiate investigation on violation of compliance, China voted in favor. I would like to elaborate China's position.

Biosecurity knows no borders and has an impact on the common interest of mankind as a whole. Since the March this year, Russia has repeatedly lodged allegations to the Security Council that the US is suspected of conducting bio-military activities in Ukraine. China is gravely concerned and we believe that any evidence or clues related to compliance with the convention should receive full attention of the international community and deserve thorough and to the point responses and clarifications from the parties concerned.

BWC contains clear provisions on how to address compliance concerns of States Parties.Last September, states parties held a formal consultative meeting in accordance with Article 5 of the convention demonstrating the common aspiration of all parties to use the mechanism under the BWC to clarify and resolve compliance issues. It also sharply revealed the necessity to get united in dealing with security challenges against complex international backdrop. Regrettably, a set of questions raised by Russia at the meeting were not fully answered. As such an exercise of its right as a state party and in accordance with Article 6 of the convention as well as the final document of the previous review conference. Russia submitted its compliance to the council and requested the council to initiate investigation. This is reasonable and legitimate and should not be blocked. China believes that a fair and transparent investigation by the Council can effectively address compliance concerns and can help uphold the authority and effectiveness of the convention.

Mr. President,

China has always advocated for complete prohibition and thorough destruction of all WMDs biological weapons included. We firmly oppose the development and stockpiling or use of biological weapons by any country and  under any circumstances. Last April, President Xi Jinping of China proposed the Global Security Initiative, stressing the need for joint international efforts to tackle global issues biosecurity included. To this end, China calls on all countries to adhere to the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, keep strengthening global cooperation on biosecurity and work together to overcome challenges in this regard. We hope that all states parties will actively and constructively participate in the 9th Review Conference of the convention to be held in November, further strengthening confidence building mechanism resume as soon as possible negotiations on a Verification Protocol, which has been stalled for more than 20 years, promoting early establishment of a multilateral verification mechanism , further enhancing global biosecurity governance and bring global biosecurity to a new level.

Thank you Mr. President.