Mr. Chair,

I would like to thank you for convening this meeting. I also listened carefully to the briefers.

China has suffered from biological weapons during the Second World War and thus consistently stands for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of all weapons of mass destruction, including biological and chemical weapons. China firmly opposes the development, stockpiling or use of biological and chemical weapons by any country under any circumstances, and urges countries that have not done so to destroy their chemical weapons stockpiles as soon as possible. All States parties should comply with the objectives and principles of the BWC in good faith.

This Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the opening for signature of the Biological Weapons Convention. The current dynamics on biological security highlight the urgent need to re-launch negotiations on a verification protocol under the BWC and establish a professional, impartial and independent multilateral verification mechanism based on that. Such a mechanism is a  necessary but long-absent instrument to eliminate potential biological weapons threats and enhance the authority and effectiveness of the BWC, and its establishment must not be thwarted by any certain member state. 

Mr. Chair,

Recently, the Russian Federation has published a quite number of documents related to biological military activities of the United States, which has caused great concern of international community. The Covid19 pandemic has reminded us that as a crucial matter of international peace and security, biological security has no borders and involves shared interests of humanity. Thus any information and lead on biological military activities should trigger heightened concern and attention of the international community to avoid irreparable harm. China welcomes the international community to assess the discovered documents within appropriate frameworks including the BWC and the UN, and hear the clarifications from the relevant country in a fair and impartial manner. In this regard, the relevant country should take a responsible approach and offer timely and comprehensive clarifications on its biological activities to remove the doubts of the international community. Further enhancement of the transparency on its global biological activities is also needed.

I thank you, Mr. Chair.