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Remarks by Ambassador Zhang Jun at the UN Security Council Meeting on Ukraine

2022-11-16 18:00

Mr. President,

The Ukraine crisis is getting increasingly protracted, expanded and complex, putting further stress on the current tense international situation and bringing greater uncertainty to the world, which is not in the interest of any party. No matter how many difficulties and challenges there are, the international communities should strive to seek consensus, find room for cooperation, and play a constructive and responsible role in promoting the de-escalation of the situation, restarting diplomatic negotiations and mitigating the spillover effects of the crisis. In the current context, China believes that the international community should continue to make efforts along the following directions.

First, we should jointly support the peaceful resolution of the crisis. Conflicts and wars produce no winner. Dialogue and negotiations are the only viable way out of the Ukraine crisis. As long as negotiation starts, there is hope for peace. China notes that Russia has expressed its willingness to engage in dialogue on many occasions and hopes that the parties concerned will move in the same direction, respond positively and start direct engagement as soon as possible to create conditions for restarting negotiations. There is no simple solution to a complex issue. The parties should explore building a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture in Europe on the basis of accommodating each other's legitimate security concerns, so as to fundamentally address the security deficit behind the crisis and achieve peace and stability on the European continent. It is our hope that the United States, NATO and Russia will conduct a comprehensive dialogue on this matter. China will continue to play a constructive role in its own way. Regarding the report that a missile fell into a village on the eastern border of Poland and resulted in casualties, China calls on all relevant parties to keep calm and exercise restraint to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation and prevent further escalation of the situation.

Second, we should jointly prevent nuclear risks. Nuclear safety, security, and safeguards bear on public health and environment in Ukraine and the surrounding region. There is no room for trial and error in this regard. All parties concerned should exercise restraint, act prudently, and strictly abide by the Convention on Nuclear Safety and other international laws to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities and materials in Ukraine and do their utmost to avoid any possible nuclear risks. China supports the IAEA in fulfilling its functions in accordance with its mandate and playing an active role with regard to nuclear safety. China has always maintained that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. We note the recent statement issued by Russia reaffirming the relevant elements of the Joint Statement of the Leaders of the Five Nuclear-Weapon States on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races in January this year. The international community should work together to maintain global strategic stability, make every effort to avoid confrontation between major powers, advocate that nuclear weapons cannot be used and nuclear wars must not be fought, and prevent a nuclear crisis in Eurasia.

Third, we should jointly improve the humanitarian situation. China is deeply concerned about the continued deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and relates deeply to the difficulties experienced by the people of Ukraine and the neighboring countries. We call on all parties concerned to earnestly abide by international humanitarian law, make every effort to avoid attacks targeting civilians and civilian facilities, minimize civilian casualties and the impact on people's basic livelihoods, and prevent the emergence of a larger-scale humanitarian crisis. This winter will be very hard for the affected population in the countries concerned and the neighboring countries. The international community and humanitarian agencies should continue to scale up relief efforts to help alleviate humanitarian pressure and improve the humanitarian situation and ensure that all refugees, displaced persons and other people you need can be properly resettled and safely survive the winter

Fourth, we should jointly mitigate the spillover effects of the crisis. The Black Sea Grain initiative has positively contributed to alleviating the global food crisis. China welcomes the efforts by all parties to adhere to the humanitarian approach and focus on the overall situation by resuming the initiative's implementation, and calls on all parties to maintain cooperation and dialogue to reach a proper solution on the extension of the initiative. China supports Secretary-General and his team in continuing to play a coordinating role in resolving the difficulties in Russian food and fertilizer. We call on the relevant parties to take robust measures to eliminate the negative impact of sanctions. Managing the impact of the Ukraine crisis on global energy, food, finance and other fields is a pressing task for the international community. Sweeping and indiscriminate sanctions, which disrupt the global industrial and supply chains, undermine the momentum of global economic recovery and damage the economic and financial stability of developing countries, should be rectified immediately.

Mr. President,

The world is undergoing momentous changes unseen in a century. The Ukraine crisis and its spillover effects as an epitome of the changes highlight the major challenges facing humankind. What is wrong with the world and what should we do about it? This is the question of our times to all countries. At the just concluded G20 Summit, President Xi Jinping with a deep insight into the future of humanity and from a historical and global perspective put forward a series of initiatives and propositions, which are of great significance for guiding the efforts to address the current global challenges. China calls on all countries to embrace the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, and advocate peace development and win-win cooperation. All countries should replace division with unity, confrontation with cooperation, and exclusion with inclusiveness. All countries should join hands together to tide over difficulties and create a better future. China firmly opposes drawing ideological lines, cold war mentality, group politics and bloc confrontation. China rejects beggar-thy-neighbor practices, building “a small yard with high fences”, or creating closed and exclusive clubs. China also opposes the attempt to politicize food and energy issues or use them as tools and weapons. China stands ready to work with the rest of the world and continue to make relentless efforts to address global challenges and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

I thank you, Mr. President.


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