(Photo by Li Muzi, Xinhua News Agency)

China thanks Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his briefing. Currently, international terrorist activities are rampant. Terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al-Qaida are now better organized, and terrorists move across borders more frequently. They have a great variety of financing channels and are increasingly using new technologies such as the Internet and social media to spread their extremist ideas and engage in terrorist activities, thus posing a grave threat to international peace and security.

Terrorism is the common enemy of humankind. The international community should increase its cooperation and take effective countermeasures while formulating new and targeted initiatives in the light of emerging trends and characteristics in the evolution of terrorism. The international community should use political, economic and cultural means in an integrated manner to address both the symptoms and the root causes of terrorism.

In this connection, China wishes to make the following six points.

Firstly, it is necessary to increase political input in counterterrorism and forge a greater international consensus. The effects of terrorism transcend national boundaries. No country can deal with it on its own, and no country is immune to it. The international community should adhere to uniforms standard in counterterrorism and combat it with zero tolerance and no differentiation. All terrorist activities, under whatever pretext, against which our country and by whatever means, must be firmly suppressed.

Terrorism should not be linked to any particular ethnic group or religion. In the fight against terrorism, the leading role of the United Nations and its Security Council in particular must be given full play. The purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations must be complied with and effective coordination enhanced so as to form a united international front against terrorism, suppress terrorists relentlessly and put them under great pressure.

Secondly, we must block the flow of terrorists across borders and be vigilant in an effective fight against those who return. The frequent movement of foreign terrorist fighters across borders constitutes a grave threat to the security of countries of origin, transit and destination. The international community must pay great attention to this problem, and the countries concerned should cooperate closely so as to strengthen border control and step up law-enforcement cooperation. They should create databases for counterterrorism as soon as possible, share intelligence and destroy networks that facilitate the flow of terrorists.

All of the parties concerned should enhance communication, provide intelligence support for one another and step up law-enforcement cooperation so as to effectively respond to the threat of returning terrorists and ensure that terrorists are severely punished wherever they may try to seek safe haven.

Thirdly, update the means of response and effectively suppress the use of the Internet and social media for terrorism. The Internet and social media have now become an important platform for terrorist organizations. The international community should, in the light of the characteristics of cyberspace, adopt effective measures to resolutely combat the criminal activities of terrorist groups, including posting audio and video materials on the Web to disseminate extremist ideology, raising funds, promoting materials, recruiting for terrorist attacks and planning terrorist activities. All parties must comprehensively implement the relevant Security Council resolutions, strengthen the regulation of the Internet and suppress the use of the Internet for terrorist activities. The relevant organs of the United Nations should identify the right breaking points and points of action and come up with new ideas and initiatives to promote international cooperation and strengthen coordination in cyberregulation.

Fourthly, there is a need to strengthen comprehensive cooperation and eliminate sources of funds and weapons for terrorists. Terrorist groups such as ISIL depend heavily on the exploitation of natural resources as a way to finance their operations. The international community should effectively implement resolutions 2199 (2015) and 2253 (2015), among others; strengthen cooperation in the regulation of the financial and other sectors; and effectively prevent terrorist groups from raising funds through trafficking in oil and cultural relics.

Countries should be highly vigilant against the real threat of nuclear, biological and chemical terrorism, strengthen their coordination and cooperation, focus on scaling up the security of the relevant materials, boosting international information-sharing and improving the relevant laws and regulations so as to close the Internet channels by which terrorist organizations attempt to acquire nuclear, biological and chemical materials.

Fifthly, intensify prevention and upstream checkpoints in the fight against terrorism. All countries must give serious attention to the dissemination of violent extremism and incitement of national and religious hatred by terrorist organizations, in an effort to comprehensively implement Security Council resolution 1624 (2005). Countries should adopt robust legislation to effectively combat incitement to terrorism, and suppress, according to the law, the dissemination of violent extremist ideas.

Sixthly, countries should work together to build a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at its core; establish a common, holistic cooperative and sustainable security concept; resolutely promote global security governance; promote universal development and prosperity; and engage in cultural exchange so as to achieve harmony while respecting differences among different cultures. Countries should treat each other as equals, drawing inspiration from each other in order to create a social and cultural atmosphere in which different nations, cultures and religions coexist harmoniously. Attention should be given to promoting the political settlement of regional conflicts, maintaining an international environment conducive to peace, stability and sustained development and eliminating the breeding grounds for terrorism at an early date.

China is an important member of the international counter-terrorism camp. The East Turkestan terrorist forces, represented by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, is a real threat facing China today. In recent years, the East Turkestan terrorism movement has been constantly inciting and organizing terrorist activities that have seriously threatened not only China’s national security, but also regional security and stability. The Chinese President, Mr. Xi Jinping, has stressed that China will fight terrorists on both the domestic and the international fronts simultaneously and will further enhance its international counter-terrorism cooperation. In that regard, China has established counter-terrorism cooperation mechanisms with over 10 countries and engaged in substantive cooperation with them. China is also deeply involved in multilateral cooperation mechanisms, such as the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, thus making an important contribution to the international fight against terrorism. China will continue to take an active part in and push forward bilateral and multilateral counter-terrorism cooperation, scale up counter-terrorism intelligence sharing and provide, to the best of its ability, material and capacity-building assistance in the fight against terrorism to other developing countries.

China is willing to continue to uphold the spirit of mutual respect and cooperation on an equal footing, work with all other countries, strengthen exchanges and cooperation, and strive to advance cooperation on international counter-terrorism in order to enable us to build a tightly woven network against terrorist organizations and forces, which will leave no blind spot for terrorism, thus ensuring regional and global peace and security.