Mr. President,

I would like to thank you for presiding in New York personally and convening today's open debate. I wish also to express my thanks to the Secretary-General for his report and welcome him for attending this meeting and making a statement. I would also like to thank USG Guéhenno, Ms. Rachel Mayanja and Ms. Joanne Sandler and others for their statements.

This year marks the seventh anniversary of the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325. A milestone in the field of women, peace and security, that resolution has laid down the foundation for the cooperation by all parties concerned in this field. The Security Council has taken a lot of follow-up actions to that resolution and the member states concerned also actively took relevant measures as required by the resolution. Since the Secretary-General formulated the United Nations System-wide Action Plan in 2005, positive results have been achieved in the implementation of the various aspects of the resolution over the past two years.

However, we need to take an objective view of the successes that have been achieved and shortcomings that still exist. As stated by the Secretary-General in his report, various degrees of progress has been registered in fields such as conflict prevention and early warning, peace making and peace building, peace keeping, humanitarian assistance, post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation, implementation of DDR program, and prevention of and response to sexual violence. On the other hand, capacity building at all levels still leaves much to be desired, the problem of inadequate funding remains prominent and there is a lack of close coordination between international cooperation and national actions. These challenges have compromised the effectiveness of the comprehensive implementation of Res. 1325. The Security Council should further enhance the implementation of Res. 1325, and advance the comprehensive progress of all the aspects in the field of women, peace and security. In order to achieve this goal, all parties concerned should put special emphasis to the following tasks:

First, the Security Council could play its unique role in the field of women, peace and security and various organs within the UN system should strengthen mutual coordination and cooperation while working under their respective mandates. It is the broad common understanding of the international community that it is necessary to protect and empower women, safeguard their rights and interests, and realize gender equality. This is an important undertaking that requires integrated actions. The United Nations has adopted quite a number of instruments in this field. As the organ with the primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security, the Security Council should work effectively within its term of competence, focusing on conflict prevention, peace keeping and post-conflict reconstruction. The General Assembly, ECOSOC, the Human Rights Council and the Peace Building Commission have their respective mandates and roles in advancing women's rights and interests, and the work of the Security Council should not repeat or replace that of those organs.

Secondly, it is necessary to enhance the participation of women in all stages of the peace process, pay attention to their status and role so as to lay a firm foundation for the consolidation of peace and the realization of durable peace. Respect for and protection of women are manifestations of social civilization and progress and necessary elements of a mature social system as well. Respect for and protections of women should be incorporated in the peace process from the beginning to the end. The special needs and concerns of women should be accommodated and their potentials and role tapped. They should enjoy greater participation and decision making power with institutional guarantees. In recent years, the Secretariat has taken many positive measures in increasing the ratio of female senior officials and female heads and staff of peace keeping missions. We hope to see a continuation of such efforts.

Thirdly, countries concerned should be encouraged to formulate on the basis of their specific situation national plans of action or strategies for the implementation of Res. 1325, with vigorous support from the United Nations and the international community. The comprehensive implementation of Res. 1325 cannot become a reality without national actions. However, countries that need to take implementation actions the most, especially those involved in or just out of armed conflicts, are often lacking in implementing capabilities and burdened with their specific special situations and difficulties. The international community and donors should come forward with generous help and the UN should provide various kinds of assistance to give the government and people of countries concerned full ownership and strengthen their capacity building instead of acting in their place or imposing anything on them.

Mr. President,

The outcome document of the World Summit emphasized that progress of women is the progress of the whole mankind. This is equally true in the field of peace and security. The comprehensive implementation of Res. 1325 constitutes an important guarantee for the realization of this goal. We support the Secretary General in his continued efforts to implement the UN System-wide Plan of Action. The Chinese government always attached importance to the protection of women's rights and interests and the empowerment of women. We are willing to share with other members our successful experience and best practices, and we are willing to work together with the international community in our joint efforts for the further implementation of various goals in the field of women, peace and security in the global perspective.

Thank you, Mr. President.