Mr. Chairman,

The Chinese delegation wishes to thank Ambassador Jean-Francis Zinsou, Chairman of the Special Committee, for his presentation of the work of the Committee’s 2013 annual session.

China has always valued the positive role of the Special Committee in maintaining the authority of the UN Charter and strengthening the role of the United Nations. The Chinese delegation supports the Special Committee in carrying out its work in accordance with the mandate given by the GA and supports member states in fully utilizing the platform offered by the Special Committee to push for faithful compliance with and effective implementation of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

Mr. Chairman,

This year, the Special Committee continued its consideration of item of “Assistance to Third States Affected by the Application of Sanctions”, among others. It is the view of this delegation that the Security Council should continue to take a cautious and responsible approach to the use of sanctions and should resort to it only when all peaceful means have been exhausted. Should sanctions become necessary, it is imperative to ensure that they are in line with international law, including the UN Charter. They must have clear objectives and predetermined timelines and be subject to periodic reviews. Upon the achievement of the objectives, sanctions should be lifted immediately. These are crucial for mitigating to the extent possible the negative impact that sanctions might inflict on the population and third states. The Chinese delegation has noticed that the Security Council has worked actively in recent years to reduce the negative impact of sanctions. We are ready to join other delegations in exploring practical solutions to this question.

With regard to the improvement of the working method and efficiency of the Special Committee, the Chinese delegation supports the various parties in their efforts to explore, in a pragmatic and collaborative spirit, new ideas and initiatives to improve the working method of the Special Committee and take forward its work in all aspects. This is the only way for the Special Committee to effectively exercise its functions.

The Chinese delegation supports the Special committee in studying and designating new items which are relevant and practicable. At the same time, we would like to reiterate that the work of the Special Committee and the addition of new agenda items must follow the mandate from the GA.

The Chinese delegation is delighted to see progress in the work of compiling the Repertory of the Practice of United Nations Organs and updating the Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council. We appreciate the efforts made by the Secretariat in this regard. My delegation hopes that the Secretariat will keep up the good work in implementing the relevant requests in the report of the Special Committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman