Mr. President, 

The Security Council's sanctions on the DRC are designed to curb the violent activities of armed groups. Regretfully, 18 years after its initial implementation, armed groups in the eastern DRC remain rampant, while the DRC Government's security capacity has been constrained. The DRC Government has repeatedly requested the Council to lift the arms embargo on the country. 

Lately, we have seen a deterioration in the security situation in the eastern DRC with many civilian casualties and displacements caused by the M23 insurgency. But the DRC security forces, affected by the arms embargo and other factors, do not have adequate security capacity in the face of the threat posed by armed groups such as M23. As SRSG Keita told the Council in her briefing yesterday, M23 is far better equipped and armed than the DRC security forces and MONUSCO. It is a worrisome situation, and this issue needs to be addressed. 

During the consultation for this draft resolution, China and African members of the Council expressly supported the lifting of the notification requirement applied to the DRC Government. France, as the penholder, has tried, but we were unable to reach consensus due to the opposition of some members. China finds it regrettable. The resolution will continue to subject the great majority of the weapons and equipment needed by the DRC security forces to mandatory notification. It will artificially complicate the process, and affect international partners' security cooperation with the DRC, which constrained the DRC security capacity and the efforts to find a fundamental solution to the situation in the eastern DRC. For the abovementioned reasons, China had to abstain from the vote. We also hope that the DRC Government can enhance its management of weapons and ammunition to gain greater confidence from Council members to lift the notification requirement in relation to the DRC Government. 

Thank you, Mr. President.