I thank Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča and Mr. Matthew Hollingworth for their briefings.

This month the Security Council has held multiple meetings on Ukraine. China’s position is consistent and clear. China always stands on the side of fairness and justice, on the side of peace, and on the side of dialogue. We are committed to facilitating talks for peace and to realizing a ceasefire. We call on the parties to the conflict to respond positively to the international community’s call for peace and to gradually create and accumulate the conditions for the resumption of peace talks as soon as possible. 

The Ukraine crisis has been dragging on, resulting in varying degrees of damage to many large infrastructure in the conflict areas, a severe shortage of supplies, difficulties in accessing essential public services such as water, electricity, and heating, and a worrisome humanitarian situation. The parties to the conflict must strictly abide by international humanitarian law and refrain from attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure. The international community and the humanitarian agencies should on the basis of the principle of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, step up humanitarian assistance to the people affected by the crisis, speed up the repair of civilian infrastructure, provide winter supplies and heating appliances to the affected population, and ensure the basic livelihood of the displaced persons. 

A prolonged and complex crisis in Ukraine is not in the interest of any party. Developing countries are the most affected by the spillover effects. The imposition of unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction outside international law will only disrupt the global industrial and supply chains and slow down the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We call on the international community to step up its efforts. In particular, countries with major influence should play an active role in avoiding the continued spread of the spillover effects of the crisis, creating a conducive environment for peace, and steering the situation back to the right track of political settlement at an earlier date.