President, 

I thank Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari for his briefing and welcome the presence of the Permanent Representative of the DPRK at this meeting. 

The Korean Peninsula is right at the doorstep of China. No one cares more about the peace and stability on the Peninsula than us. At present, the situation on the Peninsula is highly tense, with antagonism and confrontation escalating. China is deeply concerned about this. We have noted the recent launch of a satellite by the DPRK and the responses by all relevant parties. We call on all parties to maintain calm and exercise restraint, avoid any action or rhetoric that might increase tensions and antagonism, jointly maintain peace and stability on the Peninsula, and promote the political settlement of the Peninsula issue.

President, 

The Peninsula issue in essence is a security issue. The crux lies in the lingering legacy of the Cold War, the absence of a peace mechanism, and the lack of mutual trust between the US and the DPRK. In the past, there were multiple times where the situation was turning around and could see the early light of a political settlement. However, due to the failure of a concerned party, efforts failed at the last hurdle and opportunities were missed. The imperative now is for all parties to adopt a rational and practical approach, presume engagement, build mutual trust, restart dialogue at an early date, and seek a solution in a calm, cool-headed, and stable manner. This means expressing goodwill and meeting each other halfway, instead of intensify antagonism and tensions. The US together with the relevant countries plan to conduct a large scale joint military exercise on the Peninsula in August practicing a scenario involving a nuclear war. Such a plan will only increase tensions and the risk of war and turmoil on the Peninsula, making the goal of long-term peace and stability ever more elusive. China opposes the plan.

When dealing with the Peninsula issue, the Council should facilitate the easing of tensions, increase mutual trust, and promote solidarity, rather than focusing solely on sanctions and pressure. As a matter of fact, DPRK-related Council resolutions not only include provisions and sanctions, but also provisions on supporting a political settlement and avoiding negative impacts on the humanitarian situation. They must be implemented in a comprehensive, balanced, and accurate manner. The intention of China and Russia in jointly introducing the proper resolution on the Peninsula issue is to use the humanitarian issue as an entry point to send a positive signal of goodwill and create conditions for enhancing mutual trust among all parties and promoting the resumption of dialogue. I hope all relevant parties can give it serious consideration.

President, 

Security is indivisible. Building a balanced, effective, and sustainable security architecture and realizing universal and common security is the sustainable, long-term solution to security challenges of all kinds, including the Peninsula issue. To achieve their own security, countries should not ignore the legitimate security concerns of others, nor should they base their own security on other countries’ insecurity, still less should they erect security fences on the doorsteps of others.

Last month, the US, using the pretext of a military exercise, deployed the mid-range capability missile system to the Philippines and threatened to deploy such systems regularly in the Asia Pacific within the year. This is the first deployment of such systems after its universally condemned withdrawal from the INF Treaty in 2019. Its fundamental purpose is to seek unilateral military superiority and to provide more options for its military blackmail and expansion. It is worthy of our attention that the US does not deploy such weapons on its own soil, but rather, on other countries, in particular, on the doorsteps of the countries that they claim to be their competitors. Under the banner of a military alliance, it is instigating military confrontations in order to seek geopolitical self-interests.

As the world’s number one military power and nuclear weapons state, the US should assume responsibilities in maintaining global strategic balance and stability, regional peace and security, and the system of international arms control treaties, instead of fanning the flames, creating tensions, and exacerbating confrontation. The Cuban missile crisis and the European missile crisis, which both happened in the not so distant past, nearly dragged the world into a hot war. The US, as a concerned party to both crisis, should learn from these lessons, instead of ignoring these lessons of history and acting arbitrarily. China urges the US to fulfill its responsibilities and  obligations in earnest, to respond to the aspirations of the international community and countries in the region for stability, cooperation and development, to stop relevant dangerous and wrongful acts, and to abandon once and for all its plan to deploy a land-based intermediate range missile program in the Asia Pacific.

Thank you, President.