Statement by H.E. Ambassador Mr. Wang Qun,

Head of the Chinese Delegation

at the General Debate of the First Committee of

the 63rd Session of United Nations General Assembly

(New York, 6 October 2008)

 

Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, please allow me to congratulate you on your election to the chairmanship of this session of the UNGA First Committee. We are confident that，with your rich diplomatic experience, the session will be steered to a fruitful outcome. The Chinese delegation will join you and other delegations in a concerted effort to contribute to the success of this session.

 

Mr. Chairman,

The world today is in a great transformation, and the international security situation is also undergoing profound and complicated changes. The global security situation is stable on the whole, though, in some hot-spot areas, there still exist turbulent and destabilizing factors, which have a bearing on the trends of international and regional situation. There is a genuine need, as the new developments show, for the international community to review and reflection on the international security concept under the new security environment. It is the common aspiration of the international community to maintain peace and stability, and promote development and cooperation. Although most states express their readiness to promote the international arms control and disarmament process,  consensus remains elusive on the ways and means to achieve it.

China maintains that, to realize enduring peace and common development of the world, the international community should, through friendly cooperation, promote quality and democracy in international politics, mutual trust and cooperation in security, mutual benefit and cooperation in economy, as well as exchanges and joint progress in culture. This is not only the gist of the “harmonious world” concept championed by China, but also our answer to various challenges the world facing today, old and new alike.

 

Mr. Chairman,

To enhance the international security in forging global consensus, and to reinvigorate the international arms control and disarmament process, China believes efforts should be made in the following aspects:

Firstly, to promote common security for all countries by the approach featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination, so as to eradicate the root causes endangering peace and stability. Any country or group of countries, while safeguarding the security interest of itself, should fully respect and take into account the legitimate security concerns of others. Behaviors in ignorance of or even harmful to the security interests of other countries or regions, will eventually damage the credibility of relevant international laws, and may in turn undermine the security of all countries in the world.

Secondly, to work to maintain the global strategic stability, further push the nuclear disarmament process, and reduce the role of nuclear weapons in its national security. Countries possess the largest nuclear arsenal should dramatically reduce their nuclear arsenal in a veriable and irreversible manner. The international community should effectively prevent the weaponization of and an arms race in outer space, and ensure the peaceful use of outer space. Building of global missile defence, deployment of or cooperation on this system in certain areas is detrimental not only to strategic stability and balance, to international arms control and non-proliferation efforts, but also to the regional stability and mutual trust among states.

Thirdly, to work to resolve disputes concerning WMD proliferation through dialogue and negotiation, addressing both the symptoms and the root causes. In order to properly address and resolve the relevant non-proliferation hot-spot issues, it is equally important for the related countries to promote their bilateral relationship. Double standards should be abandoned, the impartiality and non-discriminatory should be preserved, and the relationship between non-proliferation and the rights of peaceful uses should be handled in a balanced way.

Fourthly, to adhere to multilateralism, safeguard and strengthen the existing international arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation regime, and reinvigorate the traditional arms control and disarmament bodies. In this context, efforts should be made to enhance the authority, effectiveness and universality of arms control and non-proliferation treaties such as the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, the Convention on Chemical Weapons, and the Convention on Biological Weapons.

 

Mr. Chairman,  

     China unswervingly pursues a path of peaceful development and an independent foreign policy of peace and a national defence policy which is purely defensive in nature. China is the participant and the constructor in the international regime, a vindicator and promoter of the international arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation process. China has never evaded its due responsibilities and obligations in international security and multilateral arms control progress and has made its own contribution to it for years.

     As a nuclear weapon state, China always stands for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons. China is the only one of the five nuclear weapon states who has committed no-first-use of nuclear weapons and non-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones. China has exercised the utmost restraint on the scale and development of its nuclear weapons. China has never and will never participate in the nuclear arms race.

     China attaches great importance to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as the cornerstone of the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. China is willing to work with all other parties to promote positive achievement of the new round review process of NPT on the basis of treating the three main goals of NPT in a balance manner. China is willing to make concerted efforts with all other states to promote the early entry-into-force of the CTBT. China wishes to see early agreement on a comprehensive and balanced programme of work, and, on this basis, to start all relevant work at the Conference on Disarmament, including the negotiation on Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty.

     China is firmly opposed to any proliferation activities. China has already established a comprehensive export control system for nuclear, biological, chemical, missiles and other sensitive items and technologies as well as all military products. China also adopted a series of measures to ensure the effective enforcement of the above regulations. China actively takes part in the international cooperation on non-proliferation, participates in all the relevant international treaties and organizations in the non-proliferation field, and strictly implements its obligations.

     China has consistently opposed the weaponization and an arms race in outer space and has made unremitting efforts on it. In February 2008, China and the Russian Federation jointly submitted the draft of the “Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects” (PPWT) and actively promoted the substantial discussions on it at CD. China will continue to make contributions to the prevention of the weaponization and an arms race in outer space with all other states.

     China attaches great importance to the humanitarian issues in the field of conventional arms and has consistently supported all the efforts made by the international community to deal with the issues such as landmine, cluster munitions and Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). China welcomes the encouraging progress made in the Third Biennial Meeting to Consider the Implementation of the UN Program of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in SALW in All Its Aspects. China plays a constructive role in the work of the Group of Governmental Experts on cluster munitions of Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

     China attaches great importance to military transparency and is actively committed itself to promoting mutual trust in the field of security among countries. China continued to report to UN its military expenditures this year and provided the requested data of 2007 for the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms. Except the basic data of the military expenditure of 2007, China also illuminated the main purposes of these expenditures, which again shows the positive attitude of Chinese government to gradually enhance its military transparency according to its own condition.

 

     Mr. Chairman,

     China has been consistently dedicated to realizing denuclearization of the Korea Peninsula and maintaining peace and stability in the Peninsula and Northeast Asia. With the joint efforts of all parties involved, the Six-Party Talks has achieved some new progresses and faced some difficulties at the same time. China will continue its close coordination and cooperation with other parities concerned in promoting new progress and maintaining the peace, security and stability of the Peninsula and Northeast Asia.

     China always stands for a peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through political and diplomatic means, and has been actively participating in relevant diplomatic efforts. As the Iranian nuclear issue is now at a critical juncture, all the parties involved should exercise more patience, step up diplomatic efforts and continue the dialogue and negotiation so as to seek a comprehensive, long-term and appropriate solution. China will continue to play a constructive role in this regard.

   

     Mr. Chairman,

     The theme of the 2008 Olympic Games is “One World, One Dream”. China is ready to make unremitting efforts with all other states on realizing the dreams shared by all the people around the world that is the lasting peace, common development and win-win cooperation.

 

     Thank you, Mr. Chairman.