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Statement by Ambassador Zhang Yishan at the Security Council's Public Meeting of the Briefings by the Chairmen of the 1267 Committee, the Counter-Terrorism Committee and the 1540 Committee

2006-05-30 00:00

The Chinese delegation would like to thank Ambassador Mayoral, Løj and Burian for their briefings on the work of the 1267 Committee, the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and the 1540 Committee, respectively. China would like to make the following comments, and express its hopes, with regard to those Committees.

The visit by the Chairperson of the 1267 Committee has enhanced understanding and cooperation between Member States and the Committee. In conjunction with the consideration of the fourth report of the Monitoring Team and through letters by its Chairman, the Committee has enhanced understanding and attention on the part of Member States as concerns the implementation of sanctions. It is our hope that, in the next phase of its work, the Committee will focus its priorities on an extensive, indepth and practical exploration of the quality of the sanctions and its listing and delisting procedures, so as to reach a common understanding on ways to refine the list at an early date. Along with improving the quality of the list, efforts should be made to ensure that the procedure is fair and transparent and to avoid double standards. Only in that way will we ensure that the Committee's work is respected and supported by the vast majority of Member States. And only in that way will it be generally conducive to the promotion of international cooperation against terrorism.

The Counter-Terrorism Committee has increased its technical assistance and coordination, strengthened its dialogue with Member States and begun to discus ways and means of deepening its relationships with international, regional and subregional organizations. In the future, the CTC should accelerate its implementation of resolution 1624 (2005), for there is not much time left before it must submit its report. The relevant recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have an important role to play in counter-terrorism financing. China supports the appropriate dissemination of those recommendations by CTC. At the same time, the representation of developing countries on the FATF should be increased. Only thus can it play a greater role in counterterrorism.

China welcomes the seamless extension by the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1540 (2004) of its mandate. We hope that the Committee will establish a comprehensive and balanced programme of work as soon as possible, in accordance with resolution 1673 (2006) and the recommendations contained in the Committee's report. In July 2006, with the joint support of the United Nations, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway and Australia, China will host a seminar in Beijing on the implementation of resolution 1540 (2004) in the Asia-Pacific region. We believe that the meeting will achieve results.

We also hope that the three committees will continue to strengthen coordination and cooperation on the current basis. As to the consolidation of country reports, China believes that the three committees have different responsibilities and focus on different areas of work, although those do overlap to a certain extent. At the same time, the Committees all place heavy reporting requirements on Member States, bringing considerable pressure to bear. China encourages the three committees and their respective experts to continue to coordinate among themselves and to adopt appropriate measures to streamline their work, reduce the reporting burden on Member States, and assist them in finding solutions to their difficulties and thereby more efficiently and effectively to implement the relevant resolutions.

Looking back over the past three months, we can see that terrorist activities have remained rampant and that the fight against terrorism remains a long and arduous task. As the common enemy of the international community of humankind, all terrorist activities constitute a serious threat to international peace and security, regardless of their motivation, timing and location and the identity of the perpetrators. In the fight against terrorism, we should not exclusively focus on and combat those terrorist organizations and individuals that threaten ourselves, while being permissive and ambivalent towards those that do not pose a direct threat to us and our allies; much less should we fail to respond to the legitimate requirements of other countries or even raise obstacles on the basis of other motivations. If that should occur, it would be difficult to expect proactive coordination and cooperation on the part of other Member States.

The international community should unite in its efforts and demonstrate a tireless opposition to terrorism. It should regard the terrorist forces that threaten any country as an enemy of all and combat them with resolve, leaving terrorists with no place to hide. Only thus will the international fight against terrorism be complete and effective. China made that point during the General Assembly's discussion on formulating a global counter-terrorism strategy.

China has always supported and actively participated in the international counter-terrorism struggle. In April 2006, China deposited with Secretary-General Annan its instrument of ratification of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, demonstrating yet again our support for international cooperation in counterterrorism. In the future, China will continue constructively to participate in counter-terrorism cooperation and, as always, to support and actively take part in the work of the three committees to promote the implementation of the relevant resolutions of the Security Council.

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