President,

China deplores the repeated accusations by the US against China's Country Programme cooperation with development agencies and its request for a vote. China categorically opposes the US obstruction of the approval of China's Country Programme which is in line with the rules of the Executive Board. The US interference in the consideration of China's Country Programme, in particular its obstruction of the programme in child development, is nothing but political manipulation, which seriously disrupts the work of the Executive Board. All its attempts to block the approval of China's Country Programme have ended in failure, and the voting results have spoken for themselves. It is time for the US to end this self-orchestrated farce. In particular, we have all seen the tireless efforts of Zarina, the social worker from Uzbekistan, and heard the story of Gbowee from Liberia and Raynajwa from Indonesia on child protection. We wish to emphasize that China's Country Programme is also aimed at helping and supporting the development of children in China. We hope the US delegate would realize how untimely his approach was. 

China's Country Program complies with the rules of the Executive Board and the principle of the ownership and leadership of programme countries. China will continue to work in a responsible and open manner with UNICEF on its Country Programme and tripartite collaboration. The approval of China's Country Programme should have been like a breeze. 

The US blatant denial of the broad consensus on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its massive funding cuts have created serious difficulties for UNICEF to fulfill its mandate. In West and Central Africa alone, it led to the disruption of UNICEF's health services for 13 million children. The US is also the only member state of the UN that has refused to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. When its own children's rights are being systematically and pervasively violated, the US is in no position to criticize others for their normal cooperation with UNICEF. 

As the largest developing country, China has always integrated its own development with that of the world, creating opportunities for world development with its own and supporting world development with concrete actions, which is widely recognized by countries in the Global South. World peace and development promote China's development, and vice versa. China is a staunch supporter of the authority of the Executive Board's rules. Retaliation, cherry-picking one's commitments to the UN, pulling out of its agencies and cutting funding, and placing one's self-interest above international consensus are something that we never do. China calls on the members of the Executive Board to jointly uphold its rules and unity, safeguard the leadership and ownership of programme countries, support the approval of China's Country Programme, and firmly uphold international fairness and justice, international rule of law, and the international order with the UN at its core.

I thank you, President.