President,

I congratulate France on assuming the presidency of the Security Council this month. The Chinese delegation will extend its full cooperation to you and your colleagues. I would also like to take this opportunity to commend Denmark for its work during its presidency last month. I thank High Representative Izumi Nakamitsu for her briefing and welcome the Permanent Representatives of Syria and Türkiye to this meeting.

China notes that, for some time now, the Syrian transitional government has been fulfilling its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, establishing a national authority, strengthening its staffing, and actively cooperating with the OPCW Technical Secretariat. Since October last year, Syria has resumed submitting monthly reports and recently submitted amendments to its initial declaration. China welcomes these developments.

China understands Syria's desire to reinstate its rights and privileges under the Convention and joined the consensus on the relevant decision adopted at the 112th session of the OPCW Executive Council. China encourages Syria to take this opportunity to further strengthen dialogue and cooperation with the Technical Secretariat, carry out its work strictly in accordance with the Convention, clarify the baseline figures of sensitive chemicals that may be remnants in Syria and complete their destruction, promptly communicate the progress to the States Parties, and ensure that the destruction strictly meets standards such as being verifiable and irreversible, and reach conclusions that can stand the test of history.

The attribution functions of the Investigation and Identification Team(IIT) and the Office of Special Missions(OSM) exceed the mandate of the Convention, and the establishment of these mechanisms was itself highly controversial. The accountability mechanisms related to the Syrian chemical weapons issue have increasingly politicized the OPCW, seriously undermining its authority and effectiveness. Restoring the technical nature of the OPCW is an important condition for resolving the Syrian chemical weapons issue. Upon the completion of the mission in Syria, the relevant mechanisms should be terminated accordingly.  The attribution mandate should not be entrenched, still less expanded, so as to avoid creating further antagonism and confrontation. The Technical Secretariat should strictly adhere to the mandate of the Convention, uphold an objective and impartial position, proceed from facts, and handle allegations of chemical weapons use strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Convention. It should also earnestly implement the spirit and requirements of the UN80 Initiative on improving quality and efficiency, enhance the quality and relevance of its monthly reports, avoid repeating previous content, and increase the transparency of its work.

President,

The Syrian chemical weapons issue has been under discussion for more than a decade, and bringing it to a close at an early date is the shared aspiration of all parties. China supports Syria in advancing a broad and inclusive political transition under the Syrian-led, Syrian-owned principle, eliminating the root causes of conflict, promoting internal reconciliation, focusing its valuable resources on the development agenda, and opening a new chapter in national reconstruction at an early date.

Under the Convention and its annexes, States Parties have a responsibility to take protective measures with respect to suspected chemical weapons discovered within their territories and prevent proliferation risks. The Syrian transitional government should fully draw lessons from the incident involving the unauthorized destruction of steel cylinders suspected of being chemical weapons, strengthen mechanism-building as well as the training, supervision, and management of personnel, and in particular establish an internal firewall mechanism to prevent unrelated government personnel from gaining access to suspected hazardous chemicals and avoid the recurrence of similar incidents. Given the continued instability caused by terrorist forces in Syria, the Syrian transitional government should remain vigilant, take effective measures, and resolutely combat all international terrorist organizations listed by the Security Council, including the East Turkistan Islamic Movement(ETIM), and resolutely prevent hazardous chemicals, chemical weapons, and sensitive technologies within Syria from falling into the hands of terrorists.

Finally, China reiterates its support for safeguarding Syria's sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity. We firmly oppose the use of chemical weapons by anyone, under any circumstances, and for any purpose. Whoever uses chemical weapons should be universally condemned.

Thank you, President.