Your Excellency Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, 

I appreciate Greece's initiative to organize this meeting, and welcome your presence in New York to preside over today's open debate. I thank Secretary-General António Guterres and other briefers for the briefings.

Oceans and seas nurture life, connect the world, and promote development. They are the common home of the entire humankind. Taking care of our common home, maintaining maritime security, and strengthening global ocean governance are of great significance to the promotion of world peace, stability, development, and prosperity, and a common responsibility of all countries. 

We must uphold the concept of a maritime community with a shared future. This blue planet that we share does not consist of isolated islands separated by oceans, but is a community with a shared future connected by oceans. The peace and tranquility of the oceans are a matter of concern for the safety and interests of all countries in the world. We must uphold the spirit of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and together safeguard maritime security, promote maritime development, and discuss ocean governance, so that the oceans can truly become a bond for us to promote exchanges and win-win cooperation, rather than an abyss that separates and disconnects us from each other. 

We must maintain a just and reasonable maritime order. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has established a basic legal framework for the modern order of the oceans, and has played an important role in promoting global ocean governance. Together with other sea-related treaties and customary international law, the Convention provides legal norms for the determination of maritime zones and conduct of maritime activities. All countries need to safeguard the maritime order underpinned by international law. UNCLOS should be interpreted and applied in good faith in a complete and accurate manner. Selective application and double standards must be rejected. 

We must work together to maintain maritime security and stability. At present, pirate attacks, drugs and arms smuggling, and human trafficking at sea and other criminal activities are rampant, jeopardizing maritime security and exacerbating regional instability. The international community must work together to prevent and combat these problems in accordance with international law and relevant Security Council resolutions. We should take seriously the legitimate maritime security concerns of all countries, insist on resolving disputes and conflicts through dialogue and consultation, continuously improve the crisis communication mechanism, and strengthen maritime security cooperation. Specific disputes involving territorial and maritime rights and interests should be resolved peacefully through friendly consultations between the parties directly involved. It is not in anyone's interest to stir up confrontation between maritime camps or to engage in a zero-sum game. 

We must join hands to strengthen global ocean governance. The sustainable development of humankind is closely related to a healthy marine environment. We must take care of the ocean and protect it as we do with our lives. At present, issues such as maritime environmental protection, climate change, sea-level rise, and emerging maritime activities are of common interest to the international community. We should follow the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a guideline, expand practical cooperation at sea, explore the potential of oceans, and jointly promote the development and utilization of oceans to serve economic and social development, so as to realize the harmonious co-existence of human and ocean. 

As a major maritime country, China is committed to the common guardianship of maritime homeland and the maintenance of common maritime security. We will always be a builder of global ocean governance, a promoter of sustainable development of oceans and seas, and a defender of global maritime security and stability. We stand ready to work with the international community to make unremitting efforts to promote the building of an ocean order of peace, tranquility, and win-win cooperation, and to build together a maritime community with a shared future. 

President, 

The Security Council is not an appropriate place to discuss the South China Sea issue. Just now, in her statement, the United States Representative mentioned the South China Sea issue. China firmly opposes it, and we would like to respond as such: 

First, the United States, under the banner of freedom of navigation, has frequently sent its military vessels to the South China Sea to flex its muscles and openly stir up confrontation between regional countries. The United States itself is the biggest threat to the peace and stability of the South China Sea. 

Second, China is committed to working with the countries concerned to appropriately address our sea-related differences through dialogue and consultation on the basis of respect for historical facts and international law. The so-called award in the South China Sea arbitration is illegal and invalid, and China does not accept or recognize it.

Third, with the joint efforts of China and ASEAN countries, the current situation in the South China Sea remains generally stable. We have the determination and ability to build the South China Sea into a sea of peace, friendship, and cooperation.

Fourth, we hope that the US side will abide by its commitment to the one-China principle.

Finally, here is a reminder to my US colleagues. I don't know if she realized that her speech is in stark contrast to other colleagues' statements. The statements made by the Secretary-General, as well as other colleagues, all focus on how to maintain maritime security and develop international cooperation. The United States, however, has taken the opportunity in its statement to attack and discredit other countries and to suppress them recklessly. We hope that the United States can join other countries in playing a constructive role in maintaining maritime security.

Thank you.