Chair, 

First of all, I would like to congratulate CTED on its 20th anniversary. Over the past two decades, CTED has fulfilled its mandates and responsibilities, working substantially to support the CTC in monitoring the implementation of Security Council counter-terrorism resolutions, identifying emerging terrorist threats, and developing counter-terrorism policy documents. It has made positive contributions to advancing the global fight against terrorism. China highly commends CTED's efforts and achievements, and we would like to express our special gratitude to Executive Director Ms. Natalia Gherman for her leadership and dedication. 

At present, the international situation is becoming increasingly volatile, with wars and conflicts erupting one after another, terrorist threats resurging and spreading, and an increasingly severe counter-terrorism situation. Against such a background, international counter-terrorism cooperation must be strengthened, not weakened. The Security Council should continue to prioritize counter-terrorism on its agenda, uphold a zero-tolerance policy, set aside geopolitical considerations and ideological biases, and oppose double standards and selective approaches. The CTC and CTED must continue to play an active role. The counter-terrorism sanctions regime should respond to evolving circumstances and the requests of member states by promptly consolidating the sanctions network through measures such as such as  increasing designations, broadening sanctions, and establishing additional mechanisms. 

This past June, UNOCT, CTED and other agencies jointly held a dialogue to hear member states' views on reforming the counter-terrorism architecture. Most countries largely approved the existing structure. At the same time, they hoped for enhanced inter-agency coordination to achieve synergies. In this regard, we hope CTED will strengthen cooperation with UNOCT, the 1267 committee monitoring team, and UNODC to provide member states with higher quality and more efficient support and services in combating terrorism. 

China has put forward the Global Security Initiative and Global Governance Initiative, calling on the international community to join hands in addressing complex and severe security challenges, and to work together to prevent and combat terrorism. This is what China advocates, and also what China has been doing. We have long assisted other developing countries, especially African countries, in strengthening their counter-terrorism capacities through bilateral and multilateral channels. Through the China-UN Peace and Development Fund, we have supported counter-terrorism projects implemented by UN agencies such as CTED and UNOCT in Somalia, the Sahel region, and Central Asian countries. We will continue to work with all parties to combat terrorism in all its forms, and make our due contributions to achieving a world of lasting peace and universal security. 

Thank you.