(The Hague, 10 October 2017)
Mr. Chairman,
Please allow me, on behalf of the Chinese delegation, to welcome you to the Chair of the Executive Council (Council). The Chinese delegation will have full cooperation with you, and with all the other parties, in an effort to help make this session successfully complete all its proceedings.
The Chinese delegation wishes to thank the Director-General for his work report, as well as the Vice-Chairpersons for their respective reports. My delegation associates itself with the statement made by the Permanent Representative of Venezuela, Ambassador Haifa Aissami Madah, on behalf of the NAM CWC States Parties and China. Now, I would like to take this opportunity to elaborate further China’s positions and views regarding the following issues.
Mr. Chairman,
The destruction of chemical weapons (CWs) of all categories represents the core objective of the CWC. Recently, the Russian Federation completed the destruction of all its remaining CW stockpiles, which marks a significant milestone of progress in the history of the Convention. China would like to express its high appreciation for this development.
Since the beginning of this year, progress has been made in the destruction of the chemical weapons abandoned by Japan on the territory of China (Japanese ACWs). However, the overall destruction process is still lagging far behind schedule. China urges Japan to honour its obligation under the Convention in earnest, and increase its inputs of resources and speed up the investigation, excavation, recovery, identification and destruction of Japanese ACWs, so as to complete the destruction as early as possible within the timeframe approved by the Council at its Eighty-Fourth Session. As the Territorial State Party, China will as always provide its appropriate cooperation. The Council should well perform its reviewing and supervising functions in this regard.
Mr. Chairman,
Recently, the Syrian government and the Secretariat held a new round of high-level consultation to clarify the outstanding issues pertaining to the Syrian initial declaration. China hopes that the Syrian government and the Secretariat will strengthen their cooperation and work to bring about steady progress on the pending issues. All the parties should maintain solidarity and consensus in the Council, and create conditions for the full and accurate implementation of the relevant Council decisions and UN Security Council resolutions, and for a final solution to the issue of the Syrian CWs.
Mr. Chairman,
The election of the next Director-General is one of the key items on the agenda for this session of the Council. The election has been steadily progressing thanks to the joint efforts made by the Chairman and all the parties. My delegation is pleased to see that H.E. Ambassador Fernando Arias, the candidate of Spain, has received the broadest support from the Council. This delegation would like to thank the Chairman for the large amount of work which he has done, and commend the professionalism and flexibility displayed by other candidates.
Mr. Chairman,
The 2018 Program and Budget will exert an impact on the proper operation of this Organization. Presently, consensus has been generally reached on its draft among all the parties. China hopes that the Secretariat will, on the basis of the draft, plan and execute its work for next year, particularly with regard to ensuring the due performance of such core tasks as CW destruction, industry verification, assistance and protection against CWs and international cooperation.
Mr. Chairman,
China attaches great importance to the implementation of Article X and Article XI, and engages itself actively in the promotion of international cooperation and assistance and protection against CWs. Recently, the Chinese government and the Secretariat joined hands in successfully holding an Executive Programme on Integrated Chemicals Management in Shanghai, and a training course on medical aspects of assistance and protection against CWs in Xi’an. My delegation believes that the events will contribute to the experience-sharing among the participating states, and to capacity building.
The Chinese delegation requests the circulation of this statement as an official document of this session and its uploading onto the official and internal website of the OPCW.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.