Statement By Ambassador Tan Jian,
Head of the Delegation of the People’s Republic of China,
During the General Debate at the Twenty-Seventh Session of
the Conference of the States Parties to
the Chemical Weapons Convention
At the outset, the Chinese delegation congratulates you on your election as the Chairman of the Twenty-Seventh Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention"). The Chinese delegation is prepared to cooperate fully with you and other delegations in an effort to bring this session to a success. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the work done by the outgoing Chairman, Ambassador Bard Ivar Svendsen.
China aligns itself with the statement made by Azerbaijan on behalf of the NAM States Parties and China. Now, please allow me to elaborate on China's position further.
Mr. Chairman,
At present, changes in the world, of the times and of a historical nature are unfolding in unprecedented ways. The historical trend of peace, development, cooperation and win-win is unstoppable. At the same time, deficits in peace, development, security and governance are mounting. The Convention is one of the important pillars of global security governance, as well as an important basis for ensuring the economic development of chemical industry and the peaceful use of technology. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention. Next year, the Fifth Review Conference will be held. The OPCW should summarize its 25 years of experience in implementing the Convention on the occasion. Basing itself on the present and looking far into the future, it should make a good overall plan for attaining the two major goals of development and security, and make new contributions to the effective realization of the purposes of the Convention and the promotion of global governance in the field of CWs and chemical industry. China wishes to share the following propositions:
Firstly, we should adhere to the original objective of the Convention and completely destroy CWs as soon as possible.
Over the past 25 years, in keeping with the objects and purposes of the Convention, the States parties have made remarkable progress in promoting the complete destruction of CWs. 99% of the world's declared CWs have now been destroyed, and the concept of complete prohibition and thorough destruction of CWs has been deeply rooted in people's hearts. However, the US CW stockpile and the CWs abandoned by Japan in China have remained the two biggest stumbling blocks to “a world free of chemical weapons”.
China urges the United States, as the only country that has not completed the destruction of its CW stockpile, to fulfil its commitments earnestly and complete the destruction on schedule. Japan has already failed three times to meet the deadline of the ACW destruction, and is now facing the failure to do so for the fourth time. The completion of the destruction cannot be delayed again and again. China urges Japan to honour its obligations and commitments fully, completely and faithfully, and work to destroy all the ACWs completely and thoroughly as soon as possible.
Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the international community and the Technical Secretariat have, as always, continued to pay attention to and made inputs in addressing the issue of the Japanese ACWs. In last September, an EC delegation headed by the Director-General of the OPCW Mr. Arias and the chairman of the Executive Council Ambassador Atiyah paid a virtual visit to the destruction facility at Haerbaling. They reiterated their support for the acceleration of the ACW destruction process. China highly appreciates that.
Secondly, we should increase resource inputs and open a new chapter in international cooperation.
The promotion of common development is a long-standing aspiration of the developing countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward a global development initiative at the UN General Assembly last year, thereby proposing to place the development agenda at the core of the international agenda and make a joint effort to build a global development community. Article XI of the Convention specifies the basic principles of economic and technological development in the field of chemistry and guarantees the right of the States parties to the peaceful use. For many years, the right of the developing countries to the peaceful use of chemical technology and to international cooperation without discrimination has not been fully valued, and their normal access to materials, equipment and technology has met with some unreasonable restrictions. In the recent years, the stability of the international industrial and supply chains has come under new threats due to the decoupling and chain-breaking practised by certain states.
Against the background of the pandemic, the resources put by the Secretariat in international cooperation have remained stable. In 2021, 68% of the State Parties, which was an increase of 13% on 2020, benefited from the capacity-building activities. That was not easy at all, and China has its compliment for it. As the next step, the OPCW should, taking the Fifth Review Conference as an opportunity, persist in extensive consultation, joint efforts and mutual benefits, improve the international cooperation mechanism and framework, enrich the content of international cooperation, increase resources inputs, and make sure that the scientific and technological development in the field of chemistry effectively benefit all the developing countries. China has noted that the DG and the Secretariat have made a lot of efforts in the construction of the Centre for Chemistry and Technology, and will make international cooperation one of the work priorities of the centre. China will make use of its own advantages to strengthen its alignment with the centre, and participate actively in its relevant project cooperation.
In November this year, the First Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution on "Promoting International Cooperation on Peaceful Uses in the Context of International Security", co-sponsored by 23 member countries including China. The resolution emphasizes the effective guarantee of the right of the developing countries to the peaceful use of science and technology, and advocates the initiation of an open and inclusive dialogue on international cooperation for peaceful use. Within the framework of the Convention, China is ready to hold dialogues and cooperate with all other states on implementing that resolution and promoting the implementation of Article XI of the Convention, and work jointly with them against "wall-building and obstacle-creation", as well as "decoupling and supply chain-breaking".
Thirdly, we should break out of the vicious cycle of political confrontation and embark on the right track of positive interaction and cooperation.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has put forward a global security initiative, which advocates the construction of a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and the use of win-win thinking for responding to complex and intertwined security challenges. The experience in the OPCW in recent years has shown that containment, suppression and incitement to confrontation are not the right way to solve problems. Some states have very much politicized such issues as the Syrian CW dossier, which not only failed to solve problems, but, instead, also plunged the OPCW into the vicious cycle of political confrontation, thus greatly disrupting the work of the OPCW. A vast number of the State Parties, including China, harbour a deep concern about this situation.
China always determines its positions and policies on the base of the right and wrong of a particular matter, for the object of upholding the basic norms of international relations, safeguarding international fairness and justice and maintaining the authority and effectiveness of the Convention. For example, as the second largest payer of the assessed contributions, China firmly supports the provision of budgetary support for the work of the OPCW, but opposes the action of some states to kidnap the overall budget through such issues as the Syrian CW dossier and forcing votes. They should stop practising political manipulation and kidnaping the normal operation of our Organization. It is hoped that the Secretariat will stick to an objective and impartial position and play a more active role in bringing the States Parties to bridge their differences and join hands in cooperation.
Fourthly, we should carry forward the past and usher in the future, and work jointly to make the Fifth Review Conference yield substantive outcomes.
The preparations for the Fifth Review Conference have now entered a critical stage. China appreciates the extensive work done by the Ambassador of Estonia, the chairperson of the Open-ended Working Group for the Preparation of the Fifth Review Conference, and favours the call by the vast number of the State Parties for the Fifth Review Conference to adopt a "forward-looking" approach. In this regard, firstly, the outcomes of the conference should strike a balance between the past and the future, accommodate different concerns of all parties, objectively reflect the work of the past few years, and, more importantly, make strategic planning for the future work. Secondly, a pioneering and innovative approach should be taken to raise the visibility of the Organization further, in order for it to play a more important role in the reform of the system of global security governance. Thirdly, the common understanding for dialogue and cooperation should be rebuilt, and the tradition of consensus should be revived. China will work with all the other parties in continuing to participate actively in the preparatory process.
Mr. Chairman,
In the face of the centennial changes, President Xi Jinping provided a Chinese solution in the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which is to promote world peace and development and to advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. China is both a staunch advocate and a down-to-earth practitioner for the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. As a founding State Party to the Convention and the second largest payer of the assessed contributions to the OPCW, China firmly supports the objects and purposes of the Convention and earnestly fulfils its obligations under it. China is strongly opposed to the use of CWs by any country, organization or individual under any circumstance. China has the largest number of declared industrial facilities in the world. Since the beginning of this year, China has overcome the impact of the pandemic and successfully received the Secretariat’s on-site inspection of one Schedule-1 facility and nine Schedule-2 facilities. And it is expected that all the Schedule-2 facilities will be inspected by the end of this year according to the inspection plan. Following consultations held between China and Japan, the Secretariat also conducted the first remote inspection of the Japanese ACW facilities at Haerbaling. In addition, the Chinese National Authority has successfully held a series of promotional activities for the 25th anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention. It has also solicited promotional works in such forms as video, poster and so on from across the country, and held an online knowledge contest on the subject of the implementation of the Convention. Those activities were aimed at continuously raising the public's awareness of and ability for the implementation.
Moreover, the Chinese government guides the governments of the Hong Kong and the Macao Special Administrative Region in fully implementing the provisions of the Convention, constantly improving the SARs' implementation legislation, strictly fulfil the obligations under the Convention, timely submitting the declarations, and strengthening the management of the scheduled chemicals.
China will continue to uphold the objects and purposes of the Convention unswervingly, and work together with the OPCW Secretariat and all the other States parties in contributing to the realization of the goal of "a world free of chemical weapons” and to the maintenance of international peace and security.
The Chinese delegation requests that this statement be circulated as an official document of this session and uploaded to the public website and external server of the OPCW.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.