Statement by H.E. Ambassador TAN Jian, Head of the Chinese Delegation, During the General Debate of the 107th Session of the Executive Council of the OPCW
(The Hague, October 8, 2024)
Mr. Chairperson,
The Chinese delegation welcomes you to chair this session of the Executive Council. This delegation will continue to fully support you in your work.
China welcomes the opening statement by the Director-General and the respective reports by the vice-chairpersons. China associates itself with the statement made by Uganda on behalf of the States Parties of the Non-Aligned Movement and China. Now, please allow me to elaborate on China’s positions further.
We live in a world fraught with entwined turmoils. New risks and challenges keep cropping up. Emerging technologies are developing rapidly. All this has brought about new opportunities and challenges for global security governance. In July, the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China successfully convened its third plenary session. Recently, China published its Position Paper for the Summit of the Future and the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Paper calls for practising true multilateralism, addressing the legitimate security concerns of all the countries, resolving differences through dialogue and consultation, and building a community with a shared human future. These ideas also apply to the work of the OPCW. All the SPs should strengthen their dialogue and communication, return to the tradition of building consensus, and jointly safeguard the authority and effectiveness of the Convention. To this end, China wishes to share the following propositions.
Firstly, speeding up the destruction of chemical weapons abandoned by Japan in China (ACWs), which is the most outstanding issue in the field of CW destruction, and directly impacting the realization of a world free of CWs. Last month, the DG and an EC delegation visited ACW sites in China. Through the visit, they witnessed the large quantities of ACWs, the severe perils caused, and the huge gap between the resources inputs that have been made and those which should be made. Currently, about 400,000 ACW items have been discovered in 18 Chinese provinces. But, only around a quarter of them have thus far been destroyed. What’s more, an unknown number of ACWs remains to be discovered. China wishes to thank the OPCW for its long-term concern over this issue. China hopes that the Organization will keep up its monitoring and verification in this regard, and urges Japan to increase its inputs and complete the destruction of ACWs at an early date. China will continue to provide necessary assistance.
Secondly, facilitating the settlement of differences through dialogue and consultation. In the recent years, the OPCW has become heavily politicized. Some States bypassed consultation and resorted to the practice of forced vote, which has not been conducive to solving problems. China calls on all the States to abandon political antagonism and bloc confrontation, and safeguard the authority and effectiveness of the Convention firmly. China has noted the new round of technical consultation between the TS and Syria. It hopes that the international community will view Syria’s cooperation fairly and encourage the two sides to maintain the momentum of cooperation towards an early solution of the outstanding issues. China calls on all the parties to bring the investigation of alleged use of CWs back on the Convention’s track, conduct impartial and fair investigations strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Convention, and refrain from making false accusations, practising the presumption of guilt or fueling tensions.
Thirdly, persistently coordinating security and development. To enjoy the benefits of economic and technological development in the chemical industry is the SPs’ legitimate right under the Convention. China commends the TS for its efforts in strengthening international cooperation on peaceful uses and on national capacity-building in the field of chemistry, and encourages the TS to help more developing countries benefit therefrom. AI and other emerging technologies have brought new opportunities and challenges for the implementation of the Convention. China supports discussions held on their impacts on the work of the OPCW. Meanwhile, China supports all countries, the developing ones in particular, to benefit from AI on an equal footing and strengthen global governance on AI through dialogue and cooperation.
Mr. Chairperson,
As the State with the world’s largest chemical industry, China has always fulfilled its obligations under the Convention. By the end of this month, China will receive the 500th OPCW industry inspection. China will continue to participate constructively in the process of the reform of the inspection regime designed to promote a reasonable and balanced distribution of the inspection resources.
China has actively supported the OPCW in carrying out international cooperation and capacity-building. In the past two years, China has brought experts as trainers to the CCT in two training courses for customs labs. It has also selected qualified industries to participate in the Associate Programme, and provided financial support for Joint Research Projects and for the Global AI Conference to be held in Morocco. Next week, China will host a training course on the medical aspects of assistance and protection against CWs in Xi’an, China, which will be attended by 25 participants from 20 SPs. In the future, China will, within the scope of its ability, continue to take an active and constructive part in various OPCW activities and make more contributions to the full and effective implementation of the Convention.
The Chinese delegation requests that this statement be circulated as an official document of this session and published on the OPCW’s public website and Catalyst.
Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.
