CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT: END OF CHINA’S PRESIDENCY

The Conference on Disarmament held a plenary meeting this morning in which it heard concluding remarks from Ambassador Wang Qun of China, the outgoing President of the Conference on Disarmament.

In his statement, Mr. Wang said that it was his impression that all countries, despite their different security concerns and propositions, had demonstrated a stronger political will and worked to safeguard the Conference’s authority and position in the multilateral disarmament field. While there was no “extraordinary” achievement registered, the Conference had nevertheless engaged itself in “mundane” tasks in a down to earth manner. All countries had translated their political will into the specific work of the Conference and delegations had come to both informal and formal meetings of the Conference in a serious and constructive manner. All countries had come to the discussions with substantive and thought provoking inputs and subsequently they had enriched their mutual understanding on many important issues. They could also see the earnest hope on the part of many Observer States to join the Conference on Disarmament which had enabled them to see the confidence and expectation of the international community on the Conference on Disarmament.

Mr. Wang went on to say that to break the deadlock in the Conference on Disarmament it was imperative that confidence be preserved. On the issue of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty they should be very clear about their objective. China wished to see a “good treaty” through “good negotiations” at the Conference with all key players on board. Mr. Wang believed that a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty should be negotiated within the Conference on Disarmament and not in an outside venue. What was the relevance of a treaty reached outside the Conference in the absence of the participation of key countries with the capability of producing fissile material, and how under such circumstances, could they achieve the objective of non-proliferation of nuclear materials? Presumably it would not be difficult to move the negotiations for a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty outside of the Conference on Disarmament, but it would nevertheless be difficult for any new or alternative mechanism to replace the role of the Conference and have the same effect.

In conclusion, Mr. Wang said that he was confident that as long as all parties worked together in a spirit of “sailing in the same boat and helping each other” they would be able to strengthen their confidence and trust in pursuit of a win-win situation based on security for all and restore the Conference on Disarmament’s glory.

Speakers who took the floor thanked Mr. Wang for his energetic leadership during China’s presidency of the Conference on Disarmament and said they deeply valued the efforts he had made in facilitating and advancing the dialogue between Conference on Disarmament Member and Observer States with regard to the issue of membership expansion. Speakers also applauded Mr. Wang’s handling of sensitive issues and many people spoke of the transparent, pragmatic and inclusive way in which he had handled delicate issues and sensitive topics within the Conference. Speakers said they looked forward to continuing their strong working relationship with the Chinese delegation and the Conference on Disarmament presidencies in the coming weeks, including that of Colombia, which would begin next week.

During the plenary meeting it was also announced that yesterday Mozambique had ratified the Biological Weapons Convention, making it the 164th State party to do so. It was also announced that next week Australia and Japan would co-host a side event on technical aspects of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, namely the issue of verification.

Speaking this morning were the Philippines on behalf of the Informal Group of Observer States, Colombia, Kazakhstan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, Chile, France, Algeria, the Republic of Korea, Germany, Morocco, Bangladesh, the United States, the Netherlands and Japan.

The next public plenary of the Conference will be on Wednesday, 1 June at 10 a.m. when Colombia will assume the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament. The presidency of the Conference rotates among its Member States for four-week periods according to the English language spelling of the countries’ names.

Statement

WANG QUN, President of the Conference on Disarmament, (China), began his statement by saying how grateful he was for everyone’s vigorous support of China’s presidency of the Conference on Disarmament. With their support they had managed to accomplish several tasks during his presidency, including 8 formal plenary meetings, 9 informal meetings, nearly 80 bilateral consultations and a dialogue with representatives from civil society on disarmament issues. Mr. Wang thanked his Conference on Disarmament presidency predecessors, the ambassadors of Canada and Chile, from whose knowledge he had benefitted immensely.

Mr. Wang said it was his impression that all countries, despite their different security concerns and propositions, had demonstrated a stronger political will and worked to safeguard the Conference’s authority and position in the multilateral disarmament field. While there was no “extraordinary” achievement registered, the Conference had nevertheless engaged itself in “mundane” tasks in a down to earth manner. All countries had translated their political will into the specific work of the Conference and they had come to both informal and formal meetings of the Conference in a serious and constructive manner. All countries had come to the discussions with substantive and thought provoking inputs and subsequently they had enriched their mutual understanding on many important issues. They could also see the earnest hope on the part of many Observer States to join the Conference on Disarmament which had enabled them to see the confidence and expectation of the international community on the Conference on Disarmament.

Mr. Wang went on to say that to break the deadlock in the Conference on Disarmament it was imperative that confidence be preserved. On the issue of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty they should be very clear about their objective. China wished to see a “good treaty” through “good negotiations” at the Conference with all key players on board. Mr. Wang believed that a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty should be negotiated within the Conference on Disarmament and not in an outside venue. What was the relevance of a treaty reached outside the Conference in the absence of the participation of key countries with the capability of producing fissile material, and how under such circumstances could they achieve the objective of non-proliferation of nuclear materials? Presumably it would not be difficult to move the negotiations for a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty outside of the Conference on Disarmament, but it would nevertheless be difficult for any new or alternative mechanism to replace the role of the Conference and have the same effect.

Mr. Wang also believed that to break the deadlock of the Conference on Disarmament it was imperative that pre-conceived political views be put behind them. The international community had the shared objective of reaching negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, as non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in the promotion of nuclear disarmament was in the interest of all parties. They should all zero in on this consensus and conduct their work in a down to earth manner. The Conference on Disarmament was a mature body able to address differences between Member States. Mr. Wang had to confess, however, that what he saw as dreadful was not differences per se, but rather the inability or failure to deal with such differences. They should also work to identify any evolving consensus and he had observed that the basis for this progress was there in some measure. For example, the basis for an emerging consensus on the programme of work was already there in the form of CD/1864. This document was structured in such a way as to be balanced in almost every aspect. It was balanced not only in terms of mandate, but also the specific work of the working groups to be established.

The Conference on Disarmament was bogged down in a debate about how to define or characterize its ongoing exercise as it related to a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty. Some wanted “negotiations”, while others wanted “discussions”. On the other hand, they should not fail to recognize the emerging basis for consensus, which was that no delegation had disputed the early commencement of its substantive work on the basis of the Conference’s balanced and comprehensive programme of work. Moreover, there had been constructive and serious work at the Conference on Disarmament on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty on the part of all delegations. Although some might see this emerging consensus as insignificant, it should not be belittled.

In conclusion, Mr. Wang said that he was confident that as long as all parties worked together in a spirit of “sailing in the same boat and helping each other” they would be able to strengthen their confidence and trust in pursuit of a win-win situation based on security for all and restore the Conference on Disarmament’s glory.


For use of the information media; not an official record

DC11/033E