China an Important Supporter of Chemical Weapons Convention

John Gee, deputy director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said Tuesday that China has always been an important supporter of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

While delivering a speech at Beijing University, Gee said that China holds a seat on the OPCW's Executive Council, which it is likely to occupy on a permanent basis in the foreseeable future. China has also provided professional personnel to the Secretariat as well as a number of other experts, and it is represented on many of the organs and subsidiary bodies of the OPCW.

Gee is in Beijing for a five-day symposium on the implementation of the CWC, co-sponsored by the Chinese government and the OPCW. More than 80 participants from more than 20 countries are expected to exchange views for promoting an overall and effective implementation of the CWC.

Gee said as a victim of chemical weapons, China has large quantities of chemical weapons which were abandoned on its territory by the former Japanese army during the Second World War.

"The OPCW Secretariat is pleased to note that China has played a constructive and positive role in working with Japan to ensure the destruction of these weapons," he said.

As a responsible member of the international community, China has been at pains to demonstrate its compliance with provisions of the Convention, Gee said. According to him, as of last month, China had received a total of 38 inspections by the OPCW, including inspections at abandoned weapon sites and chemical industry sites.

"It can be said that the contribution being made by the Convention processors to global security environment, of which China is part, and to the regional environment, within which China is geographically positioned, is already very significant," he said.

People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/