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CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT
Statement by the Chinese Delegation
12 June 1997
(CD/PV.767)
Mr. Wang: (China) (translated from Chinese):
Madam President, I would like to reserve an opportunity for my Ambassador to express his congratulations to you on a formal occasion.
The Chinese delegation is glad to have attended the Presidential consultations with group coordinators yesterday afternoon. As I was personally involved in these consultations, I would like to testify that the summarization by the President after yesterday afternoon's consultations, as retold by the Syrian Representative is accurate. I could even say that it is verbatim. I could further say that, although the Syrian version of the President's summary might have been drafted by the Coordinator of the Gropp of 21, all these points are accurate. I can assure you that, as far as the accuracy of the President's summary is concerned, we had no time to compare notes with the Group of 21. I further want to add that during the consultations held yesterday afternoon one group clearly said on a number of occasions that it agreed to discuss the G.21 proposal on the work programme. Another group mentioned that only when the CD has reached a decision on the issue of appointing a coordinator for landmines can it pconsider discussing the G.21's proposal.
Secondly, the President actually raised two questions: whether or not we should take a decision on taking immediate action on the issue of appointing a coordinator for landmines, or whether, as suggested by you yesterday afternoon, Madam, we should proceed to informal consultation after the conclusion of the formal plenary. With regard to these two different questions, we have not actually reached a single answer. In other words, some countries prefer an immediate decision on the coordinator for landmines, but others prefer informal consultations. In any case, yesterday afternoon's Presidential consultations and this morning's discussion all demonstrate that at this stage with regard to the issue of appointing a coordinator for landmines there is still no consensus within the CD.
The Ambassador of Chile just reminded us that the rules of procedure of the CD should be respected. The Chinese delegation endorses his view completely. One of the most important rules of procedure of the CD is that only on the basis of consensus can a decision be made. As we are still short of a consensus, in order to speed up our work, the Chinese delegation agrees to the President's proposal that we conclude our plenary session now and go into informal consultation immediately to discuss the proposal by the G.21 on the work programme and the draft decision on the coordinator for landmines. The Chinese delegation will take part in the discussion in good faith during the informal consultations.
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