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STATEMENT AT THE 30TH SESSION OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE IAEA
BY JIANG XINXIONG HEAD OF THE CHINESE DELEGATION
Mr. President,
On the convention of the 30th Session of the General Conference of the IAEA,
please allow me to extend, on behalf of the Chinese Delegation, our warm
congratulations to you on your assumption of the Presidency of the current
Session, we are confident that, with your outstanding qualities and rich
experience, you will guide the Session to a complete success.
A year has passed since we last met here, and we in the Chinese Delegation
are greatly please to gather here again today in the Neue Hofburg with
delegations of other countries to review the Agency's work over the past year
and discuss the issues of common concern. Since the 29th Session of the
General Conference, significant activities have been undertaken in the field of
the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The year that has just passed, on a
whole, was an eventful year.
The first Special Session of the General Conference which just concluded was
a success. My delegation would like to take this opportunity to express
our gratitude to Ambassador Manouan, President of the Special Session of the
General Conference as well as the Director General Dr. Blix and the Secretariat
of the Agency for the excellent work they have done for the Special Session.
We also highly appreciate the spirit of cooperation and understanding displayed
by the participating delegations. This meeting has summarized the major
events recently and adopted unanimously the Convention on Early Notification of
a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the case of a Nuclear
Accident on Radiological Emergency. The majority of the Member States have
signed or plan to sign the above two Conventions. This fact has proved
that as long as we give consideration to different requests of the Member States
and interests of various parties in the spirit of seeking common ground while
reserving differences, we can make accomplishments in some major issues of
common interest within the framework of the Agency.
Through the study of the Agency's Annual Report for 1985, the Chinese
Delegation has acquired a fairly comprehensive understanding of the work and
activities of the Agency last year. The Chinese Delegation endorses the
Report.
Over the past year, the Agency has won much appreciation from the member
states, especially the developing countries, for its endeavour to raise the
implementation rate of technical cooperation programme to improve the effective
utilization of the funds for technical assistance and the practical results of
technical assistance as well as to promote the developing countries to make
their contributions to technical cooperation.
While reviewing the past and looking ahead, the Chinese Delegation sincerely
hopes that the Secretariat will redouble its efforts in its future work.
In the coming year, we hope that the Agency will work ceaselessly to help
increase the implementation rate of technical cooperation programmes and
projects, and strengthen international cooperation in nuclear safety and improve
the effectiveness of technical cooperation. In addition, we would like to
take this opportunity to reaffirm some of the suggestions made by the Governor
of China at the meeting of the Board of Governors last June, i. e. with regard
to promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the Agency should increase the
proportion of the expenditure on technical cooperation and the sources for the
activity promotion funds so as to meet the needs of the member states, and in
particular those from developing countries.
We hold that it is of significant to the development of nuclear power to
develop the kind of nuclear power plants with relatively simple structure, safe
operation and low cost. We support the Agency in its endeavour in
this respect. The application of nuclear techniques in agriculture is
highly important to the developing countries. We hope that the Agency will
continue to attach importance to its application in a wider scope so as to
obtain more conspicuous economic returns.
Mr. President,
Despite controversies by the international public opinion on the development
of nuclear energy, China's conclusion on nuclear energy
is identical with that of Director General Dr. Blix who
has remarked in one of his reports that the nuclear
energy is a promising source of energy. Proceeding
from the above approach. China will, as scheduled,
develop nuclear energy in a positive and appropriate
manner in accordance with the principle of "seeking
foreign cooperation while emphasizing self-reliance".
Now the Guangdong Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant and the
Zhejiang Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant are under
construction. The installed generating capacity of
the former is two units of 900 megawatts while that of
the latter is one unit of 300 megawatts. Both
plants are of PWR design pursuant to Nuclear Safety
Standards System of the Agency. In the process of
the design and construction of the above-mentioned
nuclear power plants, we have persisted in giving
priority to safety and quality through serious study of
the experiences and lessons of other countries in
developing their nuclear power plants. In
order to strengthen effectively the safety of nuclear
power plants, China has set up the State Nuclear Safety
Administration. Not long ago, the Nuclear Safety
Specialists Committee has been set up. China
attaches great importance to and supports international
cooperation on nuclear safety and has taken an active
part in the agency-sponsored meeting where Chinese
experts conducted serious discussions with their
counterparts from other countries on technical,
political and legal matters relevant to nuclear safety
and put forth our suggestions and proposals.
In addition, China is ready to exchange information on
nuclear safety with other countries.
Mr. President,
The following is a brief review of the technical cooperation between China
and the Agency since China joined the Agency. The technical cooperation
between China and the Agency has increased yearly in more fields and with more
conspicuous effects. Last year, the Agency cooperated with China in
conducting several training courses, for instance, Advanced Training Course on
Nuclear Techniques for Element Analysis, Training Demonstration Course on
Radiation Cross-linking Application in Wire and Cable Industry and Training
Course on Radioimmunoassay Techniques. A number of international meetings
were held in China, such us the Asian and the Pacific Regional Seminar on
Practical Application of Food Irradiation which was co-sponsored by the Agency
and FAO, the second project meeting of food irradiation in Asian and Pacific
Region and study tours on the same topic as well as the expert group meeting on
low-energy research reactor. China has contributed its bit as the host
country to the to the above-mentioned activities. This year, the Agency
and China will co-sponsor two training courses on radiation mutation and
non-destructive testing, the second training demonstration course on radiation
cross-linking application in wire and cable industry and the workshop on
radiation sterilization of medical product. China will continue to
contribute its share as the host country to the activities conducted jointly
with the Agency.
The participation in the technical cooperation sponsored by the Agency has
provided the Chinese scientists and experts with an opportunity to have academic
exchanges with colleagues from various countries during which they can learn
from each other's strong points to make up for one's own deficiencies. We
regard international exchanges of this sort as very useful.
Mr. President,
The Chinese Delegation stated at the 29th Session of the General Conference
that China would voluntarily place some of its civilian
nuclear installations under the Agency's safeguards at
an appropriate time and would have consultations with
the Agency on this matter. here, I would like to
brief you formally that an IAEA delegation headed by Mr.
Herzig, Director of the Division of External Relations,
visited Beijing not long ago. The first round of
talks was held on a voluntary offer agreement between
China and the Agency and the expected goal was attained.
Thank you, Mr. President.
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin
Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of
International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the
opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or
its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2007 by
MIIS.
