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STATEMENT AT THE 29th SESSION OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL
ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY
By Zhou Ping Head of Chinese Delegation
(Translation)
September 1985
Mr. President,
Please allow me to extend, on behalf of the Chinese Delegation, our warm
congratulations on you on your assumption of the presidency of this session of
the General Conference. I am confident that with your outstanding ability and
rich experience, this conference will surely be led Co yield good results.
This is the second time that China has participated in the General
Conference of the Agency since its admission. It gives us great pleasure to have
this opportunity of reviewing the Agency's mark over the past year and
discussing the peaceful uses of nuclear energy with delegations from other
countries. The Agency has, over the past year, done a great deal of useful work
in helping its member states develop their nuclear power, conduct nuclear
research work and put in use the applied technology of isotope and irradiation,
etc. Work done by the Agency In the fields of promoting the development of small
and medium-sized power reactors, formulating nuclear safety standards,
accelerating research on radiation protection, developing probabilistic risk
assessment methodology, popularizing technology of food preservation and plant
disease and pest prevention and treatment by irradiation and improving the
international nuclear information system and nuclear data bank is also very much
appreciated by the people. Some of the Steps and measures taken by the
Agency in raising the implementation rate of technical cooperation and improving
the efficiency and effectiveness of technical assistance are praise worthy.
Thanks Co the joint efforts made by member states, the Board of Governors and
the Secretariat, the Agency has been playing a positive role in promoting
peaceful uses of nuclear energy and cooperation among member states. The
Chinese Delegation would like to take this opportunity to express its thanks to
the Board of Governors of the last session and the Secretariat for the hard work
they have done.
Naturally, while recognizing the achievements of the Agency, we have taken
note of the difficulties the Agency faces as well. Technical assistance
provided by the Agency is not yet sufficient to fully meet the needs of the
developing countries, and the proportion the safeguards expense assumes In the
Agency's budget has been growing too fast. To solve such problems, greater
efforts are called for on the part of the Agency.
Mr. President,
China is a developing country with a vast territory and a large population.
To attain the grand goals we set for socialist
modernization by the end of this century, we will fully
exploit our existing nuclear industry and our research
facilities for nuclear science and technology and exert
greater efforts in promoting the peaceful uses of
nuclear energy in every field of our national economy
and our people's livelihood. China Is formulating a
nuclear energy development programme of its own, the
priority of which Is to build some nuclear power
stations in Guangdong and east China where industry is
concentrated and energy is in short supply.
China now already possesses research reactors including high flux reactors
and mini neutron source reactors, as well as a series of
laboratorial facilities such as accelerators and
controlled thermonuclear experimental facility. These
facilities will be used as important means by Chinese
scientists for basic and applied studies of nuclear
energy and for international cooperation.
China already possesses a fairly complete nuclear fuel cycle from the
prospecting, mining, milling and enrichment of uranium
to the disposal of nuclear waste. We are going to
further improve this Industrial system in the future so
as to cater for the increasing need of developing
China's nuclear power Industry.
Attaching great importance to nuclear safety and radiation protection, China
has set up National Nuclear Safety Administration In order to strengthen its
nuclear safety regulation and is formulating codes and guides for nuclear
safety.
Harked economic results and social achievements have already been scored in
applying isotope, irradiation and nuclear technology for the benefit of China's
national economy and public health. In industry, we are effectively making use
of radiation measurement technology and related instruments and meters in iron
and steel, coal, metallurgical, chemical, petroleum, light and other industries,
and are spreading as a new Industrial technology the irradiation processing In
the whole country, In agriculture, we have bred with irradiation methods, a
hundred or so new strains of crops, the planting of which has already spreaded
to more than 6.5 million hectares of land. Much progress has already been made
concerning technology of keeping food fresh through irradiation. Since the
Agency is going to hold a seminar on food preservation through irradiation for
the Asian and Pacific region in Shanghai, China next April, we will share our
experience and learnings with experts from various countries then.
Mr. President,
China is a peace-loving country pursuing a foreign policy of peace. We are
in favour of nuclear disarmament. We need an
international environment: of peace to carry out our
modernization programme. We are endeavouring to create
and maintain such an environment of peace. The decision
made by Chinese Government not long ago on cutting
China's armed forces by one million men is an action
contributing to the maintenance of world peace. To
China, peace and development are the two major goals of
its basic state policies. As far as nuclear policy Is
concerned, China supports the peaceful application of
nuclear energy All over the world and is ready to
contribute to the promotion of using nuclear energy In
industry, agriculture, people's health and other fields
for the benefit of mankind. All our present and future
cooperation with other countries in the nuclear field
will be limited only Co peaceful purposes, and not for
non-peaceful purposes. Our Premier Zhao Ziyang solemnly
declared in 1984 that "China is not in favour of nuclear
proliferation and will not engage in nuclear
proliferation. Nor will it help other countries develop
nuclear weapons." This is the basic policy followed by
China in If nuclear cooperation with other countries.
In line with China's peaceful nuclear policy, we have conducted serious
studies on safeguards over civilian nuclear
installations. Now we wish to state here that the
Chinese Government has decided to voluntarily offer to
place some of its civilian nuclear installations under
IAEA's safeguards at an appropriate time and will have
consultations with the Agency on this matter. Here I
would like to point out with emphasis that this decision
of the Chinese Government was made in line "with China's
independent foreign policy. It is not the result of any
bilateral negotiations.
Mr. President,
For the purpose of realizing China's modernization programme and
accelerating peaceful utilization of nuclear energy in
China, the Chinese Government, while adhering to the
principle of Independence and self-reliance, has
attached great importance to active international
cooperation in peaceful utilization of nuclear energy.
We advocate wide-ranging cooperation and exchanges among
countries, organizations and experts based on the
principles of respect for state sovereignty,
non-interference in the internal affairs of other
countries, equality and mutual benefit. Basing ourselves
on these principles, we have successively signed over
the past year intergovernmental agreements on peaceful
utilization of nuclear energy with Argentina, Belgium,
the United Kingdom, the United States of America and
Japan in addition to the ones we had already signed with
Yugoslavia, Italy, France, Federal Republic of Germany,
Brazil, etc. We believe that the cooperation and
exchanges between China and other countries in peaceful
utilization of nuclear energy will further develop.
Mr. President,
As a new member of the Agency, China has already started a sound cooperation
with the Agency and its other members. Over the
past year, China has sent its representatives to
participate in over fifty specialized meetings and some
training courses as well as fellowship activities
sponsored by the Agency or co-sponsored by the Agency
and its member states. Nineteen research units in
China have signed research contracts and participated in
the coordinated research programme of the Agency.
Technical cooperation projects between China and the
Agency are also being formulated and implemented. In an
effort to strengthen mutual understanding and
cooperation, apart from maintaining close and frequent
contacts by our permanent mission to the Agency with the
Agency's Secretariat, China has also sent experts and
delegations to visit the Agency. The Agency has also
sent officials, experts, or missions to visit China on
many occasions. Close cooperation between China and the
Agency in the fields of nuclear safety, radiation
protection, manpower development for nuclear power and
isotope applications has already been under way.
Obligations are always reciprocal in international cooperation. Ever since
its admission to the Agency, China has paid great
attention to exerting its utmost in the
Agency's technological cooperation activities. China has
accumulated certain experience in nuclear industry, in
nuclear research and its applications. We shall
cooperate with and share such experience with other
member states of the Agency. Guided by the principle of
learning from each other to make up each other's
deficiencies and helping supply each other's needs, we
learn from other countries, and at the same cine offer
what we have to help. Last year, we participated in
training courses and international conferences of
various kinds sponsored by the Agency. China also hosted
training courses and international meetings. Not
long ago, the consulting meeting on low power research
reactor and training course on elementary analysis held
in Beijing by the Agency with the help of China were
well received and praised by the participants and
trainees from various countries. In future, we will host
more international meetings, training courses and other
activities according to our ability. We have already
joined the International nuclear information system and
begun to feed it with information on China's nuclear
science and technology. We are applying for membership
of the International Nuclear Data Committee and are
ready to engage in more cooperation radon and exchanges
in this field. Not long ago, China officially joined the
Regional Cooperation Agreement of the Asian and Pacific
region. This shows that China's cooperation with the
Agency on nuclear technology will be further extended to
wider fields of application such as industry,
agriculture and medicine.
It is only a short time since China Joined the International Atomic Energy
Agency, however, we have received friendly assistance
from and enjoyed good cooperation with delegations of
many countries as well as the Agency itself. For this,
we wish to express our sincere thanks. In future, we
shall continue to cooperate with delegations of various
countries, give active support to the Agency for its
various arrangements beneficial for promoting
international cooperation in nuclear energy and make our
share of contribution to the further development of
peaceful utilization of nuclear energy for mankind.
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.
