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STATEMENT BY Mr. ZHOU PING HEAD OF THE CHINESE DELEGATION TO THE 32ND SESSION
OF THE IAEA GENERAL CONFERENCE
SEPTEMBER 1988
Mr. President,
First of all, please allow me, on behalf of the Chinese
Delegation and in my own name, to warmly congratulate
you on your election to the presidency of this session
of the General Conference. With your outstanding
abilities and rich experience, I am confident that this
session will attain full success under you guidance.
At the same time, I would like to avail myself of this
opportunity to express our gratitude to Dr. Hans Blix,
Director General of the Agency and all staff of the
Secretariat for their hard work and valuable
contribution over the past year.
Mr. President,
According to the objectives set forth in its Statute, the Agency has done a
lot over the past year for the promotion of the peaceful
uses of nuclear energy in various fields. We
support the Agency in putting the emphasis on manpower
resources development in technical cooperation. We
have noticed that in 1987, the Agency further improved
its work on personnel training for the developing
countries. In the field of nuclear power, some
headway has been made in its work on nuclear power
planning and its implementation, research on the
performance of nuclear power and its technical
development. In nuclear fuel cycle, a series of
useful work has been conducted concerning such areas as
the exploration and mining of uranium and its
production, nuclear fuel fabrication and management of
spent fuels, the decommissioning of nuclear facilities
and the disposal of nuclear waste. In nuclear
safety and radiation protection, satisfactory results
have been achieved in the activities of OSART, the
review of NUSS Codes of Practice, the amendment of
Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive
Materials, and linking and testing the global
communication network for "early notification".
The Agency has also been active in Research and Isotopes
and its application. Its activities in this field
are mostly in keeping with the practical needs of the
Member States. The three regional cooperation programmes
sponsored by the Agency for Asia and the Pacific, Latin
America and the Caribbean and Africa are much favoured
by the developing countries. Since china is one of the
members of the Asia and Pacific region, we appreciate
the Regional Cooperation Agreement for Asia and Pacific
region being promoted by the Agency.
In the view of the Chinese Delegation, the Agency worked in an extensive
range of fields over the past year for the attainment of
the goals of the Statute. In 1987, in addition to
the achievements made in technical assistance and
cooperation, it has also done a large amount of
significant work in nuclear safeguards and
administration.
Mr. President,
The Chinese Delegation agrees to the Agency's Programme and Budget for 1989
and 1990 drawn up by consensus in the Board of
Governors, agrees to the indicative planning figures of
a yearly increment of 3.5 million US dollars for the
technical assistance and cooperation fund between
1990-1992, agrees to the increase of the working capital
fund to 4 million US dollars. We are aware of the
financial difficulties confronting the Agency in the
past two years and their impact on the Agency’s
activities. We believe that efforts by the
Secretariat and the cooperation offered by Member States
are major factors to the success of the Agency's
activities. We hope that the Secretariat, with its
present financial capabilities, will further tap the
latent potential, well coordinate the overall
arrangement and enhance work efficiency in trying to
contribute its share to the cause of the Agency.
Me support the Secretariat in its evaluation of the
technical assistance activities and its review of the
technical cooperation policies, which are designed to
enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of technical
assistance and cooperation. We expect that the
Agency will make new contributions to promoting the
peaceful use of nuclear energy in the world.
Mr. President,
The Chinese Government has always followed the Agency's work with interest.
Although it has not been long since China joined the
Agency, China has participated in many of the Agency's
activities and has actively supported the Agency's work.
China has always paid in time its due assessment and
voluntary contributions to the technical assistance and
cooperation fund. It has taken an active part in
INSAG and activities of other senior experts and
advisory groups. After the Chernobyl accident, China has
actively participated in the drafting of the two
Conventions on nuclear safety and has signed and
ratified them. China has participated in the
Agency's nuclear safety expanded programme and provided
to it financial contributions. China supports the
Agency's revised NUSS document to which the Chinese
nuclear safety experts have proposed a number of
revisions. Over the past year, china played host
to 6 training courses and 7 international conferences
co-sponsored with the Agency. I hereby wish to
make special reference to the Tenth Working Group
Meeting of Representatives of RCA Member States held
last April in Beijing, China. It was the first
meeting of this kind held in China since China joined
the RCA programme. We are pleased to be one of the
supporters and donor-countries of the Asia-Pacific
regional cooperation agreement. After this general
conference, China will, together with the Agency,
co-sponsor some international training courses and
meetings such as "Rice-Fish Ecological System",
"Radiation Sterilization for Tissue Grafts" and "INIS
Input and Output". China values and commends the
activities the Agency has developed in the fields of
INIS and NDS. We will continue to support efforts
in this area as we do in other areas.
Mr. President,
Now, I wish to take this opportunity to say a few words about the
development of nuclear energy programme in China and how
we look at the issue. As is known to all, people
became more apprehensive for nuclear safety after the
Chernobyl accident and some even advocated for the
discontinuation of nuclear power programmes. However,
with the serious and cool reflection and analysis made
during the two years and more after the accident, people
still come to the conclusion that nuclear energy has
more advantages both economically and environmentally
than other major energy sources presently in use.
In the three decades and more from 1950s to 1986 when
the accident happened, nuclear power stations had kept a
fairly good record of operation. Generally speaking, the
development of nuclear energy has no more adverse impact
on the human environment than conventional power
stations. We believe that with lessons drawn from
this accident, more attention will be paid to the safety
of nuclear power stations and safety measures for
nuclear energy will be further improved. Before the
discovery of other new and better energy sources for
massive production of power at a reasonable cost, there
will be continued development of nuclear energy.
With this recognition and understanding, China has
adhered to the set policy of "developing nuclear energy
actively and appropriately" in the past two years.
We emphasized that in developing nuclear energy, "safety
and quality first "must be ensured. The
construction of our two nuclear power stations in
Qinshan, Zhejiang and Daya Bay, Guangdong is going on
smoothly and it is expected that they will be completed
and put into operation according to schedule. Our
new nuclear power project, i.e., the second phase of the
Qinshan station, has also begun its pre-phase
preparations. This project is the construction of
two 600 MW PWRs with part of the technology and
equipment to be introduced from abroad. We are now
discussing the possibility of cooperation in this
project with countries concerned.
Mr. President,
At the 29th Conference, the Chinese Delegation declared that in due time
China would voluntarily place some of its civil nuclear
facilities under the Agency's safeguards and that
consultations would be held with Agency for that matter.
I wish to inform our colleagues here and now that
satisfactory results have been achieved after two rounds
of formal talks on the Safeguards Agreement Between
China and the Agency and the Agreement was signed by the
two sides this morning. After the Conference, the two
sides will continue consultations on the "Subsidiary
Arrangements" for the implementation of the Agreement.
The signing of this Agreement with the Agency has
demonstrated China's good will and commitment to the
peaceful use of nuclear energy and to the promotion of
international cooperation in this field. This has
also indicated China's support for the two basic
objectives as prescribed in the Statute of the Agency.
The list of facilities to be submitted by China to the
Agency for safeguards will include not only nuclear
facilities made in China but also imported nuclear power
stations. We will ensure that China's nuclear
imports be all devoted to peaceful uses and by no means
be used for military purposes or for the purpose of
nuclear explosion. And China will continue to
request recipient countries to submit the nuclear
materials and equipment from China to the Agency for
safeguards. Peace and development are China's
basic position and policy for the achievement of
modernization. Guided by such position and policy, China
will make greater progress in peaceful uses of nuclear
energy and international cooperation in this field.
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.
