 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
Statement by Lin Fang, Adviser to the Chinese
Delegation
at the First Committee of the United Nations General
Assembly
On Chemical and Biological Weapons
21 November 1972
(Excerpt)
Explicit provisions have been made early in the Geneva Protocol of 1925 on the question of prohibiting chemical and bacteriological weapons. On December 5, 1966, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution, calling for the strict observance by all states of the principles and objectives of the Geneva Protocol of 1925 and inviting all states to accede to it. On December 16, 1969, the United Nations General Assembly adopted another resolution, declaring as contrary to the genperally recognized rules of international law, as embodied in the Geneva Protocol of 1925, the use in international armed conflicts of "any chemical or biological agents of warfare" and urging all states to accede to or ratify the Geneva Protocol in 1970. On December 7, 1970, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed at its 25th Session its resolution of December 5, 1968 and pointed out that both chemical and bacteriological weapons should be prohibited simultaneously.
It must be pointed out at this rostrum that the US Government has thus far refused to ratify the Geneva Protocol of 1925 and, in disregard of the relevant UN resolutions, has been using toxic chemicals and gases on a large scale in barbarously slaughtering the Vietnamese people in its war of aggression against Viet Nam. The Portuguese colonialists have also frenziedly resorted to chemical warfare in brutally suppressing the African people's struggle for national independence. They have all committed towering crimes. They should all be severely condemned.
The so-called "Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxic Weapons and on Their Destruction" is a product manufactured by the two superpowers after long back-stage deals and is another fraud of sham disarmament they have cooked up. As is known to all, the Geneva Protocol of 1925 declares in explicit terms that the contracting parties accept the principles of prohibiting the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons and agree to be bound as between themselves according to the terms of the protocol. In disregard of the objection of many justice-upholding countries and in violation of the relevant provisions of UN resolutions, the two superpowers concocted in separate form this so-called "Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxic Weapons and on Their Destruction," in which there is no mention at all about the prohibition of the use of such weapons, thus leaving a leeway for their using bacteriological weapons to commit aggression. The two superpowers also talk glibly about prohibiting biological weapons first while leaving aside the chemical weapons which are being used on a large scale and whose simultaneous prohibition has been urgently demanded by the people of all countries. Their true purpose is to enable themselves to continue their possession and development of chemical weapons so that these weapons can be used freely. Evidently, all this constitutes a violation of and retrogression from the Geneva Protocol of 1925. Such a convention is intended only for deceiving the people, and it has no practical meaning at all.
When the so-called "Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxic Weapons and on Their Destruction" was open for signature in Washington, Moscow and London after its production, the Chiang Kai-shek clique was even allowed to put its signature on the convention. The Chinese Delegation expresses its indignation at this. The Chiang Kai-shek clique has not right at all to represent the Chinese people. The signature of the Chiang Kai-shek clique is illegal and null and void. No scheme of creating "two Chinas" will ever succeed.
The Chinese Delegation solemnly declares: The Chinese Government and people have consistently stood for the prohibition of the use of all biological and chemical weapons and had back in 1952 recognized the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. The Chinese people will, as always, continue to work together with the people of all countries and persevere in the struggle for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of all biological and chemical weapons.
In view of the fraud concocted by the two superpowers on the question of prohibiting biological and chemical weapons and at the same time in consideration of the good will of the people of all countries for the true prohibition of biological and chemical weapons, the Chinese Delegation abstained in the voting on the draft resolution.
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.
