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STATEMENT BY THE
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ON THE
"YIN HE" INCIDENT,
DATED 4 SEPTEMBER 1993
(circulated at the request of the representative of
China to the Preparatory Commission for the OPCW,
dated 25 September 1993)
From 26 August to 4 September 1993, the representatives of the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the presence of the representatives of the Government of the People's Republic of China, conducted an inspection of the cargo carried by the Chinese ship "Yin He" at the Dammam Port, Saudi Arabia. Technical experts dispatched by the United States Government took part in the entire process of the inspection as advisors to the Saudi side. The results of this exhaustive inspection showed that thpe Chinese ship "Yin He" did not carry at all thiodiglycol and thionyl chloride, the two chemicals as alleged by the U.S. side. The representatives of the three sides signed the inspection report and confirmed the above-mentioned results. The Chinese Government extends its appreciation and gratitude to the Saudi Government for its cooperation in the settlement of the "Yin He" issue.
The "Yin He" incident is the sole making of the U.S. side as a result of its erroneous act based on its false intelligence. Since 23 July, the United States, on the ground of its intelligence, made several representations with the Chinese side. It accused the Chinese ship "Yin He" of carrying chemical weapon precursors, thiodiglycol and thionyl chloride, bound for Iran, and took such extraordinary actions as having the Chinese ship on the high seas followed by its warships and taken aerial photos of by its military aircraft, which interrupted the ship's normal navigation. Moreover, the U.S. side also spread its misleading information to countries whose ports the "Yin He" was scheduled to call, and demanded that they refuse to let the ship dock and unload its cargo.
After a serious and extensive investigation into the matter to lull the U.S. suspicions, the Chinese side informed the U.S. side as early as 4 August in explicit terms that the ship "Yin He" did not carry the two chemicals as alleged by the U.S. side and put forth a positive proposal for a third-party inspection. However, the U.S. chose to ignore the Chinese clarification and stuck to its erroneous position, thus denying a solution to this problem for a long time. The "Yin He" was compelled to stay adrift on the high seas for more than twenty days with its crew suffering from a shortage of fresh water, food and drinking water. This ship had to change its course and delay its unloading schedule, which caused heavy economic losses to the Chinese side. To demonstrate to the international community its sincerity for a settlement of the question, clarify the incident, bring about an earlier solution to the issue to avoid further losses, and alleviate the sufferings of the "Yin He" seamen at an earlier date, the Chinese side proposed for an inspection by a third party of the cargo of the ship that the U.S. side is questioning about. However, none of the above-mentioned chemicals has been found in the inspected containers. And the U.S. side, going back on its own words, tore up the agreement that had already been reached and raised time and again the unreasonable demand of expanding the range of the inspection to the extent of checking all the cargo in 782 containers loaded on the ship including the cargo dispatched from other countries, which had prolonged the inspection again and again. Nonetheless, facts are facts. The results of the exhaustive inspection at the Dammam Port show that the Chinese conclusion fully tallies with the facts. Now the truth has been brought to the daylight, and the United States, which was the sole maker of the "Yin He" incident, has ended up in its own failure.
In the course of this incident, the United States has acted in an utterly indiscreet and irresponsible manner as it provided its so-called "intelligence" to the various parties even before it had got the basic facts about the Chinese ship straight. When the Chinese side, after careful investigation into the matter, made clear to the U.S. side that the "Yin He" did not carry the two chemicals, the U.S. side, insisting on having its way, continued to misguide the public opinion and put pressure on the countries concerned. Recently, the U.S. has so often wilfully brought pressure to bear on other countries on the ground of its so-called "intelligence" which was no more than hearsay or self-invented stories. This is a show of hegemonism and power politics pure and simple. The "Yin He" incident is only one example in this regard.
According to the universally recognised international law and international practices, it is the sovereign right of each and every country to conduct normal maritime shipping and foreign trade, which brooks no obstruction and interference from any country. But the United States has gone so far as to send warships and military aircraft to follow, monitor and harass the "Yin He". It made many absurd demands including one that would require China to recall the ship to its port of departure. All this has obstructed its normal shipping operation. These acts of the United States have seriously infringed upon China's sovereignty and its right to freedom of navigation in international waters, which constitutes a blatant contempt of the norms governing international relations.
The Chemical Weapons Convention will not become effective until at least 1995, and its verification mechanism is yet to be established. The United States, till this very day, has not ratified the Convention. And no international organisation has ever empowered the U.S. to conduct unilateral inspection of other countries. People cannot help wondering what legal basis the U.S. has got to justify its actions. If such behaviour of self-styled "world cop" is to be condoned, can there still be justice, sovereign equality and normal state-to-state relations in this world?
As a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, China is very serious about its international obligations thereunder. Despite the fact that the Convention has yet to take effect, China has committed itself publicly not to produce or possess chemical weapons, nor does it export chemical products that may be used for the purpose of making chemical weapons. In order to ensure that the chemicals it exports will not be used for chemical weapons, the Chinese Government has formulated extremely stringent measures to control its chemical export. As to the two chemicals referred to by the U.S. side, the Chinese Government has clear-cut orders against their export to certain regions. The Chinese Government will, as always, strictly observe its international obligations and make its contribution to safeguarding international peace and security and promoting normal economic and trade exchanges among countries.
The "Yin He" incident has incurred heavy losses to China both politically and economically. China strongly demands that the U.S. take immediate steps to remove the adverse consequences of its false intelligence and ensure, as it has already promised, that the "Yin He" be allowed to enter its scheduled ports for unloading. China also demands that the U.S. side make a public apology to the Chinese side and compensate for all the financial losses sustained by the Chinese side. The United States should commit itself in explicit terms to strict compliance with international law and norms governing international relations in future handling of its relations with other states and guarantee against recurrence of similar incidents.
Inspection Report
1. During the period between August 26, 1993 and September 4, 1993, the representatives of the Government of Saudi Arabia inspected, in the presence of the representatives of the Chinese Government, the cargo carried by the Chinese Ship "YIN HE", at the Dammam Port of Saudi Arabia. The representatives of the U.S. Government participated in the inspection as technical advisors to the Saudi side.
2. The complete inspection of all the containers aboard the "YIN HE" showed conclusively that the two chemicals, thiodiglycol and thionyl chloride were not among the ship's cargo.
3. The U.S. Government undertakes to inform the governments of the countries which the Chinese ship "YIN HE", had been scheduled to call of the results of this inspection and to seek to ensure a smooth entry of the ship into the ports concerned to unload its cargo.
(Signed)
Representative of Saudi Arabia
(Signed)
Representative of China
(Signed)
U.S. Technical Advisor
4 September 1993
King Abdul Aziz Port
Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
On Board HMS TABUK (PCG-618)
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.
