| UN Register of Conventional Arms |
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| 2004/04/16 |
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With the belief that appropriate and rational transparency in arms contributes to confidence building among states, China had participated in the UN Register of Conventional Arms since 1993. However, it has proved during the last several years that the actual effect of the Register is limited, and therefore, China is concerned about its future.
We believe that transparency is means rather than ends. It is important to promote efforts against destabilizing weapons proliferation and against using arms transfers to infringe on the sovereignty of other countries and to interfere in their internal affairs. This should be the right course of all transparency measures, including the Register of Conventional Arms.
China is against any attempt to politicize the Register and to infringe on other countries' sovereignty and interfere in their internal affairs through the Register. China supports the operation of the Register in accordance with the relevant UNGA Resolution. Only in such way can the authority of the Register be guaranteed.
The United States has through consecutive years registered its arms sales to Taiwan at the UN Register. This is a violation of the stipulation by the relevant UNGA Resolution that the Register should only record the conventional arms transfers among sovereign states. The US practice has undermined the nature of the Register. Therefore, China decided to suspend its register since 1998. The knot is for the knitter himself to tackle. The U.S. should rectify its wrongdoing. Only then will China reconsider its current decision and the authority of the UN Register of Conventional Arms be safeguarded.
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