Mr. Chairman,

The Chinese delegation has studied carefully the report of the third session of the inter-governmental working group on the effective implementation of the "Durban Declaration and Program of Action", the report of the forth session of the expert working group on people of African descent and the report by the special rapporteur on contemporary form of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. We wish to express our appreciation to Ambassador Juan Martabit, Ambassador Peter Kasanda and Mr. Doudou Diene for the work they have carried out.

Mr. Chairman,

As was pointed out by Mr. Doudou Diene in his report, the present trend is that racism is further aggravated in many areas, racist parties have expanded their influence and that the voice justifying racism is getting louder. Such is the precise description of the current state of racism. The World Conference against Racism instilled a fresh vigor into the world community at that time and people were ardently hoping that governments would take that opportunity to launch the final assault against racism in order to eliminate it once for all. It is extremely regrettable and disappointing, therefore, that after nearly four years, racism, instead of being checked, has manifested itself in ever greater frequency and newer forms. The problem of racism has further deteriorated. Not long ago in a certain western country, violence broke out against Chinese citizens and business people, creating serious repercussions. And the xenophobia against people of Islamic faith after the event of September 11 is also giving people profound worries.

Mr. Chairman,

Racism is constantly propagating itself. Without resolute counter measures, extreme forms of racism, such as new theory of racial superiority, neo-nazism and neo-fascism will once again move onto the front stage, bringing calamities to the mankind. This is not alarmist talk as it has been repeatedly borne out by history.

To eliminate racism, the Chinese delegation would like to make the following recommendations.

First, western countries must pay adequate attention to the problem of racism and take effective measures to root out racism. It is the thinking that decides the course of action. Only by facing up the problem squarely can they find the solution. Their inadequate recognition of the harm of racism and their lukewarm measures against it are the root causes for the present spread of racism. Racism will not be eliminated without the removal of its root cause. We wish to appeal to western countries again that in the spirit of historic responsibility, they demonstrate the courage and will in making their due contribution to the elimination of racism.

Second, while helping the developing countries to reduce poverty and making an effort to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, the international community should also strongly advocate for racial equality and harmony as well as dialogue between different civilizations. The gap between the rich and the poor and racial intolerance constitute important causes for the emergence of racism. Both in term of history and present reality, western countries have the major responsibility for narrowing the rich-poor gap and realizing racial harmony. While strengthening its assistance to the developing countries, the international community should also intensify the awareness and education campaign to promote racial equality and harmony so as to keep in check the spread of racism.

Finally, the United Nations is called upon to beef up its anti-racism work. The UN has already adopted a series of measures in this regard, including the establishment of the inter-governmental working group on the effective implementation of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action, expert working group on people of African descent, five-person independent eminent expert group, the special rapporteur on contemporary form of racism and the establishment of a unit on anti-racism. All the above mechanisms have played a positive role and we express our appreciation. However, their impact and effectiveness have been hampered by various factors. The United Nations, therefore, should give further support to these mechanisms in terms of human and financial resources and in terms of publicity so as to enable them to fully play their respective roles.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.