Mr. Chairman:

1. As a State Party to the Biological Weapons Convention, Chinahas earnestly fulfilled its obligations. Chinahas never developed, produced, stockpiled or assisted other states to acquire or develop biological weapons.

2. In order to reinforce the effectiveness and legalization of the export control in the biological field, China has stipulated a series of laws and regulations, such as Regulation of the People's Republic of China on Export Control of Dual-use Biological Agents and Related Equipment and Technologies and its Export Control List, Customs Law of the People's Republic Of China, The Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, etc., covering the following areas:

(1) Control List. The export control list in the biological field comprises 79 pathogens, 17 toxins and 7 categories of dual-use equipment and related technologies. The list almost covers all the sensitive biological items and has been conforming to the international practice.

(2) Catch-all Principle. Chinahas adopted the catch-all principle. "Where any unit or individual knows or should know that the dual-use biological agents and related equipment or technologies to be exported will be used by the receiving party directly for the purpose of biological weapons, it shall not export such items, whether included in the Control List or not".

(3) Registration and Licensing System. Anyone who deals with the export of sensitive biological items, whether it is export for trade, or exchange with, gift to, exhibition in, assistance to, provision of service for as such and other forms of technological transfer thereof to foreign countries and regions, shall register itself with the Ministry of Commerce. Each time when a registered unit or individual intends to export items in the Control List, it shall apply to the Ministry of Commerce for license and provide such documents as certificate of end-use and end-user and government guarantee. The Ministry of Commerce will examine, according to actual circumstances, the application independently or jointly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Public Health or Ministry of Agriculture. If the case has significant impact on the State security and public interests, the relevant ministries shall submit the case to the State Council for approval.

(4) Customs Supervision. Where an application is examined and approved, the Ministry of Commerce shall issue a license and notify the Customs in writing. The Customs shall proceed, according to relevant laws and regulations, with the formalities and supervise the entire process so as to ensure that the category and quantity of exported items are identical with the declaration.

(5)Violation Punishment. Those who export controlled biological items without license or beyond the scope of the license without authorization shall be investigated for criminal liability in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law on smuggling, illegal business operations or other crimes. If such activities are not serious enough for criminal punishment, the exporters shall be punished according to relevant provisions of the Customs Law, or be given a warning, confiscated their illegal income, suspended or even revoked the licensing for their foreign trade operations by the Ministry of Commerce according to the actual situation.

For details of the above-mentioned regulations, please go to the website of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign affairs www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/c466.htmlor the website of Ministry of Commerce www.mofcom.gov.cn/ckgz.shtml.

3. The Chinese Government has adopted various measures to ensure the effective implementation of the said laws and regulations. Inter-ministerial coordinating mechanism was set up to coordinate efforts by different departments in export control and nonproliferation. Export control training courses were arranged for the training of export control officials. Experts group was established so that experts can be consulted on technical or legal issues. Through all kinds of publicizing, training efforts, the awareness of exporters to abide by laws and regulations has been raised.

4. Besides, the Chinese Government has promulgated and implemented a series of export control regulations covering nuclear, chemical and missile fields. Generally speaking, by setting up a legal system and adhering to the principle that "there shall be laws to abide by, everyone should abide by the law, the law must be enforced strictly, and those who violate the law shall be dealt with", the export control regime of Chinais by and large in line with international practice. The administrative management has been transformed into one of management by law.

5. In the future, the Chinese Government will further strengthen its efforts to publicize and implement relevant export control regulations with an aim to enforce them comprehensively and effectively. Meanwhile, we believe it's vitally important to boost international cooperation and exchanges. This will be conducive to drawing upon successful experience of the others to offset their own weaknesses, and enhancing mutual trust.The Chinese Government is willing to further expand and deepen exchanges with other countries and intensify cooperation with all States Parties in biological nonproliferation field so as to fulfill obligations of the Convention in a comprehensive and effective manner, strengthen biosecurity, prevent proliferation of biological weapons and bioterrorism and make contributions to world peace and security.