Your Excellency Ambassador Daovy, Permanent Representative-Designate of Lao PDR to UN Geneva,
Dr. Hermann Lampalzer, Deputy Chief of the BWC ISU,
Mr. Junyoung Yoo, Deputy Director of UNRCPD,
Mr TAI Zhongzhi, Vice President of the Sun Yat-Sen University,
Colleagues and friends,

On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all the participants representing countries in the Southeast region and the International organizations. A heartfelt thank you to the government of the Lao PDR, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, the Sun Yat-sen University and the Foreign Affairs Office of Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government, for the cooperation and support in this joint endeavor.

Colleagues,

We are now at a time of profound global transformation unseen in a century. A new revolution in science, technology and industry is under way. Various traditional and non-traditional security threats are more intertwined. The landscapes of the global biological arms control and biosafety/security process are changing. 

It has become increasingly important and urgent to strengthen bilateral and multilateral exchanges and cooperation. In the Pact for Future adopted during the recent UN Summit of the Future, the heads of states and governments reaffirmed the shared determination to exclude completely the threat of biological weapons and to address emerging biological risks.

The Global Security Initiative put forth by President Xi Jinping promotes the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and advocates that joint efforts should be made to address global issues including biosafety and biosecurity.

Under the guidance of the GSI, China will continue to play an active role in advancing multilateral process in biological arms control and biosafety and biosecurity, improving relevant mechanisms , strengthening international and regional cooperation so as to present opportunities for greater development and effectively respond to challenges. To jointly achieve this goal, China would like to make the following proposals:

First, we need to put equal emphasis on development and security, so as to make sure that the technological achievements benefit the mankind. The rapid development of emerging technologies, such as synthesis, gene editing, artificial intelligence and other new technologies, while unlocking vast potential for improving human life, also lowers the barrier for acquiring biological weapons and dangerous pathogens. The abuse and misuse of biotechnologies, bioterrorism, and other challenges are posing more severe challenges. It is imperative for us to keep pace with time, make sure that our know-how remain fit for purpose, constantly improve countering measures and working mechanisms, so that the increasingly diversified biosafety/security risks could be mitigated.

Ensuring that all states enjoy technological achievements for peaceful purposes without hindrance is an integral part of safeguarding the right to development. It is essential to earnestly implement the UN General Assembly resolution of “Promoting International Cooperation on Peaceful Uses in the Context of International Security”, place international cooperation and peaceful uses high on the agenda, and refrain from taking discriminatory export control measures, thereby ensuring that new technologies in biological and other fields make greater contribution to the creation of a more inclusive, fair, prosperous and sustainable world.

Second, we need to pursue mutually beneficial cooperation, so as to bring about a biologically safer world. The primary responsibility of biosafety and biosecurity lies with the governments. Countries shall continuously modernize their national systems and capacity in biosafety/security governance, based on actual conditions,  faithfully fulfill the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) obligations and other international obligations as such, improve national biosafety/security legal framework and working mechanism, and enhance capabilities in bio-risk prevention and response.

It is also essential for all countries to advocate responsible manner in biotech related research, make greater efforts in biosafety/security education, and foster a culture that champions biosafety and biosecurity.

Bio-risks and challenges knows no boarder. China welcomes the recent adoption of the ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on Strengthening Regional Biosafety and Biosecurity. We stand ready to conduct whole-of-government and whole-of-society exchanges and cooperation with Southeast Asian countries in various forms including regional workshops on a regular basis.

We also support to make full use of the platforms established by the UN and other international and regional organizations in health, food and agriculture sectors,to enhance the capacity building, strengthen coordination and networking,and forge a joint effort in safeguarding biosafety and biosecurity.

Third, we need to uphold the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, thereby improving the global biosafety/security governance. The year 2025 will be an important occasion for Biological Weapons Convention as it marks the 50th anniversary of its entry-into-force. China calls on the international society to consolidate political consensus in upholding the purpose and objectives of the Convention, and make new contributions in eliminating biological threats, preventing proliferation of biological weapons and promoting the peaceful uses of bio-technologies. In this regard, China firmly supports the negotiation and conclusion of a legally binding Protocol with a verification mechanism that strengthens and institutionalizes the Convention in all its aspects.

At the same time, we need to foster stronger synergy among the existing international organizations and treaty bodies, and facilitate the mobilization and consolidation of resources and the coordination of actions without prejudice to their respective mandates. In the long term, China supports the establishment of an international organization dedicated to biological arms control and biosafety/security, with a view to strengthening multilateral coordination, pooling global resources, and addressing various issues in this field in a holistic manner. We look forward to continued discussions on this subject, with the collective wisdom of the international society.

Colleagues,

The Communist Party of China held in July the Third Plenum of its Central Committee,laying out systematic plans for further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization. Chinese modernization is the modernization of peaceful development. China remains firm in pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace, and stands committed to advancing the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. China will also continue to practice true multilateralism, make the global governance system more fair and equitable,and join hands with all countries to achieve global modernization.

In the field of biological arms control and biosafety/security, China is both an advocate and a practitioner. In recent years, historical achievements have been made in strengthening national biosafety/security. We’ve made biosafety/security an integral part of the National Security Strategy,promulgated the Law on biosafety/security,developed biosafety/security related strategies and policies and put in place better mechanisms. As a result,the biosafety/security governance at national level keeps improving. 

China fully and faithfully fulfills its obligations in biological arms control and non-proliferation. As a victim of Biological weapons,China firmly opposes the development, proliferation and use of biological weapons by any means. China earnestly implements the BWC and 1925 Geneva Protocol, including by enacting relevant laws and regulations,conducting inter-agency coordination, submitting Confidence Building Measures reports, and enhancing export controls on dual-use biological items and technologies.

China actively promotes international and regional cooperation. Consultation mechanisms have been established with relevant countries to strengthen policy coordination and pragmatic cooperation in the field of biosafety/security. Following the well-established tradition of “South-South Cooperation”, China carried out bilateral and multinational cooperation programs in infectious diseases prevention, emergency response, inspection and quarantine, laboratory biosafety/security management, joint research, education and training for Asia-Pacific and Africa.

China also offers Chinese proposals in biosafety/security related discussions, which are formed through active reviews of the approaches and measures that are in place in China’s national biosafety/security system and experiences gained thereby. The Tianjin Biosecurity Guidelines for Codes of Conduct for Scientists, which is widely recognized by the international science community is an example as such.  

In the three following days, representatives of government agencies, including Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Health Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of National Defense, and experts from various academies, universities and NGO, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, and the Sun Yat-sen University, Tianjin University, China Foreign Affairs University and China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, will join you in more substantial discussions. 

Dear Colleagues,

ASEAN and China are friendly neighbors that look out for each other, close companions that stick together through thick and thin, and a community with shared future that rise and fall together. We have set a stellar example of dialogues and cooperation full of vitality and with fruitful results. 

It is our hope that through this workshop we could deepen mutual understanding, explore effective means to strengthen capacity building in BWC implementation and improve governance in biosafety and biosecurity, as well as further enhance coordination and cooperation on this front. 

With that, I wish this workshop a great success!