Xinhua news agency "Text" of speech by Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen to a UN Security Council meeting of foreign minister's in New York on 26th September

United Nations, 26th September: Mr President:

It is of much significance that we exchange views on ways to make the Security Council adapt itself to the new situation and better play an effective role here today, while marking the 50th founding anniversary of the United Nations. In the 50 years since the founding of the United Nations, particularly in recent years, the Security Council has played a useful role in mitigating regional conflicts and promoting a peaceful settlement of international disputes. Having summed up the history of this stage, we maintain that the purposes and principles of the UN Charter" have embodied the generally recognized principles of international law. Whenever these principles are observed. the Security Council is able to play its proper role, otherwise it will meet setbacks and failures. As an important means by which the Security Council can maintain international peace and security, UN peacekeeping operations have not only been on the rise in recent years. but their scale is also getting bigger, and the scope of their fu

nction and power has widened gradually. We maintain that in either preventive deployment, the dispatch of peacekeeping forces, or efforts for post-conflict peacemaking, the Security Council should strictly abide by the "UN Charter" and the norms of international relations, particularly the important principles of respect for state sovereignty, non-interference in the internal affairs of member states, the peaceful settlement of disputes, impartiality and seeking the prison consent and cooperation of the parties concerned. If not, it will not only be difficult to achieve anticipated positive results in peacekeeping operations, but it could also mean that peacekeeping operations could be faced with fruitless work and placed in a dilemma. Practice in recent years has shown that the United Nations' experience in countries such as Cambodia and Mozambique has proved successful, while its setbacks in Somalia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are also worth summing up.

We have always maintained it is necessary to encourage and urge conflicting parties to seek peaceful solutions, through negotiation and dialogue, to disputes among countries or to chaos caused by civil war, no matter how complicated the situation. This is the only correct and effective way that will lead to a comprehensive and durable settlement of problems. The practices of imposing sanctions, using military force, or even expanding a war in order to stop it will not help settle problem: on the contrary, they will complicate matters and add to the difficulties in reaching eventual settlement.

It should also he pointed out that the causes of current regional conflicts around the world are complicated, and it is impractical as well as impossible for the United Nations and the Security Council to try to solve all problems. We should, therefore, carefully consider the capacity of the United Nations and its member states in terms of manpower, material resources and financial resources, and do only what we are capable of.

Mr President:

We are in favour of appropriate and rational reform of the Security Council to enable it to better meet the needs of development both inside and outside the United Nations. We maintain that, except for nlarging membership of the Security Council and enhancing the transparency of its work, communications and coordination between the Security Council and the UN General Assembly as well as other agencies should also be strengthened, so that the decisions of the Security Council will better reflect the collective interests and common aspiration of all UN member states. Only in this way can the Security Council's resolutions and decisions win extensive support from the broad masses of its member states and become even more authoritative.

Mr President.

As a permanent members of the Security Council, China will support the Security Council's efforts to maintain international peace and security under the authorization of the "Charter" . There is an old saying in China: "Gain new insights through the restudy of old material." On the 50th founding anniversary of the United Nations, we hope that the Security Council will better exercise the sublime duty bestowed on it by the "Charter" as we pass into the next century by reviewing history and summing up experience. This is an important test for th security Council and the keen expectation of the international community. China is willing, together with other member states, to make its share of the effort towards

this end.

Thank you, Mr President