Preamble

Miao Wei

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons（OPCW）designated April 29,2016, the first“OPCW Day”. This designation demonstrates the resolution of all States Parties to comprehensively prohibit and completely eliminate chemical weapons, reflecting the international consensus to work towards this goal. To celebrate the first OPCW Day, OPCW organized a conference on the“Chemical Safety and Security in a Technologically Evolving World”and leveraged various education approaches such as anniversary website and exhibitions to raise the awareness of the international society on the importance of eliminating chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and on the paramount role played by the Chemical Weapons Convention（CWC）and other multilateral arms control and disarmament regimes in safeguarding world peace, safety and stability.

As a result of the collective endeavor by the international society, remarkable results has been achieved on the implementation of the CWC. The number of States Parties has reached 192, representing 98% of world population and 99% of chemical industries worldwide;96% of stockpiled chemical weapons（CWs）have been destroyed; non-proliferation assistance and international cooperation have been increasingly enhanced;3,000 on-site inspections on protection and chemical industry facilities have been performed by OPCW to prevent the emerging of new chemical weapons and strengthen the mutual trust among States Parties.

In 2016, the completely destruction of Syrian chemical weapons became a successful attempt by the international community to defuse the crisis of a war through peaceful means. 5,220 industrial facilities were declared by 82 States Parties. 305 field inspections were conducted by OPCW throughout the year, of which 241 were on industrial facilities and 64 were on CW destruction facilities. To better respond to changing situation in international CWC implementation, OPCW set up a working group on future development to discuss future directions and priorities; the Advisory Board on Education and Outreach was established to raise public awareness and strike international consensus.

China has always supported the purposes and objectives of the Convention and fulfilled its own obligations strictly. 2016, it is successfully completed in annual declaration, inspections acception, destruction Chemical Weapons Abandoned by Janpan（JACW）, regulation on controlled chemicals campaigns and training, and international cooperation.

—— Fulfilled CWC obligations strictly and strengthened regulation on controlled chemicals. China has submitted annual 2 declarations to OPCW on time,1,347 facilities were declared,26% of global total. 38 various inspections by the Organization were accepted, of which 28 were for industrial facilities and 10 for JACW. Import & export control were strengthened by improving HS coding scheme; Special supervision and examination of controlled chemicals were conducted and a routine mechanism was established.

—— Continued to promote, assist and supervise the Japanese government in the JACW program. 2016, 6,384 items of JACW were safely destroyed and 2,500 items of were recovered; Mr. Fan Changlong, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, paid a visit to Harbaling- the site of-JACW excavation, recovery and destruction, where he examined safety management, conveyed greetings to Chinese staff, and stressed the urgency for Japanese side to input more resources to accelerate destruction progress so as to clear the environment as soon as possible for the Chinese people.

——Enhanced nationwide organization and coordination for CWC implementation as well as awareness raising programs. National implementation workshops were conducted to wrap up progress made, analyze current situation and propose work requirements; efforts were made to organize awareness raising activities for the OPCW Day to educate the public on implementation rules and policies, raise business awareness on controlled chemical compliance and demonstrate China's approaches as well as achievements; exercises were performed in Xinjiang regarding international inspection to empower local administrations and businesses with expertise in OPCW inspection; implementation trainings were organized for provincial administrations to be more capable in implementation and regulation.

—— Actively engaged in international implementation. China worked with OPCW in organizing a seminar on chemical trade and export control; two OPCW Designated Laboratories passed stringent proficiency test and were certified as“Designated Laboratory for Analysis of Biomedical Samples”; delegations were sent to participate meetings of the Scientific Advisory Board and the Advisory Board on Education and Outreach, international implementation conferences and multilateral consultations on implementation policy issues and played a constructive role.

“Working Together to Create a World that is Free of Chemical Weapons”is the objective of OPCW and a common aspiration of peace-lovers around the world. The deadline to complete the destruction stockpiled chemical weapons is set at the year 2023, suggesting that we are closer to such CW-free world. However, the constant CW strikes in Syria warned us again that the challenge to world peace is daunting and chemical weapons may possibly re-emerge. As a responsible developing country with a strong chemical industry, China is highly committed to its endeavor in preventing the use of chemical weapons and facilitating achievements in chemistry for the benefit of human beings. China will adhere to the track of peaceful development, remember its original aspirations and bear in mind its mission to be an enabler of world peace, contributor to global development and guard of international order. It will make the best possible efforts in implementation obligations under new situations to move forward on its new Long March toward greater historic achievements.