Mr. Chair,

Since Australia, the US and the UK announced their AUKUS cooperation two and a half years ago, this has been the twelfth consecutive time that the IAEA Board and General Conference review the AUKUS issue. 

Over the past year, with the active participation of Member States, the discussions in the Agency on the AUKUS issue have been  deepening. More and more Member States participated in the discussions, exchanged views and expressed different positions and concerns on the nature of AUKUS cooperation and its far-reaching impact, the traditional and historical practice in development and improvement of the Agency’s comprehensive safeguards system, the question of applying Article 14, the role of the Secretariat, and many other issues. This fully reflects the concern of wider Member States on the AUKUS issue and further highlighted the huge controversy caused by AUKUS within the NPT review process and the Agency.

Mr. Chair, colleagues,

To selectively ignore the complexity and sensitivity of the AUKUS is just like to cover one’s ears and try to steal the bell. In essence, the AUKUS is a strategic military cooperation involving transfer of nuclear submarines with tons of weapon-grade HEU. Such cooperation is carried out between two Nuclear Weapon States and their non-Nuclear Weapon State military ally, driven by Cold War mentality and geopolitical agenda. I believe the rights and wrongs of such cooperation is crystal clear to all Member States, and history will eventually draw a fair conclusion. On IAEA platform, China has always been outspoken in stating its position. At the same time, with a highly responsible attitude towards the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and the comprehensive safeguards system of IAEA, China has actively advocated and promoted intergovernmental discussions with the wide participation of Member States. 

AUKUS involves complex non-proliferation, legal and technical issues, which concerns the effectiveness and authority of the IAEA safeguards system. It is a major issue that must be taken seriously, considered deeply and handled properly by all IAEA Member States, including AUKUS partners. Given the fact that member states are far from reaching a consensus, whether and how Article 14 can be applied to AUKUS shall not be interpreted and decided by the AUKUS partners and the Secretariat on their own.

One important achievement of last year’s intergovernmental discussions was that Member States deeply recognized the importance of the tradition on the evolution and development of the IAEA safeguards system. Over the past decades, each and every important improvement and development of the IAEA safeguards system has been achieved through consensus-based and Member-State-driven processes, with broad participation of Member States. This is an important tradition as well as an important prerequisite for ensuring the authority of the comprehensive safeguards system and continuously enhancing its universality. 

The important tradition of inclusiveness and consensus ensures that the IAEA safeguards system keeps pace with the time, on the basis of general acceptance and support of Member States. Upholding this tradition is in the common interests of all Member States, including the AUKUS partners. Once this tradition is undermined, we are facing the risk of losing authorities and effectiveness of many aspects of the IAEA safeguards system. If few countries attempt to politicize the AUKUS issue, force Member States to take sides, impose their selfish interests upon other countries, and ultimately divide IAEA Member States on outstanding issues about the development and improvement of the IAEA comprehensive safeguard mechanism, they will inevitably cause irreversible and serious consequences, and they have to bear the corresponding historical responsibility.

Mr. Chair, colleagues,

True multilateralism is the right approach to deal with AUKUS issue. With China's active advocacy and the serious participation of Member States, discussion among Member States on issues related to AUKUS has already been institutionalized, which is inevitable so as to go deeper into the discussion and properly handle the AUKUS issue. The Chinese delegation will continue to actively promote the intergovernmental discussion process in a responsible and professional manner. We look forward to Member States continuing in-depth communications on the AUKUS issue based on last year’s discussions. We also expect the IAEA Secretariat to fully respect different views and concerns of Member States and engage itself in the discussion among Member States.

In short, the Agency should uphold the principles of openness, transparency, and mutual respect, honour its historical responsibility, promote an open, inclusive, transparent, and sustainable intergovernmental discussion process in a solid manner, and properly respond to new practices and new challenges in the field of safeguards brought about by AUKUS. We once again urge Australia, the US and the UK to respond to the concerns of the international community with concrete action, and maintain candid and transparent communication with other Member States on the basis of equality and mutual respect. I, together with my team, am willing to continue communication and cooperation with other Member States, including the AUKUS partners, in a responsible and professional manner.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.