Chinese envoy urges parties in Ukraine crisis to prevent weapons proliferation

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Friday called on parties in the Ukraine crisis to prevent the proliferation of weapons.

"We call on all relevant parties to the Ukraine crisis to take a responsible attitude, pay heightened attention to, and make every effort to prevent the risk of proliferation of weapons and ammunition," Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, told the Security Council briefing on Ukraine.

With the Ukrainian crisis dragging on, the situation on the ground is still tense and the spillover effect continues to spread, he said.

"A large number of weapons and ammunition continue to flow into the battlefield with expanding variety and scope of weapons, and these weapons are becoming more lethal as well," he added.

The envoy noted that this has exacerbated the cruelty, danger, and unpredictability of ground warfare, leaving the hope for ceasefire and end of war even more remote.

Geng said that special efforts must be made to prevent them "from falling into the hands of terrorists and non-state actors, and prevent new unrest in a wider geographical area, which would spur more displacements and deprive more innocent lives."

"In its briefings to the Security Council, the Secretariat repeatedly mentioned that the flood of weapon and ammunition into conflict areas may lead to risk of proliferation, and that strict control measures should be adopted," he said.

"Like many countries looking forward to peace, China has repeatedly stressed that dialogue and negotiation is the fundamental way to stop the fighting and restore peace," said the envoy.

"China will continue to stand on the side of peace and on the side of dialogue, strengthen dialogue and exchanges with all parties, build international synergy to promote peace and dialogue, and play a positive and constructive role in promoting a political settlement of the Ukraine issue," he said.

"The world we live in is witnessing intertwined changes and chaos with a lot of turbulence and unrest," said Geng. "From Asia to Africa, from Ukraine to the Middle East, we are increasingly seeing more conflicts and flames of war."

"The deep-seated reasons behind this are worth our serious reflection. We call on the international community to adhere to the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, advocate peaceful coexistence dialogue and negotiation, and take effective measures to promote dialogue and reconciliation, so as to fundamentally defuse conflicts and problems and make efforts to establishing a world with lasting peace and common security."