United Nations, December 19 (ZXS) -- Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, deposited China's instrument of ratification of China's accession to the Firearms Protocol with UN Secretary-General António Guterres on December 19.
Zhang Jun said that China attaches great importance to all aspects of the problems caused by the proliferation of guns, always adheres to the supremacy of the people and the supremacy of life, and resolutely opposes the illegal manufacture and trafficking of firearms. In recent years, China has continuously strengthened domestic firearms control, strictly fulfilled international obligations, actively participated in international cooperation, and became one of the safest countries in the world with the fewest violent gun-related crimes.
Zhang Jun stressed that the ratification of the Firearms Protocol is an important measure for China to implement the Global Security Initiative, practice multilateralism, and maintain international and regional peace and stability, which reflects China's support for the process of jointly controlling and combating transnational organized crime, and fully demonstrates China's responsibility as a major country to actively fulfill its international responsibilities and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Zhang Jun said that as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible member of the international community, China is willing to take the ratification of the Firearms Protocol as an opportunity to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation with all parties in the field of light and small, help developing countries strengthen capacity building, and jointly build a world of lasting peace and universal security.
The Firearms Protocol, one of the annexed protocols to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2001 and entered into force in 2005. After China's accession, there were 123 States parties to the treaty. China's Governor Wang Yi announced at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022 that China had initiated domestic legal procedures to accede to the treaty. The deposit of the instrument of ratification signifies that China has completed the relevant legal procedures. (ENDS).