(Translation)
Statement
by Vice Foreign Minister H.E. ZHANG Yesui
of the People's
Republic of
at High-level
Political Conference for the Purpose of Signing
the United
Nations Convention Against Corruption
Mr.
President,
First of all,
on behalf of the Chinese delegation, I wish to congratulate you on your
election as the President of this Conference. I am confident that under your
able steering, this Conference will be a complete success. I also wish to take
this opportunity to express our thanks to the Mexican Government for what it
has done to make this Conference possible and its thoughtful arrangements for
all the delegations.
Mr.
President,
The Chinese
Government is delighted to note that thanks to the efforts by all countries in
the past two years or so, the UN Convention Against
Corruption has been successfully drafted by the Ad Hoc Committee and adopted by
the UN General Assembly and is now open for signature at this Conference. This
is a milestone in international cooperation against transnational offences of
corruption. The Chinese delegation wishes to extend our warm congratulations on
the Convention's coming into being and the convocation of this Conference.
Corruption is
an ulcer in the economic and political life of human society. It threatens
national stability, undermines social justice and severely endangers social
tranquility and sustainable development. State resources are eroded and economic
development is disrupted when and where the flight of proceeds of corruption
occurs. Corruption has become a cross-boundary
problem affecting the political, economic and social life of every country
in the world. It can only be effectively
contained and punished through adequate and comprehensive international cooperation.
It is out of
such consideration that the Chinese Government has been supportive of
formulating this important international legal instrument against corruption,
the UN Convention Against Corruption, and has
participated in the whole process of negotiations in a sincere, cooperative and
realistic spirit, thus positively contributing to the formation of the
Convention.
The Chinese Government has always attached
importance to fighting corruption. In accordance with the policy of addressing
both symptoms and root causes with a coordinated approach and under the principles
of democracy, openness, fairness and justice, we have taken legislative, judicial
and law enforcement measures to prevent and combat corruption and have achieved
marked results. On the legislative front,
China is now developing and improving an anti-corruption legal system that
attaches equal weight to education, supervision and institution-building.
On the judicial front, the Chinese judicial authorities are intensifying efforts
to tackle corruption cases as such cases are investigated,
Mr.
President,
The UN Convention
Against Corruption is the first global legal instrument
against corruption. It provides universally accepted norms for tackling transnational
corruption, establishes the principle of returning the transferred proceeds
of corruption to the original State Party,
First, States
Parties to the Convention must show their political will for sincere
cooperation on the basis of mutual respect for sovereignty, equality and mutual
benefit;
Second, States
Parties must conduct effective international cooperation in legal assistance,
extradition, recovery and return of the proceeds of corruption;
Third, States
Parties must exchange and share experience, information and data on preventing
acts of corruption, tracing and detecting transfers of proceeds of corruption;
and
Fourth, more
efforts must be taken to help developing countries build their capacities of
preventing and fighting corruption. Special attention must be paid to providing
technical and financial assistance to developing countries and countries with
economies in transition.
We are glad to
see that on the sidelines of the Conference, four roundtable meetings will be
held to discuss issues such as preventive measures, social participation,
country legislative measures to implement the Convention and measures to fight
corruption in international financial systems. We
hope that this Conference will facilitate the early entry into force and
earnest implementation of the Convention.
Mr.
President,
By having delegates from different
countries gathered here in
Today, as the UN Convention Against Corruption is open for signature, I will sign the
Convention on behalf of the Chinese Government. I
wish to reaffirm the strong resolve of the Chinese Government to fight
corruption and our commitment to step up international anti-corruption
cooperation. We are ready to work with
the rest of the international community to create a sound environment in favor
of the economic and social development of China and all the other countries and
contribute to the advancement of human civilization.
Thank
you.