🇨🇳China · UNGA 81 speech

President, China will again exercise its right of reply. The Japanese representative's feeble arguments cannot conceal the historical truth, whitewash its present-day acts, or disguise the complete collapse of Japan's image as a so-called peace-loving nation. Decades ago, Japan joined the UN after recognizing its military's crimes and accepted the charter in its entirety. In recent years, Japan has made frequent moves in military and security sectors to break free from the constraints of post-war system, expand military capacities, and send dangerous signals. laying bare its true intention to depart from the path of peaceful development in pursuit of military expansion. That Japan's new militarism is gaining a concerning momentum. It is an indisputable fact. The suite of moves is well observed, well evidenced, and plain for all to see. It poses a real threat to regional peace and stability. The enemy state clauses are an indispensable part of the Charter. Given recent years negative moves of Japan, its historic and present significance is further highlighted, and they should not be altered or deleted. Japan must make a serious choice. Will it continue to disregard the lessons of history and allow the remnants of militarism to resurface, or will it face up to the history of aggression, honor commitment to peace, and earn the trust of international community through sincere reflection. Will it continue to distort facts, spread disinformation, and challenge the post-war international order, or will it honor its commitment to peace through concrete actions? To forget history is to betray the past. To deny culpability is to spell recidivism. China urges Japan to draw profound lessons from history and immediately stop its dangerous acts of remilitarization. China also calls upon the international community to distinguish right from wrong, remain vigilant, jointly uphold the outcome of victory in World War II, and safeguard world peace and stability. In response to the statement of the Philippines, China once again reiterates that the award in the South China Sea arbitration is illegal, null, and void. First, the China-Philippines dispute in South China Sea are in essence issues of territorial and maritime delimitation. Territorial issues are not regulated by the UNCLOS. While maritime delimitation has been excluded from compulsory procedures by a declaration made by China, The arbitral tribunal overstepped its jurisdiction, and its award is a result of the poisonous tree and has no validity whatsoever. Second, the convention has never denied historic rights. Many countries have historic rights and historic fishing practices. The award completely denies historic rights, fully demonstrating its illegality and invalidity. Third, the award misinterprets Article 122 of the Convention and illegally raised the bar for the island status recognition, deviating gravely from the Convention and the general state practice. It is extremely absurd and erroneous. The South China Sea arbitration is a natural example in international law of the sea, no matter how the Philippines portrays or whitewash it, the fact of it being illegal, null and void, ultra virus and reactionary in nature remains unchanged. We urge the Philippines to stop playing up the issue in the multilateral fora, return promptly to the right track of bilateral consultations, work with China to manage differences in the South China Sea, and work together to safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea. Thank you, President.