Policy

The People’s Republic of China has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty.

In November 2020, China expressed support for the purpose and objectives of the treaty and stated that it appreciates the “the convention's humanitarian spirit, and recognizes its purpose and objective and acknowledges and attaches importance to its role.”[1] Previously, in December 2017, China stated that “since the Ottawa Treaty has taken effect, it has contributed greatly to the humanitarian issues caused by anti-personnel mines. China admires the humanitarianism demonstrated by the Convention, and agrees with the vision and goals of the convention.”[2] At the treaty’s Third Review Conference in June 2014, China stated that “given its national conditions and national defense needs China still could not accede to the convention at this stage,” repeating a similar statement it made at the Mine Ban Treaty Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in December 2013, and other previous meetings.[3]

China did not participate in the Ottawa Process that created the Mine Ban Treaty, but has attended all previous review conferences held in 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019, as well as most of the treaty’s Meetings of States Parties. China has also attended many intersessional meetings held in Geneva.

On 7 December 2020, China voted in favor of annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 75/52, calling for the universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.[4] China has voted in favor of the resolution every year since 2005.

China’s policy toward the Mine Ban Treaty and other humanitarian issues is reviewed by an interministerial committee, the China National Committee of International Humanitarian Law, which meets every two years and is chaired by the vice-premier, and includes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among others.[5]

China is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines.

In March 2020, China reported in its 2020 Article 13 report to the CCW Amended Protocol II that it had translated the Landmine Monitor report in 2019.[6]

Production, transfer, and use

In the past, China was one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of antipersonnel mines.[7] Since 1997, antipersonnel mine production in China has been limited to mines with self-destruct and self-deactivation mechanisms, which are compliant with CCW Amended Protocol II.[8] Chinese officials told the Monitor in 2008 that production facilities were either idle, permanently closed, or converted for the manufacturing of other products.[9] In 2012, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official informed the Monitor that there was no ongoing large-scale production of antipersonnel mines, but that a small number of new antipersonnel mines were produced for research purposes by the military.[10] In November 2016, a Ministry of National Defense official confirmed earlier statements that non-self-destructing mines were no longer manufactured. The official stated that some mines that were not self-destructing remained in China’s stockpile, but that these were being destroyed.[11]

In 1996, China announced a formal moratorium on the export of mines that do not comply with CCW Amended Protocol II. China is not known to have exported any type of antipersonnel mine during that time. Recently manufactured Chinese-made, remotely-delivered Type-84 antivehicle mines were used in Libya in 2011 and in Syria in April 2014.[12]

In June 2014, Chinese representatives informed the Monitor that no new antipersonnel mines had been used in the country in the past decade, and acknowledged that antipersonnel mines no longer played a prominent role in China’s defense doctrine.[13] Previously, in 2012, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official confirmed that no new minefields had been laid.[14] In 2011, a Chinese official noted that the country maintains a small number of minefields “for national defense.”[15]

Stockpiling and destruction

In June 2014, China informed the Monitor that it stockpiles five million antipersonnel mines—a huge reduction from the 110 million previously cited by the Monitor.[16] Chinese officials have often disputed that estimate, but it wasn’t until a meeting with the Monitor in June 2014 that Chinese representatives clarified, for the record, that the stockpile consisted of less than five million antipersonnel mines.[17] In a statement to the Third Review Conference, China said that it had destroyed “several hundred thousand old and dysfunctional” antipersonnel mines “over the last two decades,” and reported that “only a very limited number of [CCW] protocol compliant [antipersonnel mines] were kept for defense purpose [sic].”[18]

China has frequently reported on the destruction of antipersonnel mines since the late 1990s, but has never provided details on the types and quantities destroyed.[19] China reported in March 2017 that it had destroyed “old mines” during the previous year, but did not provide any details on how many or what type.[20] In November 2017, China stated that its military continues to destroy old antipersonnel mines.[21] In 2019, China reported that it had destroyed 600 antipersonnel landmines; however, it is unclear if these were from stockpiles or through clearance.[22]

Ongoing efforts to clear minefields in China’s southwest border provinces have been reported by media outlets.[23] These efforts have periodically resulted in injury to demining personnel.