Key developments since May 2003: China, together with the China Arms
Control and Disarmament Association and the Australian Network of ICBL, hosted
the “Humanitarian Mine/UXO Clearance Technology and Cooperation
Workshop” at Kunming on 26-28 April 2004. China joined the donors’
Mine Action Support Group. In November 2003, an official stated that China has
thus far destroyed over 400,000 old mines that did not meet the technical
requirements of CCW Amended Protocol II. China has reiterated its support for
“the ultimate goal of a total ban on antipersonnel mines.” In
December 2003, the International Committee of the Red Cross, in cooperation with
the Red Cross Society of China, established a prosthetic center in Kunming.
Key developments since 1999: China announced completion of clearance
of its border with Vietnam in September 1999, but resumed clearance in Yunnan
and Guangxi provinces following the signing of a new border agreement with
Vietnam. China is modifying or destroying antipersonnel mines that do not meet
CCW Amended Protocol II requirements. China reported that since 1997, it has
ceased the production of non-detectable antipersonnel mines and those without
self-destruct mechanisms. China has reported providing more than $6 million in
international mine action assistance from 2001-2003. China has been
increasingly active in international mine action and in Mine Ban Treaty-related
activities. Landmine Monitor has identified 4,207 mine survivors in Yunnan
province and Guangxi province.
Mine Ban Policy
The
People’s Republic of China has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. China
was one of the few governments that did not participate in any of the Ottawa
Process diplomatic conferences. China has abstained from voting on every
pro-mine ban UN General Assembly resolution since 1996, including Resolution
58/53 in December 2003. China continues to insist on a military requirement for
antipersonnel mines.
However, China has recently shown greater interest in entering into a
dialogue with States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty. At the Fifth Meeting of
States Parties in September 2003, a senior Chinese government official stated,
“The Chinese government attaches great importance to humanitarian issues
and supports the efforts by the international community in addressing the
humanitarian problems caused by landmines... There is no denying that banning
antipersonnel mines (APLs) can be the ultimate way to prevent them from injuring
civilians and address the humanitarian concerns arising thereof. To those
states that have chosen to do so, we express our respect and
appreciation.”[1] In
November 2003, an official stated, “Although China is not a party to the
Ottawa Convention, we endorse its objective and share its ultimate goal of
banning APLs... In September this year, China sent an observer delegation to
the Fifth Meeting of the States Parties to the Ottawa Convention held in
Bangkok, Thailand, thus enhancing the contact and understanding between China
and the State Parties to the Ottawa Convention. The non-membership to the
Ottawa Convention has not hindered China’s efforts to enhance exchanges
and cooperation with the State Parties to the Ottawa Convention to alleviate
harm done to civilians by
APLs.”[2] These words
were echoed by another Chinese official addressing the UN Security Council:
“Although China has yet to accede to the Ottawa Convention, we identify
ourselves with the purposes of the Convention and support the ultimate goal of a
total ban on antipersonnel
mines.”[3]
In addition to the Fifth Meeting of States Parties, China also attended the
first meeting in May 1999 and the second meeting in September 2000. China has
also participated in most of the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings since
May 2000, but did not attend in February 2004. At the June 2004 intersessional
meetings, China made a presentation on its Workshop on Humanitarian Mine/UXO
Clearance Technology and Cooperation held in Kunming City in April 2004. (See
below for details). The workshop was co-sponsored by the Australian Network of
the ICBL. During the opening ceremony, all speakers recognized the need to
address the continuing humanitarian crisis caused by landmines and unexploded
ordnance.[4] The event received
national media coverage.
From 26-28 March 2003, China participated in a regional mine action seminar
held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It also attended the Defense Forum in Tokyo from
28-30 January 2003, in which high-level military personnel discussed the
antipersonnel mine ban in the Asia-Pacific region.
China is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). On 4
November 1998, China ratified CCW Amended Protocol II and indicated it would
exercise the optional nine-year deferral period for compliance with key
restrictions.[5] It actively
participated in the CCW Group of Governmental Experts meetings in 2003 and 2004.
China submitted its national annual report as required under Article 13 of
Amended Protocol II in November 2003.
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, and Use
China has been one of the world's largest
producers of antipersonnel mines. China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO)
and Chinese State Arsenals have produced at least 22 types of antipersonnel
mines, including six copies of Soviet
designs.[6]
China reported that since 1997, it has ceased the production of antipersonnel
mines without self-destruct mechanisms and that all the new antipersonnel mines
under research, development and manufacture have self-deactivation and detection
capacities in compliance with the requirements of the CCW Amended Protocol
II.[7]
In September 2003, Fu Cong, China’s senior delegate attending the Fifth
Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, was asked by a reporter about
ongoing production of antipersonnel mines. He responded, “As far as I
know we are not. Because we have a large stockpile and we are not preparing for
war. We are not laying any mines along our borders and I do not see the need
for producing
anymore.”[8]
In December 2002 China announced that it had accelerated the transformation
and destruction of old antipersonnel mines that are not compliant with Amended
Protocol II requirements for detectability or self-destruct
mechanisms.[9] It is believed
that China is modifying most of its non-detectable mines—which may have
numbered 100 million—by adding metal, rather than destroying them. In
November 2003, a Chinese official stated, “China has continued to destroy
old mines that are not in conformation with the technical requirements of the
Protocol. So far over 400,000 old mines have been
destroyed.”[10] In late
1999 China reported that it had destroyed over 1.7 million old antipersonnel
mines.[11]
China also reported in November 2003 that the Chinese national army organized
more than ten training courses on safe and appropriate stockpile destruction
technology for military personnel who are engaged in stockpile destruction in
each military district.[12] The
training is based upon the results of a survey conducted by the national army of
all the antipersonnel mine
stockpiles.[13]
China was one of the world’s biggest exporters of antipersonnel mines.
The Type 72 may be the most frequently encountered mine in the world. Since
1996 China has adhered to a moratorium on the export of antipersonnel mines that
do not conform to Amended Protocol
II.[14] Landmine Monitor is not
aware of any antipersonnel mines of any type being exported from China since
that time. Numerous Mine Ban Treaty States Parties, including Albania, Algeria,
Bangladesh, Cambodia, Djibouti, Gabon, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, and Zambia
have declared nearly 1.4 million antipersonnel mines of Chinese origin in their
stockpiles in Article 7 transparency reports. Gabon reported acquiring its
Chinese mines in 1994-1995.[15]
Chinese mines have been found in the ground in at least 18 other countries,
too.[16]
Chinese officials have never responded to Landmine Monitor requests for
clarification on the number of stockpiled antipersonnel mines. Based on
interviews with non-Chinese government officials involved in Protocol II
discussions in 1995 and 1996, Landmine Monitor has estimated the Chinese
antipersonnel mine stockpile at 110 million, including perhaps 100 million Type
72 mines.
Landmine Monitor is not aware of any new mine-laying by China in recent
years. China states that it “adheres to a national defense policy of
‘active defense,’ which rules out the possibility of deployment of
landmines abroad.”[17]
Landmine Problem and Mine Clearance
China has used antipersonnel mines along its
borders with Russia, India, and Vietnam, planting an estimated ten million mines
along these borders over the
years.[18]
After major clearance operations from 1992-1999, China reported that the mine
threat on the Chinese side of the border with Vietnam “has been basically
removed.”[19] In 2002,
however, China started new mine clearance activities along its border with
Vietnam in Guangxi and Yunnan provinces. This was part of a bilateral border
agreement with Vietnam, in which the two countries agreed to complete technical
surveys of mined areas by
2005.[20]
The Chinese military deployed five border survey and clearance teams with 20
to 50 members each (150 persons total) in Guangxi province, and five teams with
60 members each in Yunnan province. From October 2002 to April 2003, the
Guangxi teams opened five border inspection roads, with a total length of 4,309
meters, and cleared an area of 20,874 square meters. In October and November
2002, the Yunnan teams opened three border inspection roads, with a total length
of 4,350 meters, and cleared an area of 8,070 square meters, destroying 97 mines
and UXO. The clearance teams used a combination of blast demining and manual
clearance techniques.[21]
China has indicated that it uses four demining techniques, including
destruction by burning (applicable in areas with dense vegetation); blast
demining (for speeding up operations and reducing casualties); mechanical
operation; and manual detection and
clearance.[22]
In Yunnan province, the minefields that exist in an area of 54 million square
meters are apparently marked with warning
signs.[23] The danger to
civilians from mines laid along China's borders with India and Russia are
reported to be minimal.[24]
Mine Action Assistance
China hosted the Workshop on
Humanitarian Mine/UXO Clearance Technology and Cooperation in Kunming on
26–28 April 2004. The workshop was co-sponsored by the Department of Arms
Control and Disarmament of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, the China
Arms Control and Disarmament Association (CACDA), and the Australian Network of
the ICBL. Participants included representatives from eight mine-affected
countries (Afghanistan, Cambodia, Eritrea, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan,
Thailand and Vietnam); five donor countries (Australia, Canada, France,
Switzerland, and the United States) and eight international and NGOs
organizations (CACDA, Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining,
Handicap International, ICBL, the Mines Advisory Group, UNICEF, UN Development
Program, and UN Mine Action Service). The workshop had a focus on sharing
experiences and cooperation in mine action
technologies.[25]
In 2003, China joined the Mine Action Support Group of donors which meet
regularly in New York.[26] At
the UN Security Council Meeting on the Importance of Mine Action in Peacekeeping
Operations held on 13 November 2003, China said that it had consistently
supported countries in addressing the social and economic problems of landmines,
including by providing financial contributions to the United Nations Voluntary
Trust Fund, hosting seminars on demining techniques, and providing training
experts.[27] An official told
Landmine Monitor that the selection of recipient countries was made according to
requests as well as friendly
relations.[28]
In 1998, China donated US$100,000 to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for
clearance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1999 and 2000 it sponsored two demining
training courses for personnel from Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia,
Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia and Rwanda. In 2001 China donated mine detection
and clearance equipment worth US$1.26 million to Angola, Cambodia, Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia and
Rwanda.[29] In 2002, China
donated US$3 million in demining equipment to Eritrea and
Lebanon.[30] In April 2004,
China reported that it provided $5 million in 2002 and 2003 for worldwide mine
clearance activities.[31] This
would indicate some $2 million in assistance in 2003.
In 2002 and 2003, China sent two groups of demining experts to Eritrea who
trained a total of 120 Eritrean deminers. During the program, Eritrean trainees
cleared 186,000 square meters of minefields, opened 1,300 meters of roads,
removed 822 mines, 175 pieces of unexploded ordnance and 1,442 bullets or
metallic fragments.[32]
At the Kunming Workshop, China stated, “At present, international
demining cooperation is mainly carried out bilaterally. To improve the quality
of cooperation and assistance, we should explore new patterns of cooperation.
For example, multiple parties could participate in the same cooperation program,
giving full play to their respective advantages in terms of human and financial
resources, equipment, technology and management,
etc.”[33]
Landmine Casualties
In 2003, at least two people were injured in mine
incidents in Yunnan province; two men, both farmers, lost limbs after stepping
on landmines in separate incidents in May and
December.[34] Mine casualties
are also known to have occurred in 2002, but Landmine Monitor does not have
specific details.[35] Landmine
Monitor identified one casualty in 2000; a 16-year-old boy lost his leg after
stepping on a landmine.[36]
Data on landmine casualties is generally not publicly available. Chinese
authorities maintain that no new mine casualties have occurred since China
finished major mine clearance operations in
1999.[37]
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimates that over 6,000
civilians have lost limbs in mine incidents in
China.[38] Landmine Monitor has
identified 5,310 mine casualties in the Wenshan prefecture of the Yunnan
province, including 3,811 survivors. In Guangxi province, 359 mine survivors
were identified. Another 37 mine survivors were identified in Jinping, Luchun,
and Hekou
Yao.[39]
Survivor Assistance
A field survey by Landmine Monitor in some
mine-affected areas of Guangxi and Yunnan provinces in 2001 showed that adequate
assistance is not often available as the mine-affected areas are usually a long
way from medical and rehabilitation facilities. Emergency first aid services
are virtually non-existent in rural
areas.[40]
In February 2003, Landmine Monitor conducted another field survey of
rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities in Yunnan Province and
identified the main service providers. The China Disabled Person’s
Federation (CDPF)runs six rehabilitation centers for all types of
disability in Kunming, and has 103 rehabilitation stations in urban areas and
131 in rural areas; some rehabilitation services are also provided by private
centers.[41] The government,
CDPF, and private organizations run prosthetic workshops. The Ministry of Civil
Affairs runs one workshop in Kunming and a temporary workshop in Wenshan. CDPF
established eight workshops in Chuxiong, Dali, Honghe, Kunming, Wenshan, Yuxi,
and Zhaotong, and plans to establish two in Simao and Linlun, with funding from
the Hong Kong-based Li Jia Cheng Fund. Ten Lin, a Taiwanese corporation,
established a workshop in Kunming. Project Grace, a US-registered NGO, has a
workshop in Kunming and provides free prostheses for poverty-stricken persons
with disabilities.[42]
In Wenshan County, landmine survivors receive support from the Post-War
Recovery Foundation, the CDPF, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The Post-War
Recovery Foundation provides assistance to the survivors of the Sino-Vietnamese
War, including financial support for prostheses, road maintenance in their
communities, distribution of educational books, and financial aid for pig
breeding, poultry farming, and tree planting. CDPF provides prostheses at a
discount price, and food and accommodation during treatment. The Ministry of
Civil Affairs of Yunnan and Shanghai Provinces provides financial aid for
prostheses through the
CDPF.[43]
In December 2003, the ICRC, in cooperation with the Red Cross Society of
China, established a prosthetic center in Kunming. In a five-year cooperation
agreement, the ICRC equipped the center and will train local staff, while the
government covers the running costs of the rehabilitation program. The ICRC
sponsored four students to undertake a three-year course in prosthetics and
orthotics at the Chinese School of Prosthetics and Orthotics (CHICOT) in
Beijing.[44]
The CDPF has established vocational training units in each county, but
opportunities for training are limited in Guangxi and Yunnan due to budget
restraints.[45] The Yunnan
Huaxia Secondary Technical School for young people with disabilities in Kunming
is the only school of its type in Yunnan province. Established in 1991, it was
the first secondary school for disabled youth in China. The school accommodates
about 300 students. The school has assisted five young mine survivors, but none
since 1996.[46]
Disability Policy and Practice
The “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the protection of
disabled persons” was enacted in December 1990 and protects the rights of
equality and participation of persons with
disabilities.[47]
China’s December 2000 CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 report
included for the first time a section on Rehabilitation and Relief of Civilians
Accidentally Injured by
Landmines.[48]
The policy of the Chinese government towards persons with disabilities is
established in the tenth Five-Year Plan (2001–2005). Priorities include
improvement of the quality of life of persons with disabilities, rehabilitation,
formal education, employment, and construction of regional facilities. In
Yunnan Province, very few of the targets established in the Plan have been
achieved.[49] Rehabilitation
services are available to persons with disabilities provided they can pay for
the services. This is often beyond their means, as many live in poverty in
rural areas and are dependent on their
families.[50]
[1] Statement by Fu Cong, Deputy
Director-General of Arms Control and Disarmament Department, at the Fifth
Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Bangkok, 19 September
2003. [2] Statement by Amb. Hu Xiaodi
at the Fifth Annual Conference of States Parties to CCW Amended Protocol II,
Geneva, 26 November 2003. [3] Zhang
Yishan, quoted in UN Security Council, S/PV.4858, 4858th meeting, “Agenda:
The importance of mine action for peacekeeping operations,” New York, 13
November 2003. [4]
“Chair’s Summary,” Kunming, 27 April 2004. Statements were
made by Tondrub Wangbum, Assistant Governor of Yunnan Province; Amb. Li Daoyu,
President of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association; Liu Jieyi,
Director General of the Department of Arms Control and Disarmament of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and David Johnson of the Australian Network of
ICBL. [5] The deadline for China to
come into compliance with the Amended Protocol’s technical specifications
on the detectability and reliability of antipersonnel mines is 3 December
2007. [6] For additional details see
Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp.
457-458. [7] CCW Amended Protocol II
Article 13 Report, 10 December 2001, p. 5. Reaffirmed in Article 13 Report,
November 2003, p. 5. [8] Darren
Schuettler, “Interview--China says not ashamed of mine stockpile,”
Reuters (Bangkok), Thailand, 17 September 2003.
[9] Statement by Amb. Sha Zukang at
the Fourth Annual Conference of States Parties to CCW Amended Protocol II,
Geneva, 11 December 2002, p. 3. [10]
Statement by Amb. Hu Xiaodi, Fifth Annual Conference of CCW States Parties, 26
November 2003; CCW Article 13 Report, November
2003. [11] CCW Article 13 Report,
October 1999. [12] CCW Article 13
Report, November 2003, p. 5. [13]
Ibid. [14] CCW Article 13 Report, Form
C, November 2003. [15] Gabon Article 7
Report, Form B, 25 September
2002. [16] Jane’s Mines and Mine
Clearance 2000-2001 lists mines of Chinese manufacture being found in the ground
in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kuwait, Laos,
Lebanon, Mozambique, Myanmar, Peru, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, and
Vietnam. [17] Statement by Fu Cong,
Fifth Meeting of States Parties, 19 September
2003. [18] US Department of State,
“Hidden Killers 1994,” p. 18, and “Hidden Killers 1998,”
Table A-1. [19] Ministry of National
Defense, “Postwar Demining Operations in China,” December 1999, p.
11. Before the clearance operations, there were more than 560 minefields
covering an area of over 300 square
kilometers. [20] CCW Article 13
Report, December 2002, p. 5. [21] CCW
Article 13 Report, November 2003, p.
4. [22] CCW Article 13 Report,
December 2001; Presentation by Col. Guo Shoumin, Ministry of National Defense,
Kunming Workshop, 26 April 2004. Mine action experts pointed out that burning
and blast demining are usually used for military breaching and not applicable to
humanitarian demining. Interviews with mine action experts at Kunming Workshop,
China, 25-26 April 2004. [23]
Interview with Miao Yuyong, Secretary, Post-War Recovery Foundation, Wenshan, 26
February 2003. [24] US Department of
State, “Hidden Killers 1994,” p.
18. [25] “Chair’s
Summary,” Kunming, 27 April 2004.
[26] Statement by Amb. Hu Xiaodi,
Fifth Annual Conference of CCW States Parties, 26 November 2003, p. 2. Nearly
all major donors are part of the MASG, which meets on a regular basis in New
York to promote sustained, better coordinated, and more effective global mine
action funding. [27] UN Security
Council Press Release, “Action Against Mines Dynamic Component of
Peacekeeping Operations,” SC/7918, 13 November 2003.
[28] Comment by Fu Cong, Deputy
Director-General of Arms Control and Disarmament Department at the Kunming
Workshop, China, 26 April 2004. [29]
Statement by Fu Cong, Fifth Meeting of the States Parties, 19 September
2003. [30] CCW Article 13 Report, 10
December 2002, p. 7. [31] Presentation
on China’s International Demining Cooperation, by Mr. Long Zhou, Director
of Arms Control and Disarmament Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at
Kunming Workshop, China, 26 April 2004; “China actively participates in
worldwide mine clearance,” Xinhua (Kunming), 27 April
2004. [32] Presentation on
China’s Demining Assistance To Eritrea, by Col. Li Zhilun, Ministry of
Defense, Kunming Workshop, China, 26 April 2004. In 2003, China sent 18
demining experts to Eritrea from March to June; 60 deminers were trained who
cleared 103,000 square meters of land, removing 587 mines and UXO. Statement by
Amb. Hu Xiaodi, Fifth Annual Conference of CCW States Parties, 26 November 2003,
p. 3. [33] Statement on China’s
international demining assistance program and perspectives on international
demining cooperation by Long Zhou, Director, Department of Arms Control and
Disarmament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kunming Workshop, China, 27 April
2004. [34] ICRC, “ICRC and
Chinese Red Cross: joint centre fits limbs for mine victims,” 19 March
2004. [35] Interview with an official,
Yunnan province, February 2003. [36]
Interview with village leader and with mine survivor, Ba Li He village, Malipro,
Yunnan, 12 February 2001. The Yunnan Disabled Person’s Federation also
states that the last known casualty was in Yunnan province in 2000, but it is
not clear if this was the same incident. Interview with Shi Ya Ping, Director,
Rehabilitation Department, Yunnan Disabled Person’s Federation, Kunming,
29 April 2004. [37] Interviews with Li
Jonze, Deputy Director General, Development and Reform Commission of Yunnan
province, and Fu Cong, Deputy Director-General of Arms Control and Disarmament,
at the Kunming Workshop, 27 April
2004. [38] ICRC, “ICRC and
Chinese Red Cross: joint centre fits limbs for mine victims,” 19 March
2004. [39] See Landmine Monitor Report
2001, pp. 530-531, and Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p.
639. [40] See Landmine Monitor Report
2001, pp. 531-533. [41] Interview with
Shi Yanping, Director of Rehabilitation, CDPF of Yunnan Province, Kunming, 24
February 2003. [42] Interview with
Zhang Yu Sheng, Manager, Ten Lin, Kunming, 24 February 2003 and Wu Cheng Ching,
Workshop Manager, Project Grace, Kunming, 25 February
2003. [43] Interview with Ma Ying
Ming, President, CDPF, Wenshan, 27 February
2003. [44] ICRC Physical
Rehabilitation Program, “Annual Report 2003,” Geneva, 9 March 2004,
p. 12; ICRC, “ICRC and Chinese Red Cross: joint centre fits limbs for mine
victims,” 19 March 2004. [45]
See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p.
532. [46] Interview with Xu Xiao Hua,
Director, Yunnan Huaxia Secondary Technical School, Kunming, 29 April
2004. [47] For more details see
Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p.
487. [48] See Landmine Monitor Report
2001, p. 533. [49] Interview with Shi
Yanping, Director of Rehabilitation, CDPF Yunnan Province, Kunming, 24 February
2003. [50] Tong Jiyu and Shi Yaping,
Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) in Social Changes (Kunming: the
People’s Publication of Yunnan, 2001), pp. 15-18.
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