Mr. Chairman,

China has taken note of the underwater collision of the USS Connecticut nuclear submarine in early October, and the spokespersons of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense have already stated China's position in this regard. Here, I would like to emphasize the following points.

First, the U.S. nuclear submarine collision occurred on October 2nd and it was not until  October 7th that the U.S. military issued a short and vague statement, and another one on November 1st, saying that the nuclear submarine hit an "unknown underwater mountain" in the "international waters of the Indo-Pacific region". But until today, it did not say exactly where the accident occurred and whether it caused a nuclear leak. This deliberate attempt of concealment and delay by the U.S. will easily lead to misunderstandings and miscalculations, and regional countries, including China, will have to question the truth of the accident and the intentions of the U.S.

Second, U.S. military officials have reportedly acknowledged that the accident occurred in the South China Sea and that the accident was nuclear-related and highly sensitive. As the party directly involved, the U.S. should be held accountable and provide detailed information on the cause and details of the accident, including the specific location, whether it caused a nuclear leak and polluted the marine ecosystem and whether it affected the safety of navigation in the area where it happened, and give a responsible account to the regional countries and the international community.

Thirdly, the root cause of the collision is that the U.S. has been intensifying its military deployment in the Asia-Pacific region and around China, frequently sending warships and aircraft to the region to flex its muscle, which is the inevitable result of the U.S. use of the "Indo-Pacific strategy" for military confrontation. The U.S. has also recently promoted the establishment of the AUKUS and started cooperation on nuclear-powered submarine with Australia, which not only creates nuclear proliferation risks in the region and undermines the establishment of a nuclear-free zone in Southeast Asia, but also may lead to a significant increase in the risk of nuclear accidents in the region. We cannot rule out more serious consequences than this U.S. nuclear submarine accident. In this regard, the U.S. should stop its militaristic and provocative acts of reckless violations in the South China Sea and eliminate the root cause of the problem.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.