On November 3, Chinese representative Sun Ang, speaking...

On November 3, Chinese representative Sun Ang, speaking at the Third Committee of the General Assembly on item 116 a), question on human rights, said that in the area of human rights instruments, as in other areas of international affairs, the principle of sovereign equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations is the basic principle governing the relations between and among States. Based upon this principle, China respects the choice by some countries of abolition of the death penalty by adherence to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. Choices as such should also be respected in the light of the principle of sovereign equality.