New York (US)

Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations, Fu Cong on Saturday said it was a great honour to assume the rotating Presidency of the Security Council for the month of May.

Fu said that one of the issues China has been considering was the future of the UN's peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reported.

"We do believe that we should revisit the decision, actually, to withdraw the UNIFIL," Fu said, referring to a resolution passed by the UN Security Council in August last year.

UN peacekeepers have been stationed in southern Lebanon since Israel's 1978 invasion, but last year, the council's 15 members voted to bring the mission to a close from the end of 2026, as per Al Jazeera.

"I think at least the view of the overwhelming majority of the Security Council is that this is not the time to really, to withdraw the UNIFIL out of that part of the country," Fu said.

China is waiting for a report from the UN Secretariat expected in June "before we take our position", he added, as per Al Jazeera.

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In a post on X, Fu said, "It is a great honor for China to assume the rotating Presidency of the Security Council for the month of May. We commend the work done by Bahrain as the President last month. Now that the baton is in our hand, we will continue to uphold fairness and transparency in the Council's work, and will discharge our duties with a strong sense of responsibility and a constructive approach, committed to promoting solidarity and cooperation of the Council, so that it will play a positive role in safeguarding international peace and security."

Created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after the 1978 invasion, UNIFIL saw its mandate expanded after the 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah and was responsible for a demilitarised buffer between the opposing sides, as per Al Jazeera.