UNITED NATIONS -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday called for greater efforts to end hostilities and create a secure environment for food production.
Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, made the remarks at a Security Council open debate on the council's role in mitigating global and local food crises.
"Raging conflicts displace people, destroy farmland and disrupt food production, and are an important driver of humanitarian crises and hunger," said Fu.
"The Security Council bears the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. It should make promoting political solutions to conflicts a priority, actively engage in mediation and good offices, encourage the parties to resolve their differences through dialogue, and work for an early and lasting ceasefire to create the basic conditions for restoring agricultural production," he said.
International humanitarian law is a fundamental baseline that must be respected, Fu said, stressing that hunger must never be used as a weapon of war.
