The Issue of Western Sahara initiated in 1975. It came to rise from the antagonism between Moroccan government and "People's Front" of Western Sahara as to whether Western Sahara should be declared independence after Spain withdrew its troops from this area (266 thousand square kilometers). Morocco insisted that Western Sahara was part of Morocco while "People's Front" firmly demanded the independence of West Sahara. On April 29,1991, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution690, deciding that the ownership of Western Sahara should be determined through referendum by local people in early 1992. A delegation of specially appointed observers under United Nations would also be established and sent to Western Sahara to superintend the process of referendum. On Sept.5, 1991, the first batch of United Nations Military observers entered and was stationed in West Sahara. On Sept.6, Morocco and "People's Front" formally declared cease-fire. However, due to considerable divergences of the conflicting parties in the qualification of voters, the referendum was deferred time and again, and the term of the special delegation was also prolonged. In 1997, Moroccan government and "People's Front" held 4 rounds direct negotiations under the oversight of James Baker, former US Secretary of State and personal representative of United Nations General Secretary Kofi A Annan. The two parties came to a package agreement on restoring the principle of identifying voters' qualifications. In Dec.1997, the process of identifying voters' qualifications was resumed which marked that the peace process in Western Sahara restarted. By Sept.1998, 147 thousand voters' qualifications had been identified. But Morocco and "People's Front" still differed in the qualification of the voters from h41, h61, j51/52, three tribes along the border of Morocco, which therefore hampered the process of identifying voters' qualification in those area.

From Nov. to Dec.1998, United Nations General Secretary paid a visit to Mauritania, West Sahara, Morocco and the campsite of "People's Front" successively, putting forward a package program to speed up the resolution of the Western Sahara Issue. The contents of the program are: The voters of the three disputed tribes, altogether 65 thousand people, should be allowed to participate in the identification of voters' qualification in private capacity; those voters who had passed identification process should be allowed to start the appeal process; the refugee office under United Nations should begin repatriating those displaced; on Dec.1, the list of those voters who had passed the identification of their qualification would be made public; the identification process of voters' qualification would come to an end in April 1999 and the referendum for Western Sahara would be held in Dec.1999.All the parties concerned accepted Annan's program. On Feb.11, 1999, Morocco and the United Nations signed an agreement on the status of Moroccan troops that stationed in Western Sahara. Afterwards, the Security Council has held many discussions on the issue of Western Sahara and the term of the special delegation has also been deferred several times.

In June 2001, former U.S. State Secretary Baker, UN Secretary-General Annan's private representative, put forward draft. The main point of the draft agreement was that the final status of Western Sahara should be determined by a referendum by the residents of the region within five years of the implementation of the agreement, and that before then Western Sahara would enjoy a high degree of autonomy but Morocco would be responsible for its foreign affairs, defense and security. Morocco expressed welcome to the draft whereas the Polisario Front showed opposition. In February 2002, UN Secretary-General Annan went on to put forward four tentative ideas about the future solution to the Western Sahara issue: (1) Reactivation of the referendum plan; (2) Revision of for implementation by both sides; (3) Division of Western Sahara between Morocco and the Polisario Front; and (4) Withdrawal of the Western Sahara Special Mission and recognition of the fruitlessness of the UN efforts. All parties concerned are opposed to the fourth idea but they have shown no consensus on any of the other three. On July 30, 2002, the UN Security Council adopted the Resolution No. 1421, reiterating its support for the UN Secretary-General and Baker in their continued efforts to search for ways of a political solution to the Western Sahara issue on the prerequisite of taking into consideration the concerns of all parties, and extending the tenure of the Special Mission until January 31, 2003.

China has always paid close attention to the Western Sahara Issue, expecting that the issue could come to a just and equitable settlement in the frame of United Nations relevant resolutions. China appreciates and supports the positive efforts that United Nations and all parties concerned have taken to bring about a peaceful settlement of the issue. China expects all parties concerned to carry on positive and matter-of-fact attitude so as to ensure the on-time referendum through dialogue and cooperation. That will not only accelerate the solution of Western Sahara Issue, but also be conducive to the peace, stability and development of Western Sahara.