Ban Ki-moon

UN Secretary General visited China from July 6-10, his 10th trip to the country since assuming office on January 1, 2007. Known for his unwavering determination to bring nations together, Ban has always taken a hands-on approach to the thorniest issues. His tenure ends this year after leading the UN for a decade.

During the Beijing leg of Ban’s five-day visit, President and reporter sat down with the secretary general to talk about his experience and his vision for the world. An edited excerpt of the interview follows:

Beijing Review: We interviewed you nine years ago, when you first took up the post of UN secretary general. And this is your last year in office. How have you felt heading the UN? Is it hard to satisfy everyone? Ban Ki-moon: One of my predecessors, Trygve [Lie], once said it is the most impossible job on Earth. During the last one decade, the situation has dramatically changed. There were so many crises, like the international financial crisis. There is [also] a lot of terrorism and extremism spreading like cancer.

At the same time, world leaders have shown great leadership and commitment for a better world, for tomorrow, for all the people around the world. That was why last year they adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with 17 goals, and the Paris Climate Change Agreement in December.

In these two visions, President Xi Jinping and his government have made great contributions, assuming leadership and a championing role. I think the world is going toward the right direction. But even so, we still live in a world of perils and challenges.

I have devoted my entire time and energy to delivering what has been mandated to me by the people. But unfortunately, I may not be able to finish everything. But I feel proud that good frameworks have been established for these two visions to be implemented.

The Paris Climate Change Conference has been fruitful. What role does the UN play in promoting awareness of climate change? It must have been an arduous process to bring all countries together and put them on the same page.

Since 2007, from day one, I put climate change at the top of the global agenda. At that time, the negotiation had not been making any progress. It was very difficult. Most world leaders didn’t know what climate change was.

To make the concept easily understood, I visited almost all the places around the world where I could see for myself the impact of climate change. I visited Antarctica; I went to the North Pole and the Amazon River Basin, the lung of the world, where rampant deforestation was taking place.

I sent alarm bells to the world that climate change was happening much faster than expected. Now, slowly and surely, world leaders have got the message. That is why we were able to have this climate change agreement.

I highly commend the strong commitment of China, led by President Xi, who worked together with President [Barack] Obama of the United States. I think the political commitment of the two presidents really turned the tide, together with me raising my voice for the importance and urgency of [addressing] climate change.

Now we must make sure that the agreement enters into force as soon as possible. We have a firm commitment from President Xi and also President Obama. We will make sure that this agreement enters into force by the end of this year. President Xi has already declared that China will ratify it before he convenes the G20 Summit in Hangzhou. It is great news.

Does the UN have a working plan for the refugee crisis in Europe? What are the root causes of the crisis? The massive flow of migrants and refugees is one of the most challenging issues. There are many reasons why these people are fleeing their homes: because of violent crises here and there, particularly in Syria.

Six years of conflict have driven 4.5 million people out of Syria. Then there are 12 million inside Syria who have been affected. Almost 60 percent of Syrians have been affected directly.

And there are many people fleeing from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Libya and many other areas. So [the refugee crisis] has become one of the top crises. I’ve been urging EU leaders that this is not a crisis of [a certain] number of people, it is a crisis of global solidarity. If you show global solidarity and compassionate leadership, we can handle this matter.

We are going to have a summit meeting on September 19 at the UN, and I have asked the Chinese