China Daily Global Edition (USA)
UN envoy: Multilateralism needed more than ever
UNITED NATIONS — China’s envoy to the United Nations has highlighted the importance of upholding multilateralism as the world goes through “a new round of profound development as well as tectonic changes and adjustments”.
“Due to the rise of unilateralism and protectionism, the international order and global governance system are under attack. The world needs multilateralism and a stronger UN more than ever,” Ma Zhaoxu, China’s permanent representative to the UN, said on Friday during an open debate of the Security Council.
The Chinese envoy pointed out that strengthening multilateralism and the role of the UN is a consensus of the international community, for which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, president of the UN General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, and member states aired support during the high-level week of the General Assembly in September.
“This shows that multilateralism is a prevailing trend and the common aspiration of all people, representing the right direction of history,” he said.
Ma also underscored China’s commitment to defending the international order and pursuing multilateralism, pledging that “we stand ready to join hands with all states to build a community of a shared future for mankind and a more peaceful world with a better life and greater happiness for all”.
Earlier on Friday, Guterres called for a reformed, reinvigorated and strengthened multilateral system to deal with global challenges.
“Toward that end, we need a stronger commitment to a rules-based order, with the United Nations at its center, with the different institutions and treaties that bring the (UN) Charter to life,” Guterres said at the open debate.
“But it is not enough to have laws and international conventions, vital as they are. We need new forms of cooperation with other international and regional organizations —a networked multilateralism. And we need closer links with civil society and other stakeholders — an inclusive multilateralism.”
The world is facing many challenges. But at the same time, trust is on the decline, within and among nations. People are losing faith in political establishments, national and global. Key assumptions have been upended, key endeavors undermined, and key institutions undercut, he said.
“This is a time of multiplying conflicts, advancing climate change, deepening inequality and rising tensions over trade. It is a period when people are moving across borders in unprecedented numbers in search of safety or opportunity,” he said. “We are still wrestling with the risk of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and only beginning to reckon with the potential dangers of new technologies.”