China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Xi reiterates peaceful growth
‘We shall be firm in opposing all forms of hegemony and power politics,’ says president
President Xi Jinping reaffirmed on Monday China’s commitment to following a path of peaceful development, reform and opening-up and multilateralism, while calling upon different nations to jointly work toward the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Speaking at a conference in Beijing marking the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the People’s Republic of China’s lawful seat in the United Nations, Xi expounded on Beijing’s position in upholding the authority and standing of the UN and practicing “true multilateralism”.
“We shall be firm in opposing all forms of hegemony and power politics, as well as all forms of unilateralism and protectionism,” he told an audience of over 200 people, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who attended via video link, ambassadors to China and Chinese diplomats who have worked in the global body.
In 1971, the UN General Assembly adopted, by an overwhelming majority, a resolution to restore all rights of the People’s Republic of China in the UN.
The president hailed the move as a momentous event for the world and the UN, saying that its importance was significant and far-reaching for both China and the world.
The past 50 years have witnessed China’s peaceful development and its commitment and dedication to the welfare of all humanity, he said.
China, which rose to become the world’s second-largest economy from a state of low productivity, has always been a strong supporter of other developing countries in their just struggle to safeguard sovereignty, security and development interests, he said.
China has sent over 50,000 peacekeepers to UN peacekeeping operations, and is now the second-largest financial contributor to both the UN and UN peacekeeping operations.
With the world facing changes unseen in a century, the president stressed the importance of following the prevailing trend of history, and choosing cooperation over confrontation, openness over seclusion, and mutual benefit over zero-sum games.
“We should vigorously advocate peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, which are the common values of humanity,” he said, adding that no civilization in the world is superior to others and every civilization is special and unique to its own region.
Xi listed a number of standards on whether a country’s path of development works, which he said must be judged, first and foremost, by whether it fits the country’s conditions, whether the path of development can bring about economic growth, social advancement, better livelihoods and social stability, and whether it has the people’s endorsement and support.
He further elaborated on the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
The vision is not to replace one system or civilization with another, he said. “Instead, it is about countries with different social systems, ideologies, histories, cultures and levels of development coming together for shared interests, shared rights and shared responsibilities in global affairs, and creating the greatest synergy for building a better world,” he added.
In upholding the authority of the UN, Xi said international rules can only be made by the 193 UN member states together, instead of being decided by individual countries or blocs of countries, and the rules must be observed by all member states without exception.
During a video meeting with Guterres on Monday, Xi also highlighted the need to effectively address two major tasks at the same time — unity in the international COVID-19 response and revitalization of the global economy.
He called for efforts to increase assistance to developing countries in COVID-19 response and to distribute vaccines in a fair and reasonable manner throughout the world, thus making the vaccines a global public good.
Guterres said the UN highly appreciates China’s key role in promoting
the vaccines as a global public good, as well as its role in eradicating poverty, tackling global climate change and securing biodiversity.
Speaking with Guterres about global growth, Xi said Beijing is willing to better coordinate with the UN and further roll out the Global Development Initiative, a major proposal that Xi made a month ago at the general debate of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly.
The initiative, which has received support from many countries, calls for fostering a global community of development with a shared future.
Guterres said the initiative proposed by Xi is of great significance in promoting global equality and balanced, sustainable development, adding that the UN fully supports it and is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in this regard.
Xi also said China is willing to help tackle developing countries’ bottleneck in their growth, implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and advance global development to a new stage featuring balance, coordination and inclusion.
Siddharth Chatterjee, the UN resident coordinator in China, said the speech delivered by Xi was compelling and profound.
“President Xi has reconfirmed the primacy of multilateralism, human development and humanity. We are fully committed and aligned with his vision, not only for China but for the partnerships China and the rest of world can have,” he said.
Selim Belortaja, the Albanian ambassador to China, said Albania remains proud of its step to help China restore its lawful place in the UN even today, and the role China has played over the past decades fully justified the resolution 50 years ago.
Xu Yicong, a researcher at the China Foundation for International Studies and a former ambassador to Cuba, said China has always honored its duty as a UN member state and “has always been standing up to boost the grouping’s authority, influence and status”.
“It could be said that the UN’s role and influence in global affairs would not have been so large these days without China’s role and contribution,” he said.