This year
marks the centenary of the outbreak of the First World
War. A distinguished thinker in modern China, Yan Fu,
described the devastation caused by the war: “How sad
that the air is heavy with the stench of war”.
Next year will be the seventieth anniversary of the
end of the Second World War. Over 2 billion people
across the world were affected by that calamity. In
China alone, the aggression committed by Japanese
militarists left more than 35 million Chinese soldiers
and civilians dead or injured.
The United Nations was established to keep the
scourge of the two World Wars from occurring again,
and it embodies the fervent hope of all countries for
peace and stability. To achieve that goal, the Charter
of the United Nations presented a grand vision of joint
efforts to build a better world.
In this world, we should treat each other as equals.
The principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity
must be upheld. The pursuit by different countries of
economic and social development must be respected.
Their right to independently choose their own social
systems and development paths must be safeguarded.
We should be open and inclusive. Only in that way
can we open the door of dialogue and exchange and
achieve harmony among countries with different social
systems, religions and cultural traditions. We should
pursue mutually beneficial cooperation. Each country
should align its own interests with those of others and
work to maximize areas where their interests converge.
Only by helping one another can countries prosper.
We should jointly initiate a new thinking for win-win
and all-win progress and reject the old notion of a zero-
sum game, or the winner takes all. We should uphold
justice. It is imperative to promote greater democracy
and the rule of law in international relations, to apply
fair and just rules to tell right from wrong and settle
disputes, and to pursue peace and development within
the framework of international law. All parties should
jointly uphold the authority and effectiveness of the
United Nations and reform and improve the global
governance structure.
As we have seen in Gaza, Iraq, the Central African
Republic and South Sudan, our world is far from
peaceful. In the face of all those who have been killed
in war, we must ask ourselves how we can keep the
tragedies from recurring. In the face of women and
children displaced by fighting, we must ask ourselves
when they can return home. In the face of incessant
conflicts, we must ask ourselves how we can open the
door to lasting peace. To address those problems, China
believes that we should do the following.
First, we should seek political solutions. To beat
swords into ploughshares may take time and effort, but
history and reality have repeatedly demonstrated that
to meet violence with violence will not lead to enduring
peace, and the use of force will only create more
problems than solutions. Coercive action should be
authorized by the Security Council. If a country places
its domestic law above international law and interferes
in other countries’ internal affairs at will, or even seeks
regime change, the international community cannot but
question the legitimacy of its actions.
Secondly, we should accommodate the interests
of all parties. Parties to a conflict should reject the
zero-sum approach, address each other’s concerns in
negotiations and endeavour to meet each other half
way. They should seek to meet their legitimate concerns
through consultations in a mutually accommodating
way. When conducting mediation, the international
community should uphold justice and take an objective
and balanced position. Countries should not be partial
to any party in the conflict. Still less should they avail
themselves of the opportunity to pursue their own
agenda.
Thirdly, we should promote national reconciliation.
The ongoing armed conflicts are largely caused by
ethnic and sectarian tensions. The process of national
reconciliation and the process of political settlement
should be advanced in tandem with each other. All
parties should uphold the Charter of the United
Nations, develop and practice a culture of inclusion and
tolerance and uproot the seeds of hatred and retaliation,
so that the fruit of inclusion and amity will grow on
post-conflict land.
Fourthly, we should uphold multilateralism. We
should give full play to the role of the United Nations
and observe international law and the basic norms
governing international relations. Chapter VII of the
Charter is not the only means for the Security Council
to maintain international peace and security. We should
make better and full use of the means of prevention,
mediation and conciliation stipulated in Chapter VI.
Given their familiarity with local developments, we
should leverage the strengths of regional organizations
and countries and support them in addressing regional
issues in ways suited to their regions.
The conflicts in Ukraine remain a cause of
concern. We welcome and support the Minsk ceasefire
agreement and urge all parties in Ukraine to strictly
implement it and seek a comprehensive, sustained
and balanced political solution through political
dialogue and negotiation. China hopes that the various
ethnic groups in Ukraine will live in harmony and
that Ukraine will live in peace with other countries.
That is the fundamental way for Ukraine to achieve
long-term stability and security. China hopes that
the United Nations will play its due role in finding a
proper solution to the Ukrainian crisis and supports the
international community’s constructive efforts to ease
the humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine.
China supports Iraq in upholding its sovereignty,
independence and territorial integrity. The formation of
the new Iraqi Government has provided an important
opportunity. We hope that the Iraqi Government will
lead its people in a joint endeavour to develop their
country in the spirit of inclusion and reconciliation.
China calls for providing more humanitarian assistance
to support Iraq. To help the Iraqi people overcome
difficulties and to achieve peace and stability in their
country is the shared responsibility of the international
community.
China firmly opposes all terrorist acts and supports
the international community in responding to the
threat posed by terrorist forces in a coordinated and
concerted way in accordance with the relevant Security
Council resolutions. China believes that in conducting
international counter-terrorism cooperation, we should
take a multipronged approach and address both the
symptoms and root causes of terrorism, and that the
United Nations and the Security Council should fully
play leading roles. There should be no double standard
when it comes to fighting terrorism; still less should
terrorism be identified with any particular ethnic group
or religion.
As new developments emerge in the global fight
against terrorism, the international community should
take new measures to address them. In particular, it
should focus on combating religious extremism and
cyberterrorism, resolutely eliminate the root causes of
terrorism and extremism, block channels that spread
them and crack down hard and effectively on the use of
the Internet and other new means of communication by
terrorists to instigate, recruit, finance or plot terrorist
attacks.
The Syrian crisis has continued for nearly four
years. It is negotiation, not fighting, that offers
solutions. China urges all parties in Syria to end the
fighting and violence immediately, cooperate fully with
United Nations humanitarian assistance operations and
help bring an end to the suffering of innocent civilians
as soon as possible. We urge all the parties to act in the
overall interests of the future and fate of their country
and people, demonstrate the necessary political will,
actively support the mediation efforts of the Secretary-
General and his Special Envoy, and follow a middle
way that draws on workable practices from other
countries and regions, suits Syria’s national conditions
and accommodates the interests of various parties, in
order to give peace a chance.
The Palestinian issue is an open wound on the
conscience of humankind. China calls on Israel
and Palestine to agree on a durable ceasefire, and it
urges Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip and
stop building settlements. At the same time, Israel’s
legitimate security concerns should be respected. We
hope that Israel and Palestine will choose the way of
peace and resume and advance the peace talks as soon
as possible. The aspirations and legitimate demands of
the Palestinian people for an independent nation must
not remain unmet indefinitely. Advancing peace in the
Middle East calls for the concerted efforts of many, not
of one or two countries alone. The Security Council
should play its rightful role, and we support its efforts
to take action in response to the demands of Palestine
and the League of Arab States.
Negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue have
entered a crucial stage. All the parties should display
good faith, continue their efforts in a spirit of mutual
respect, equality, collaboration and accommodation,
and work hard on the most difficult issues, so that a
win-win agreement that is comprehensive, fair and
balanced is arrived at as soon as possible.
The two sides of the conflict in South Sudan
should establish a ceasefire immediately, organize an
active political dialogue that addresses the interests
of the people in South Sudan in general and, through
the mediation of the Intergovernmental Authority
on Development, work with all the country’s ethnic
groups and parties to speedily reach a fair and balanced
solution and achieve national reconciliation and ethnic
unity. South Sudan is the youngest Member of the
United Nations. The South Sudanese people deserve a
life of hope and vitality, not the devastation caused by
conflicts and wars.
China welcomes the election of Mr. Ashraf Ghani
as the new President of Afghanistan and Mr. Abdullah
Abdullah as its Chief Executive, and will continue to
support the Afghan people in their work to achieve a
smooth political, security and economic transition and
to build jointly with them an Afghanistan that enjoys
unity, stability, development and amity. We support
an Afghan-led and -owned peace process, with the
international community fulfilling its commitment and
responsibility to Afghanistan and its people. China will
host the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul
Process so that we can give Afghanistan fresh support
as it stands on the threshold of a new era.
On the issue of the Korean peninsula, China calls
on all the parties to act objectively and impartially,
remain committed to the goal of denuclearizing the
peninsula, firmly uphold its peace and stability, and
endeavour to resolve the issues through dialogue and
consultation. The Six-Party Talks remain the only
viable and effective way to resolve the nuclear issue on
the Korean peninsula, and we now have the pressing
task of restarting the talks as soon as possible. The issue
should be tackled through a sustainable, irreversible
and effective dialogue process that addresses all the
parties’ concerns in a comprehensive and balanced
way. Since there are still many uncertainties on the
peninsula today, all the parties concerned should
exercise restraint, refrain from provocative acts, work
harder to help ease tensions and jointly uphold peace
and stability.
While the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) established by the United Nations in 2000
have contributed greatly to improving human survival
and development, global development is still a task for
the long term. The international community is not only
dealing with the formidable challenges of reducing
poverty, eradicating hunger and improving education
and the health of women and children, it is also facing
new challenges in the form of the environment, climate
change and energy and resource security.
Next year is the deadline for meeting the MDGs,
and the post-2015 development agenda will take
over this historic mission. Building on past progress
and also breaking new ground, the international
community should formulate more effective plans
and take more robust action to advance humankind’s
shared development. As we see it, the development
agenda should have three goals. First, it should advance
people’s well-being, with a focus on eradicating
poverty and encouraging development. Secondly,
it should promote inclusiveness, in the interests of
supporting social equity and justice. Thirdly, it should
ensure the implementation of all these things. Based
on the principles of diversity in development models
and shared but differentiated responsibilities, the
agenda should aim to enhance global partnerships for
development and improve implementation tools and
mechanisms.
Climate change is a challenge that all humankind
is facing. Mr. Zhang Gaoli, Vice Premier of the State
Council, led the Chinese delegation to this year’s
Climate Summit at the United Nations as a special
envoy of China’s President. We congratulate the
United Nations on the Summit’s success and hope that
the political momentum it generated will translate
into effective actions for improving international
cooperation on climate change. All parties should
work to conclude negotiations on a new post-2020
climate-change regime as scheduled, by the end of
2015, in accordance with the principles of shared but
differentiated responsibilities, equity and respective
capabilities, with the aim of creating fairer and more
equitable and effective arrangements for international
cooperation on climate change.
The Ebola epidemic, which is raging in some
African countries, has once again sounded the alarm
on global health security. As a good brother and partner
of Africa, with whom it shares the good and the bad,
China will continue to stand firmly with the African
people and to support and assist them to the best of its
ability. We will also take an active part in the relevant
international assistance efforts. China calls on the
World Health Organization, the United Nations and
other international agencies to work closely with the
international community, come up with new initiatives
for strengthening global health security and provide
more assistance to developing countries, particularly in
Africa.
Next year is one of special historic significance,
as it marks the seventieth anniversary of victory in
the anti-fascist world war, the founding of the United
Nations and victory in the Chinese people’s war against
Japanese aggression. Remembering the past makes us
cherish peace, and recalling history will help to guide
us as we embrace the future. China welcomes the
inclusion of the seventieth anniversary of the end of the
Second World War on the agenda of this session of the
General Assembly as an important opportunity.
When we look back on what happened 70 years
ago, the historical facts are clear, and a final verdict
has been pronounced on what was right and what was
wrong. History should not be falsified or truth distorted.
Today, 70 years later, let us jointly uphold human
justice and conscience so that those who attempt to
deny aggression and distort history will have nowhere
to hide. Let us jointly defend the Charter of the United
Nations and the outcomes of the Second World War,
so that that vision of a world free of war, with lasting
peace, will take deep root in our hearts and pass from
one generation to the next.