China

I wish to congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-second session. I am convinced that under your able leadership, the current session will be a fruitful one. I also wish to thank Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa for her contribution during her presidency of the previous session. The current international environment is highly complex. Mankind is facing both unprecedented opportunities and challenges. There is a growing trend towards peace, development and cooperation in the world. But, on the other hand, traditional and non- traditional security threats are intertwined; hotspot issues are acute; the gap between the North and South is widening; trade protectionism is resurfacing; and developing countries generally remain in a disadvantaged position. The steady trend towards economic globalization and towards a multi-polar world is fostering a new way of thinking about international relations. In this Hall two years ago, Chinese President Hu Jintao called on mankind to build a harmonious world with lasting peace and common prosperity in the twenty-first century (see A/60/PV.5). The core message of his call is that, while recognizing the diversity of the world, differences of interests and diversity of cultures, we should harmonize interests, defuse conflicts and promote cooperation for win-win progress in a peaceful and cooperative manner. In its 62-year history, the United Nations has played an irreplaceable role in promoting humankind’s cause of peace and development. The current session of the General Assembly should focus on promoting harmonious coexistence among countries. Resolving hotspot issues and peacefully settling international disputes through dialogue and cooperation are not only explicitly called for by the United Nations Charter. They are also the right way to uphold world peace and stability and achieve mutual benefit and a win-win situation for all. China remains committed to seeking a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula through dialogue to uphold peace and stability on the peninsula and throughout North-East Asia. The Six- Party Talks have become an important platform for the parties concerned to maintain dialogue and consultations on achieving denuclearization on the peninsula, normalizing relations between the countries concerned and building a new harmonious architecture in North-East Asia. We will continue to play a constructive role in advancing the process of the Six- Party Talks and the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Diplomatic negotiations are the best option for resolving the Iranian nuclear issue peacefully and meeting the common interests of the international community. China opposes nuclear-weapon proliferation and stands for upholding the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and peace and stability in the Middle East. No non-proliferation effort should deviate from the goal of upholding international peace and stability. Countries should honour their due international obligations, and their right to peaceful use of nuclear energy should be fully respected. China urges the parties concerned to show flexibility and resume negotiations at an early date. China will continue to contribute its share to the peaceful settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue. The Palestine-Israel conflict is at the core of the Middle East issue. China supports the just cause of the Palestinian and other Arab peoples and the restoration of their lawful national rights, and it sincerely hopes that Arab countries and Israel will promptly end their disputes through political negotiations on the basis of relevant United Nations resolutions and the principle of land for peace. China calls on Palestine to strengthen its unity and welcomes the initiative to hold an international conference on the Middle East. We hope that the Iraqi people will continue to work for national reconciliation and restore peace and stability at an early date, and that this will lead to a comprehensive, just and lasting resolution of the Middle East issue. The trilateral dialogue and consultation among the United Nations, the African Union and the Sudanese Government on an equal footing is an effective mechanism for resolving the Darfur issue. The international community should work to sustain the current sound momentum and give full play to the role of the trilateral mechanism as the main channel. We should adhere to dual-track strategy, promote balanced progress in peacekeeping operations and the political process and seek a lasting solution to the Darfur issue through making progress in the security, political, humanitarian, economic and social areas. China is committed to a proper settlement of the Darfur issue. It has provided humanitarian assistance to Darfur on a number of occasions and will send a military engineering unit to join the peacekeeping operations there. China will continue to firmly support the peace and national reconciliation process in the Sudan and will contribute to the resolution of the Darfur issue and peace, stability and development in the Sudan. At its current session, the General Assembly should promote the peaceful development of all countries. Poverty is a major source of disputes, and only development can eliminate poverty. Human development concerns us all. Obviously, it is impossible to build common prosperity when there is a huge chasm between the North and the South. The international community should act with a sense of urgency and redouble its efforts to deliver the Millennium Development Goals, narrow the North- South gap and, in particular, meet Africa’s special development needs. Developed countries should increase assistance, further open their domestic markets, transfer more technologies to developing countries and provide greater debt relief to them. For their part, developing countries, on their part, should adopt development strategies and policies suited to their national conditions and boost their economic development. We should support an open, equitable and fair multilateral trade regime and oppose trade protectionism. We should work for an early, comprehensive and balanced outcome of the Doha Round negotiations and make it a development round. Reform of the international economic system should fully reflect changes in the world economy and should give developing countries more say and greater representation in the international economic system. China gives a high priority to strengthening international cooperation on development as it develops itself. We seek coordinated and balanced global development. While a developing country itself, China has all along provided assistance to African countries and other developing countries, according to its ability, and has helped them to improve their capacity for independent and sustainable development. That is because we believe that lasting peace and the common prosperity of the world is possible only with the development of developing countries. To help Africa attain stability, security and sustainable development is the common responsibility of the international community. China and African countries enjoy mutual political respect and equality and economic mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. They support one another and maintain close consultation in international affairs. We draw on one another’s strengths in governance to promote development. Thanks to our joint efforts, China-Africa cooperation has yielded fruitful results. Such cooperation is well received by the African countries, and it has brought great benefits to both the Chinese and African peoples. China’s cooperation with Africa facilitates Africa’s cooperation with other countries and is not targeted against any third party. The current session of the General Assembly should be devoted to promoting harmony between man and nature. Development in the world has both advanced material progress and caused ecological imbalance and environmental pollution. To protect our common homeland is a matter of vital importance for our common future. Climate change is an environmental issue, but ultimately it is an issue of development. It has arisen in the course of development and can be resolved only through development. We should uphold the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol and adhere to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. Developed countries should face up to their responsibilities, fulfil their commitments on emissions reduction in earnest and continue to take the lead in emissions reduction after 2012. We should strengthen international cooperation on energy, resources and the environment, step up efforts to develop and introduce energy-conserving technologies, environmental protection technologies and low-carbon energy technologies, and establish reasonable mechanisms for financing and technology transfer. That will enable developing countries to gain access to and afford advanced environmental- protection technologies, enhance capacity to respond to climate change and effectively address climate change through achieving sustainable development. China takes climate change seriously. Though its current per capita carbon dioxide emissions are less than one third of the average of developed countries, China, acting in a way that is highly responsible to mankind, has taken many effective measures to tackle climate change, including adopting a series of laws and regulations and setting the goals of reducing energy intensity and increasing forest cover. The Chinese Government has set the following targets: to reduce energy intensity and total discharge of major pollutants by about 20 per cent and 10 per cent respectively and to increase the forest cover rate to 20 per cent for the period between the end of 2005 and 2010. Under its National Climate Change Programme, China will take an active part in international cooperation in climate change and contribute its share to protecting the global climate. Advancing United Nations reform and enabling the Organization to play a more important role in maintaining world peace, promoting common development and strengthening cooperation among countries is crucial to building a harmonious world. China supports the reform of the United Nations. The reform decisions made at the high-level meeting marking the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations held in 2005 should be implemented in a comprehensive and balanced manner. Priority should be given to reform in the area of development, and the United Nations should increase its input in that area. The Human Rights Council should build on the outcome of reform in its previous phase and become a platform for dialogue and cooperation rather than an arena for political confrontation. Security Council reform should give priority to increasing the representation of developing countries and give small and medium-sized countries more opportunities to participate in decision-making. Reform proposals should be based on the widest possible consensus. China is ready to work with all other parties to turn reform into a process of strengthening consultation and dialogue and promoting solidarity and cooperation among all United Nations Member States. China is committed to building a society of democracy, the rule of law, equity and justice, integrity and amity, vitality, stability and order, where people live in harmony with nature. To achieve that goal, China is fully implementing the outcomes of scientific thinking on development. We are working to boost social productivity and ensure people’s rights in the political, economic, cultural, social and other fields. By striving to build a harmonious society and by improving the material and cultural life of one fifth of the world’s population, China is making a true contribution to the building of a harmonious world. China has always pursued its own development as a part of the global effort to promote the common progress of mankind. In international affairs, we are committed to the following goals: promoting participation in international affairs by all countries on an equal footing and democracy in international relations; enabling all countries to share the benefits of economic globalization and progress in science and technology for a win-win outcome; promoting exchanges and understanding among civilizations and diversity in the world; enhancing dialogue and trust among countries; and jointly tackling global issues. China unswervingly pursues a path of peaceful development and will continue to make further contributions to humankind’s cause of peace and development. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory. We will not permit any challenge to the one-China principle and General Assembly resolution 2758 (XXVI). For 15 years running, since 1993, the General Assembly has rejected the inclusion of Taiwan-related issues in the agenda of the General Assembly session. This fully demonstrates that any move that runs counter to the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter or attempts to distort and deny General Assembly resolution 2758 (XXVI) will not receive any support from the United Nations Member States and is doomed to failure. We hope that the countries concerned will not allow themselves to be manipulated by the Taiwan authorities and will stop making wrong moves of this kind. The Taiwan authorities are now obstinately clinging to the separatist course of “Taiwan independence” and are trying by all means to secure a referendum on applying for membership of the United Nations under the name Taiwan. This is another dangerous step towards “de jure Taiwan independence” taken by the Chen Shui-bian authorities. If unchecked, this move will gravely endanger peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the Asia-Pacific region. The Chinese Government has always made every effort to promote with all sincerity peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and to seek peaceful reunification. However, we will never allow anyone to separate Taiwan from China in name or in any other way. We hope that the international community will continue to support China’s cause of peaceful reunification, support the Chinese people in opposing and repulsing separatist activities for “Taiwan independence” and work with us to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits and in the Asia- Pacific region. The Olympic Games, which represent humanity’s aspiration for peace, development, cooperation and friendship, will for the first time be held in China, a country both ancient and youthful, starting on 8 August 2008. One World, One Dream this is the theme of the Beijing Olympic Games. The 1.3 billion people in China, together with the rest of the world, are eagerly looking forward to the opening of the Games. The 2008 Olympic Games are a great event for both the Chinese people and the other peoples of the world. We are confident that with the efforts made by the Chinese people and with strong support from the international community, the 2008 Olympic Games will stand out as a highly successful event.