This
year has been an unusual one in China’s development.
China’s new central collective leadership has put
forward the concept of the “Chinese dream”, a dream of
the great renewal of the Chinese nation, and it is leading
the 1.3 billion Chinese people in an endeavour to fulfil
the two centennial goals, namely, to finish building a
moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020
and to turn China into a modern socialist country by
the mid-twenty-first century. Having experienced
profound changes in the past 5,000 years and especially
the past century, China has reached a new historical
starting point today.
What development path will China take in the
future? What domestic and foreign policies will it
pursue? And what kind of international role will it play?
I understand that those questions are of great interest to
the international community. As the Foreign Minister
of the new Chinese Government, I wish to give an
emphatic answer to each of them.
China will stay firmly on the path of peaceful
development. China’s rapid development over the years
has given rise to worries that China might follow the
old pattern of wealth breeding arrogance and strength
leading to hegemony, and various versions of the China
threat theory have surfaced. However, what happened
in the past should not be applied to today’s China.
The outdated Cold War mentality has no place
in the new era of globalization. The Chinese nation
loves peace and the Chinese culture values harmony.
Throughout history, the Chinese people have always
embraced international exchanges and trade, not
foreign aggression and expansion, and have adhered to
the patriotic resolve to defend the homeland rather than
the colonialist doctrine of seizing new territories.
The culture of a country determines its values,
and its history points the way to its future. Close to 40
years ago, it was from this rsotrum that the Chinese
leader Deng Xiaoping solemnly declared on behalf of
the Chinese Government that China would never seek
hegemony in the world. Today, his statement remains
our unchanging commitment and conviction. China has
honoured and will continue to honour its promise and
remain a staunch force for upholding world peace.
China pursues peaceful development and calls
on all other countries to follow the same path. Since
the beginning of reform and opening up, China has
become increasingly interdependent with the global
economy and integrated into the international system.
We are committed to working with others to establish
a new type of international relations, based on win-win
cooperation, and to seek the peaceful resolution of
international and regional disputes. With regard to
China’s disputes with some countries over territorial
sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, we
sincerely hope to resolve them in accordance with
proper procedures, through negotiation and consultation
with the countries directly involved. Those disputes
that cannot be resolved now can be shelved for future
resolution. That is our consistent position and practice.
On the other hand, we will, whatever the circumstances,
firmly safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial
integrity and resolutely uphold China’s legitimate and
lawful rights and interests.
China will remain committed to reform, to opening
up and to sustainable development. It has been five
years since the outbreak of the international financial
crisis. The global economy is back on the right track
to recovery, but the foundations of the recovery are not
solid and the speed is not fast enough. The root causes
of the financial crisis have yet to be removed, and the
structural problems of developed countries remain
unresolved. The adjustment of unconventional monetary
policies from the outside, coupled with other factors,
have posed new challenges and the risk of financial
market volatility to emerging market countries.
Where the Chinese economy is heading engages
both domestic and international attention. In that
regard, I wish to inform the Assembly that both the
fundamentals and the overall performance of China’s
economy are sound, and China’s development prospects
are bright. The leading indicators of the Chinese
economy are generally good, and China leads the major
economies in growth rate.
In pursuit of progress while maintaining stability,
the Chinese Government has followed a macroeconomic
policy that addresses both immediate and long-term
needs and has adopted a series of innovative policy
measures with a view to promoing steady growth,
economic structural adjustment and reform. We are
vigorously pursuing reform, opening up, deepening
economic structural adjustment and accelerating
the shift in our growth model. We are implementing
the basic State policy of resource conservation and
environmental protection and promoting green,
circular and low-carbon development to build a sound
ecological environment and a beautiful China.
With its increasing economic output and its
changing growth model, China’s economy has entered
a phase of high-to-medium growth rate. That is
dictated by the law of economics, and it will ensure
the sustained and healthy growth of the Chinese
economy. The Chinese economy is being upgraded,
and its future growth will deliver major dividends in
four areas as a result of industrialization, information
technology application, a new type of urbanization and
agricultural modernization; reform and innovation;
structural readjustment; and further opening up. It is
projected that in the coming five years, China’s imports
of commodities will exceed $10 trillion, its overseas
investment will reach $500 billion, and Chinese
tourists will make over 400 million outbound visits.
That will give stronger impetus to the world economy
and bring an increasing number of tangible benefits to
other countries.
China will firmly promote reform of the global
governance system with the United Nations at its core.
The United Nations is a big stage for all countries to
conduct consultation and cooperation with one another.
It is also a big family where people of all countries are
brought together. It is our consistent position that the
purposes and principles of the Charter of the United
Nations form the cornerstone of current international
relations and provide safeguards for world peace and
stability. Respecting national sovereignty and opposing
interference in internal affairs, safeguarding peace
and opposing aggression, and promoting equality and
opposing power politics; those are important principles
that must be observed. China firmly upholds the role
and authority of the United Nations, supports the United
Nations in its renewal and self-improvement efforts, in
keeping with a changing world, and looks forward to a
United Nations that plays a larger role in international
affairs. China is ready to deepen cooperation with
the United Nations and get more actively involved in
United Nations activities in various fields.
China is committed to promoting democracy
in international relations and the trend toward a
multipolar world. We call for a greater representation
and voice for developing countries in the global
governance system and support the Group of 20, the
BRICS group — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa — and other emerging mechanisms that are
playing a key role in making the international order
fairer and more equitable. We also call for the reform
of the international monetary and financial systems and
want the role of the World Trade Organization as the
main forum in the area of trade to be maintained. We
are opposed to trade protectionism and are working to
make economic globalization more balanced, inclusive
and beneficial to all. We call on countries to enhance
macroeconomic policy coordination and be mindful
of the spillover effects of their respective adjustment
of economic policies. We call for the strengthening of
North-South dialogue and South-South cooperation to
make development benefits more accessible to people
of all countries.
China will firmly fulfil its international
responsibilities and obligations. The Chinese nation
is responsible and ready to play its part. Although it
remains a developing country facing the daunting task
of development, China, as the second-largest economy
and a permanent member of the Security Council, is
fully aware of its responsibilities and the expectations
placed on it by the international community. We will be
fully and more actively engaged in international affairs
and work closely with other countries to meet complex
global challenges and tackle the difficult issues facing
humankind. We will voice China’s views, offer China’s
wisdom, propose China’s solutions, play China’s due
role and provide more public goods to the international
community.
We will vigorously advocate the right vision on
justice versus special interests, and we will endeavour
to build a community of common destiny with other
developing countries. In our exchanges and cooperation
with other developing countries, we will uphold justice
and place it above special interests. We will provide
assistance to other developing countries to the best
of our ability, so as to enable developing countries to
realize independent and sustainable development.
We will play a more proactive and constructive role
in addressing international and regional hotspot issues
to promote peace and dialogue, defuse conflicts and
safeguard world peace and stability. We will maintain
our escort missions and counter-piracy operations in the
Gulf of Aden and increase our participation in United
Nations peacekeeping operations so as to contribute
more to peace and security in Africa and other relevant
regions.
The turmoil in Syria has lasted for nearly three
years, causing great suffering and trauma to both the
Syrian people and Syria’s neighbours. The recent use of
chemical weapons has met with universal condemnation.
China firmly opposes the use of chemical weapons.
We hope to see the early adoption of a Security
Council resolution to support the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in launching
the verification and destruction of chemical weapons,
and we stand ready to make financial contributions to
the OPCW for the destruction of chemical weapons in
Syria and to send experts to work there on the ground.
China calls for an immediate end to hostilities and
violence in Syria so that the necessary conditions for
the verification and destruction of chemical weapons
can be created. We call for the early convening of
the “Geneva II” conference and faster progress on a
political resolution of the Syrian issue. China seeks
no gains for itself in Syria. We respect the aspirations
and choice of the Syrian people. China is following the
humanitarian situation in Syria with great concern. We
have provided and will continue to provide assistance
within our means to the Syrian people, including Syrian
refugees outside the country.
Recently, China has been providing emergency
humanitarian aid to Jordan in the amount of ¥15 million,
and has provided emergency humanitarian aid in cash
worth ¥24 million to the World Food Programme and the
World Health Organization for displaced people within
Syria and Syrian refugees in Lebanon, respectively.
China has been working to promote a peaceful
settlement to the Iranian nuclear issue through
dialogue. We have played a constructive role in
seeking a comprehensive, lasting and appropriate
solution to the Iranian nuclear issue so as to uphold the
international non-proliferation regime and peace and
stability in the Middle East. The dialogue between Iran
and the permanent members of the Security Council
and Germany has created new opportunities. All the
relevant parties should scale up diplomatic efforts and
work for substantive progress in the dialogue at an early
date.
The Palestinian issue is at the core of the Middle
East conflict. Guided by President Xi Jinping’s four-
point proposal on resolving the Palestinian issue, China
will continue to work for a comprehensive, just and
durable solution to the issue.
Thanks to the concerted efforts of all the relevant
parties, tensions on the Korean peninsula are easing.
Achieving the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula
and maintaining long-term peace and stability on the
peninsula will respond to the common interests of all
parties concerned. It is China’s consistent position that
a negotiated solution through dialogue is the right way
to resolve the nuclear issue on the peninsula, and the
Six-Party Talks are an effective platform to promote
denuclearization on the Korean peninsula. This year
marks the tenth anniversary of the launch of the Six-
Party Talks. We hope that all parties will create
conducive conditions, build consensus, work towards
the same goal and resume the talks at an early date.
International development cooperation is at a crucial
stage, where we must build on past achievements to
make new progress. China supports the continued and
full implementation of the Millennium Development
Goals and the early launch of intergovernmental
negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda. The
post-2015 development agenda should continue to focus
on development and poverty elimination, give due
consideration to national conditions and the various
stages of development in the different countries, and
respect their independent choice of development path.
The agenda should give priority to strengthening global
development partnerships; adhere to the principles of
common but differentiated responsibilities, equity and
respective capabilities; improve follow-up mechanisms;
step up development financing; promote trade and
investment liberalization and facilitation; and increase
official development aid and technical support to
developing countries.
China welcomes the positive outcomes of the
United Nations Climate Change Conference held in
Doha in late 2012. China hopes that the developed
countries will demonstrate political will and honour
their commitments by scaling up emissions-reduction
efforts and providing capital, technology and capacity-
building support to developing countries. The Chinese
Government takes climate change seriously, and the
many forceful policy measures it has taken have resulted
in notable progress. China will continue to play its due
role in addressing global climate change.
Time flies. We will soon be celebrating the
seventieth anniversary of the founding of the United
Nations. Born out of the ashes of the Second World War,
the United Nations embodies the yearning of the peoples
of all countries for world peace and global development.
The Chinese dream is a dream of prosperity for the
country and happiness for the people; it has much in
common with the dream of people across the world. As
a responsible Member of the United Nations, China is
ready to work with all other Member States to faithfully
adhere to the purposes of the Charter of the United
Nations, faithfully carry out its historic mission and
continue to make relentless efforts to advance the noble
cause of peace and development for humankind.