On September 22, 2022, Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng attended the third ministerial meeting of the "Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations" in New York as the representative of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The meeting was chaired by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Carlos Faria and attended by foreign ministers or representatives of the Group members.

Xie Feng noted in his speech that with profound changes unseen in a century evolving at a faster pace, the world has entered a new phase of turbulence and transformation. The purposes and principles of the UN Charter have been challenged time and again, and unilateralism and bullying acts have been on the rise. It is important that we follow the historical trends, stay on the right course, and make sustained effort to fulfill our responsibility of upholding fairness and justice and promote peace and development.

Xie Feng put forward three propositions: First, stay true to the original aspiration and uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. The UN Charter is the cornerstone of the post-war international order. It lays out at the outset the purposes of maintaining international peace and security and promoting international cooperation, and specifies the principles of sovereign equality, peaceful settlement of international disputes and non-interference in others’ internal affairs, which constitute the basic norms governing international relations. They are the "golden rules" for maintaining world peace, the essential safeguards for the very survival of developing countries, and the right course to follow to realize the common progress of mankind. Today, hegemonism and power politics have seriously jeopardized the implementation of the purposes and principles of the Charter, and gravely undermined world peace and cooperation. We must categorically reject all acts of hegemonism, power politics and bullying, push for an international order that is more just and more equitable, promote greater democracy in international relations, and safeguard the effectiveness and dignity of the Charter.

Second, stand our ground and make all-out efforts to prevent surfacing of a "new Cold War". It was not easy for mankind to get out of the shadow of the Cold War more than 30 years ago. Yet, some countries today want to reverse the course by attempting to drag the world back into the abyss of the Cold War. A handful of countries, obsessed with their position of strength, have stubbornly pursued policies that put their own interests first, distort and misinterpret the purposes and principles of the Charter at will, and selectively apply internationally recognized rules as they fit their needs. Be it division and confrontation between military blocs, or the law of the jungle, it is always the developing countries that suffer the most. We should stay united and speak in one loud voice against this historical countercurrent, and reject the acts of inciting ideological confrontation, coercing other countries into taking sides, concocting false narratives of "democracy vs. autocracy", and politicizing and weaponizing economic and technological issues. We should jointly say "no" to a "new Cold War", draw lessons from the past, and move towards the future.

Third, uphold solidarity and support each other's core concerns. Some Group members have been suffering from the suppression, containment and blockade by the hegemonic forces, with a heavy toll on their economic development and social welfare. Such a situation should not be allowed to continue. We should coordinate closely, and firmly support each other on issues concerning respective core interests, and speak up for each other on multilateral occasions such as the United Nations. It is important to jointly oppose acts of inciting "color revolution" and interfering in other countries' internal affairs. All countries' rights to choose their own social systems and development paths should be safeguarded, and their future should be firmly held in their own hands. We should champion peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, which are common values of humanity. China encourages more countries to join our ranks to pool strength for fairness and justice, and strengthen the big family in defense of the UN Charter.

Xie Feng stressed that Taiwan is a sacred and inalienable part of China's territory, and the one-China principle has become a universally recognized basic norm governing international relations. The UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 adopted in 1971 has solved once and for all the issue of representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan, in the United Nations in political, legal and procedural terms. Over the past five decades, the United Nations has always referred to Taiwan as "Taiwan, Province of China": this is Taiwan's only status in international law. Any question concerning Taiwan's participation in the activities of international organizations must be resolved under the one-China principle. At present, certain countries attempt to turn back the wheel of history and deliberately distort the UN General Assembly Resolution 2758. Such acts blatantly challenge the one-China principle and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter such as respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, and non-interference in others’ internal affairs. They must be resolutely opposed and stopped.

Xie Feng said that China was the first country to sign the UN Charter. Its efforts to defend the purposes and principles of the Charter have never slackened, and its struggles for realizing the beautiful vision depicted in the Charter have never stopped. No matter how the international situation may change, China will always be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order. Having put forward the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, China stands ready to work with other countries to achieve common security and promote sustainable development. China will work with the Group members to unite more closely under the UN banner and make new and sustained contributions to the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Participants in the meeting stressed that safeguarding the UN Charter is crucial to building a fair and equal international order. The Group members should step up communication and coordination to jointly resist unilateralism and the Cold War mentality, and safeguard multilateralism with the UN at its core. At the end of the meeting, a Political Declaration was issued which stressed the need to abide by the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and to reject the practice of using human rights and democracy as a tool to attack sovereign states. It also called for the early lifting of unilateral coercive measures.

Initiated by Venezuela, the "Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations" was established in July 2021. Its current members include China, Russia, Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Syria, Palestine, Cambodia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Laos, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Cuba, and Nicaragua.