Stepping up Multilateral Cooperation to Promote Common Development

Address by Chairman Wu Bangguo of the Standing Committee of

The National People's Congress of China

At the Second World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments

UN Headquarters, 7 September 2005

Mr. President,

Dear Colleagues,

On this occasion to observe the 60th anniversary of the United Nations and the victory over fascism, we, speakers of parliaments around the world, once again gather at the UN Headquarters to review the actions we have taken since the first Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments in 2000 and to look into important questions such as how to step up multilateral cooperation and cope with fresh challenges confronting the human society under new circumstances. This is of great significance to maintaining world peace and promoting common development.

Mr. President,

Dear Colleagues,

In the last century, mankind have experienced two world wars, which inflicted still unforgettable calamity and suffering upon people all over the world and made all of us better realize the value of peace and the importance of development. Over the past 60 years, despite the almost half-century-long Cold War, the human society has on the whole made great innovations and huge achievements that were never seen in any other period. Most countries have gained independence and peace and many of them have realised leap-frog economic development. Newly industrialized nations emerged one after another. People in more and more countries are beginning to enjoy better lives.

Generally speaking, the international situation is moving towards relaxation. The trend of multipolarization and economic globalization grows further. Science and technology advance rapidly. Moving economically closer, countries are becoming more interdependent with bigger mutual influence. The irresistible trend of our times is to pursue peace, cooperation and development. However, we have to admit at the same time that our world is not yet peaceful. Destabilizing and uncertain factors that affect world peace and development are on the rise. The elements of traditional threats to security and those of non-traditional threats to security are intertwined. Hegemony and power politics have new manifestations. The scourge of terrorism is being felt more acutely than ever. Regional conflicts crop up from time to time. The North-South gap is still widening. Global issues on environment, drugs, refugees and communicable diseases become increasingly prominent. To eliminate threats, meet challenges and realize lasting peace and sustainable development of the human society, members of the international community have to cooperate with one another fully and all countries have to work together unswervingly.

Here I would like to share with you a few observations on reinforcing multilateral cooperation.

First, mutual respect. Mutual respect is a prerequisite for multilateral cooperation. Ours is a colourful world. People of different countries have created unique cultures in the long course of history and contributed to the progress of civilization of the human society. We should respect the diversity in world civilizations and promote democracy in international relations on the basis of respecting and treating each other as equals. Countries, big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, are all equal members of the international community and thus all deserve respect in the world. Big countries should respect small ones, strong countries should help weak ones, and rich countries should assist poor ones. There should be mutual respect of independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. We oppose the bullying of the small, the weak, and the poor by the big, the strong, and the rich. People of all countries are entitled to independently choosing a social system and a path of development in accordance with their own national conditions. No country has the right to interfere in the choice of the people of the other countries. The affairs of each country should be left to its own people to decide, while world affairs should be determined by all countries through consultations on the basis of equality.

Second, mutual trust. Mutual trust is the guarantee of multilateral cooperation. Since countries differ in their national conditions, it is only natural for them to defend their own interests in international affairs. But this should not hinder the building of mutual trust. That has been proved to be the basis of all mature state-to-state relations and successful multilateral cooperation. In multilateral cooperation, we should safeguard and expand our common interest, properly address each other's concerns through consultations on an equal footing in the spirit of mutual accommodation, and have more dialogues to increase our mutual understanding and trust. To counter traditional and non-traditional threats to security, we need to foster a new security concept featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination. We should always settle disputes through dialogue and cooperation, and should not resort to the use or threat of force on the slightest provocation. We should get rid of the Cold War thinking and broaden the converging points of our common interests, notwithstanding the differences in social systems and ideologies.

Third, common development. Common development is the goal of multilateral cooperation. The advance of modern science and technology and economic globalization has not benefited the whole world evenly. The North-South gap and the great disparity between the rich and the poor are widening, and up to one fifth of the world's population still lives under the line of abject poverty. Without a fundamental change, it would be difficult to avoid turmoil in the international community and realise general prosperity in the world. In stepping up multilateral cooperation, we should aim at promoting common development, particularly that of developing countries which features highly in the MDGs. In fact, if this goal is not attained, the prosperity of the developed world can hardly sustain. Therefore, developed countries should pay more attention to the developing ones, fulfil pledges in debt relief and offer more assistance without attaching any string, and help the latter to enhance their capacity of self-development. South-South cooperation should be strengthened in real earnest and North-South cooperation should be pressed ahead on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. The international community needs to turn its ear more often to developing countries, defend their legitimate rights and interests, and push the world economy toward balanced and steady development and a win-win scenario to the benefit of all. Of course, at the end of the day, developing countries still have to rely on themselves for development. They need to take acceleration of development and improvement of people's livelihood as their prime task, draw on the fruits of world civilizations in light of their own national conditions, and keep building their capacity of self-development.

Mr. President,

Dear Colleagues,

To give full scope to the positive role of the UN is of critical importance to multilateral cooperation. As the most universal, representative and authoritative international organization of sovereign states, the UN plays an irreplaceable role in world affairs and is the best venue for multilateral activities as well as an effective platform for collective response to threats and challenges. Against the new backdrop of deepening multipolarization and economic globalization, the international community should strictly adhere to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, further bring into play the positive role of the UN, uphold its authority and that of its Security Council, and keep improving its efficiency.

Parliamentarians represent the people, and parliaments reflect public opinion. Inter-parliamentary exchanges are part and parcel of state-to-state relations, and multilateral cooperation among parliaments is a unique component of international cooperation. The Inter-Parliamentary Union, currently the biggest and most influential international organization of parliaments, is an important stage for multilateral cooperation among all parliaments. The IPU needs to further reinforce its substantive interaction and coordination with the UN, establish between them an even closer working relationship, and broaden their cooperation. It needs to further strengthen its ties with regional parliament organizations with a view to raising the efficiency and level of parliamentary multilateral cooperation. And it also needs to further increase contacts with parliaments of all countries to create conditions and provide support and service for better communication and cooperation among parliaments.

Mr. President,

Dear Colleagues,

The Chinese is a peace-loving nation and China is a responsible member of the international community. We focus on economic development, persist in reform and opening up, continue to improve peoples' living standards, and strive to build a harmonious socialist society. We will, as always, pursue an independent foreign policy of peace. The purpose of China's foreign policy is to help maintain world peace and promote common development. China has embarked on a road of peaceful development, and will stick to this road unswervingly. China has been and will always be a positive factor and staunch force in safeguarding world peace and promoting common development.

China's National People's Congress is ready to join parliaments of other countries in making full use of the important stage of IPU to carry out all forms of multilateral cooperation in a sustained endeavour to build a peaceful, prosperous and harmonious new world.