Speech by H.E. Yang Jiechi

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

At Lunch Meeting of the World Peace Forum

7 July 2012

Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,

It gives me great pleasure to attend the World Peace Forum organized by Tsinghua University and co-organized by the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs and meet with friends old and new. This forum, a joint endeavor by a world famous university and an important organization dedicated to stronger people-to-people exchanges between China and foreign countries, has invited a galaxy of renowned Chinese and foreign experts and scholars to an in-depth discussion on international security issues. This is of great importance to advancing the cause of peace for mankind. In his remarks at the opening session, Vice President Xi Jinping advocated the five principles that we need to follow in promoting global peace and security and expounded on China's policy of committing itself to maintaining world peace and security. His remarks fully demonstrated China's firm resolve to make greater contribution to peace and progress of mankind. Vice President Xi's remarks give important guidance to the Forum. I am sure that the Forum will be a great success.

Today, the trend towards a multi-polar world and economic globalization is gaining momentum and countries are getting increasingly inter-dependent. It has become a growing consensus to handle disputes by peaceful means, promote security in the context of development, and seek win-win results in a cooperative spirit. A large number of emerging markets and developing countries are growing at a faster pace and playing a bigger role in international affairs. They have become a more important force for world peace and stability. At the same time, mankind's pursuit of peace and security is by no means easy. There are still obstacles to world peace and stability and to mutually beneficial cooperation among people of different countries. They include:

First, economic recovery is difficult with various risks still looming large. The implications of the international financial crisis keep deepening, and the European sovereign debt crisis remains a cause of serious concern. Global economic growth has slowed down, demand remains weak, protectionism is on the rise, and progress in multilateral trade liberalization is painstakingly slow. How to shake off the crisis and achieve sustainable economic growth is a pressing task for all countries.

Second, there are various, complex challenges and intertwined security issues. West Asia and North Africa remain turbulent. Situation surrounding such hotspot issues as Syria and the Iranian nuclear issue is complicated and grave. Wars and conflicts keep cropping up in some parts of the world. The international community faces challenges in combating terrorism and preventing proliferation. Cyber security, economic security and energy security get entwined, exerting a growing impact on the political and social stability of all countries. No country can tackle these challenges single-handedly. There is a louder call from the international community for closer cooperation and a holistic approach towards global security governance.

Third, the vestige of Cold-War mentality hinders cooperation on an equal footing. Zero-sum game retains its hold in some quarters. There is yet to be greater democracy in international relations. All sides need to think creatively to seek win-win cooperation as equals and build a peaceful and stable international environment.

Given the new opportunities and challenges that come from the changing circumstances, countries face a more pressing task and shoulder greater responsibilities to achieve common security and development. We need to believe in peace, aim for security and move forward through cooperation. We need to act in a spirit of win-win cooperation and work unremittingly for world peace and development.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

China has made a strategic choice of committing itself to peaceful development. While sticking to the path of peaceful development, China will work closely with all other sides to counter the various risks and challenges and make continuous contribution to world peace and common development. To this end, we will make the following efforts.

We will continue to uphold solidarity and common development and promote global economic recovery and growth. As the international financial crisis continues to spread and serious uncertainties and destabilizing factors remain in the world economy, we should deepen solidarity and cooperation and work together to consolidate progress already made in tackling the international financial crisis and promote steady recovery of the global economy. Since the beginning of this year, China has, first and foremost, run its own affairs well, followed the general principle of seeking steady progress, and maintained steady and fast economic growth. This in itself is an important contribution to the global economic growth. We have continued to support EU's efforts to address the sovereign debt crisis, announced our decision to participate in the increase of IMF resources, and expanded investment cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe. All this has given strong support to European countries in their endeavor to counter the crisis. We have actively advanced East Asia cooperation, signed trilateral investment agreement with Japan and the ROK, announced the launch of negotiations on a trilateral free trade area. All this has lent fresh impetus to economic growth in the three countries and Asia as a whole. We continue to enhance solidarity and cooperation with other developing countries. The African Union Conference Center and Office Complex built by China has been officially inaugurated, setting a new landmark of China-Africa friendship after the Tanzara Railway. China has advanced cooperation with Latin American and Arab states and cemented traditional friendship with them. Going forward, the world economy will still be on a tortuous and difficult course in its recovery. We will continue to enhance coordination and cooperation with other parties and promote steady economic growth worldwide. We will seize such opportunities as the Fifth FOCAC Ministerial Conference to introduce new measures, deepen practical cooperation with other parties and strive for win-win outcomes.

We will continue to uphold mutual respect and win-win cooperation and explore with others a new model of relations between major countries. Peaceful development is a new path China has explored and pursued. The success of such an approach calls for hard work of China and appreciation and support from the outside. China's endeavor to build a new type of relations with major countries is an important manifestation of China's commitment to peaceful development. We are committed to building a new type of relations with the United States based on mutual respect and mutual benefit. Since the beginning of this year, President Hu Jintao and President Obama have had two meetings and Vice President Xi Jinping has paid a successful visit to the United States, which gives a strong boost to the growth of China-US cooperative partnership. The fourth round of China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogues has been a success, producing 50 deliverables on the strategic track and 67 on the economic track and achieving win-win results. China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination, which has already reached a high level, continues to deepen. President Putin's visit to China has made important achievements. Leaders of China and Russia underscored the desire to further upgrade pragmatic cooperation and strategic coordination between the two countries. China and Europe have close high-level exchanges. The first group meeting between Chinese and Central and East European leaders has given a strong boost to the all-round development of China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership. China and Japan have reached important agreement on Japan's investment in China's inter-bank bond market and the launch of direct trading between their currencies. People-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries have deepened. As things stand, China's relations with other major countries are on a more solid footing with even broader prospects. We will continue to increase high-level exchanges and dialogue with other countries, enhance strategic mutual trust, step up practical cooperation, and make fresh headway in growing a new type of relations between major countries.

We will continue to uphold mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination, and maintain regional and international peace and stability. As a responsible member of the international community, China consistently maintains that disputes be settled through dialogue and negotiation and firmly upholds the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and basic norms governing international relations. China has actively promoted peace and encouraged negotiations and played an important and constructive role in addressing hotspot issues. We have followed closely developments in West Asia and North Africa and made tremendous efforts to help ease the situation in the region. On the Syrian issue, China upholds the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and does not favor or impose its position on any side. China has put forward a six-point proposal to seek a political solution to the Syrian issue and supports the mediation efforts of the Joint UN/Arab League Special Envoy Kofi Annan. All this attests to the role of China as a responsible major country. The Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Action Group on Syria held not long ago in Geneva achieved positive results. China has made due efforts to this end and hopes that what was agreed upon at the meeting will be implemented. We have facilitated and actively participated in the resumption of talks between P5+1 and Iran, put forward proposals conducive to the talks, and played an important role for the restart of the dialogue process on the Iranian nuclear issue.We have made vigorous efforts to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, uphold the position for a denuclearized Peninsula, and prevent escalation of tension on the Peninsula. All this shows that China is a responsible country that upholds principles when it comes to the issue of the Korean Peninsula. In today's world, international and regional security is still confronted with multiple challenges and hotspot issues including Syria, the Iranian nuclear issue, and the Korean nuclear issue are still evolving in a complex way. We will continue to work with other parties to actively facilitate peace and talks, ease tensions over some issues and promote regional peace and tranquility.

We will continue to actively participate in, give proper guidance to and promote the reform of international governance mechanisms and regional cooperation. China takes an active part in the reform of international governance mechanisms and the formulation of international rules, joins efforts to address global issues and promotes regional and international cooperation. It is actively involved in the international system and builds and contributes to the system. President Hu Jintao attended the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit and put forward a four-point proposal for enhancing nuclear security, playing an important role in advancing international nuclear security cooperation. The materialization of China's initiative at the Fourth BRICS Leaders Meeting on stepping up fiscal and financial cooperation became another highlight in the cooperation among BRICS countries. President Hu Jintao made a proposal at the G20 Summit in Los Cabos covering five areas such as promoting steady recovery of the world economy, making important contribution to the success of the summit. China successfully hosted the Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, during which a development strategy plan for SCO's next ten years was adopted. At the summit Afghanistan was admitted in the SCO as an observer state and Turkey as a dialogue partner, further contributing to regional stability and development. China takes an active part in the international cooperation on sustainable development and sets aside 200 million RMB yuan for international cooperation spanning three years to help small island countries, least developed countries and African countries tackle climate change. Looking ahead, we still face daunting challenges in global governance. We are ready to work with various parties to continue to act in a cooperative spirit and deepen reforms of the international system so as to make the international political and economic order more just and equitable.

We will continue to uphold the principle of equality and peaceful coexistence and work vigorously to foster a regional environment featuring peace, stability, equality, mutual trust and win-win cooperation. At present, the Asia-Pacific region is generally stable and the momentum of economic growth remains strong. This has not come easily and needs to be cherished by countries in the region. China pursues a policy of developing goodneighborly and friendly ties with its neighbors. It consistently sees other Asian countries as good neighbors, good friends and good partners and it is committed to promoting long-term peace and common prosperity in Asia. Since the beginning of the year, we have enhanced mutual trust with other Asian countries and conducted frequent exchanges with them at various levels. In the first half of this year alone, there were over 50 high-level mutual visits and meetings between China and other Asian countries. We have worked vigorously to promote regional economic development. China's contribution rate to economic growth in Asia has been over 50%, and China has been the biggest export market for most Asian countries for many consecutive years, including Japan and the ROK, thus playing a positive role in fueling the robust growth of the regional economy. We actively expand exchanges with other Asia-Pacific countries, extensively participate in regional security dialogue mechanisms such as the ASEAN Regional Forum and facilitate efforts to build military mutual trust and consultation mechanisms with our neighboring countries. We properly handle disputes concerning territorial and maritime rights and interests with neighboring countries, consistently commit to resolve the disputes through bilateral dialogue and uphold the larger interests of state sovereignty and regional stability. Going forward, we will make good use of the opportunities of APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and the ASEAN Summit and Related Summits to further strengthen exchanges and dialogue with other Asia-Pacific economies, actively advance cooperation in various fields and jointly uphold a prosperous and stable Asia-Pacific as we see it today.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Friends,

History is like a long river. We are lucky enough to live in an era when peace, development and cooperation prevail. In this era, individual countries with their interests entwined have to fend off risks and pursue security together. Only by rejecting the old paradigm of rivalry for hegemony, expansion by the use of force and confrontation between different blocs, can we break new ground for a world in which countries live in peace, treat each other as equals and work together for win-win results. To achieve this noble goal, China will remain firmly committed to the path of peaceful development, unswervingly pursue foreign policies consistent with peaceful development, and work with other countries hand in hand to make greater contribution to a world of enduring peace and development.

Thank you.