V. Building a Harmonious World of Sustained Peace and Common
Prosperity
Mankind has only one home - the Earth. Building a harmonious world of
sustained peace and common prosperity is a common wish of the people throughout
the world as well as the lofty goal of China in taking the road of peaceful
development.
China holds that the harmonious world should be democratic, harmonious, just,
and tolerant.
- Upholding democracy and equality to achieve coordination and cooperation.
All countries should, on the basis of the UN Charter and the Five Principles of
Peaceful Coexistence, promote democracy in international relations through
dialogue, communication and cooperation. The internal affairs of a country
should be decided by its people, international affairs should be discussed and
solved by all countries on an equal footing, and developing countries ought to
enjoy the equal right to participate in and make decisions on international
affairs. All countries should respect each other and treat each other equally.
No country is entitled to impose its own will upon others, or maintain its
security and development at the price of the interests of others. The
international community should oppose unilateralism, advocate and promote
multilateralism, and make the UN and its Security Council play a more active
role in international affairs. When dealing with international relations, it is
necessary to persist in proceeding from the common interests of all the people
throughout the world, make efforts to expand common interests, enhance
understanding through communication, strengthen cooperation through
understanding and create a win-win situation through cooperation.
- Upholding harmony and mutual trust to realize common security. All
countries should join hands to respond to threats against world security. We
should abandon the Cold War mentality, cultivate a new security concept
featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination, build a fair
and effective collective security mechanism aimed at jointly preventing conflict
and war, and cooperate to eliminate or reduce as much as possible threats from
such non-traditional security problems as terrorist activities, financial crises
and natural disasters, so as to safeguard world peace, security and stability.
We should persist in settling international disputes and conflicts peacefully
through consultations and negotiations on the basis of equality, work together
to oppose acts of encroachment on the sovereignty of other countries,
interference in the internal affairs of other countries, and willful use or
threat of use of military force. We should step up cooperation in a resolute
fight against terrorism, stamp out both the symptoms and root causes of the
problem of terrorism, with special emphasis on eliminating the root cause of the
menace. We should achieve effective disarmament and arms control in a fair,
rational, comprehensive and balanced fashion, prevent the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction, vigorously promote the international nuclear
disarmament process, and maintain global strategic stability.
- Upholding fairness and mutual benefit to achieve common development. In the
process of economic globalization, we should stick to the principle of fairness,
achieve balanced and orderly development, and benefit all countries, developing
countries in particular, instead of further widening of the gap between South
and North. We should propel economic globalization towards the direction of
common prosperity. The developed countries should shoulder greater
responsibility for a universal, coordinated and balanced development of the
world, while the developing countries should make full use of their own
advantages to achieve development. We should actively further trade and
investment liberalization and facilitation, remove all kinds of trade barriers,
increase market access, ease restrictions on technology export, so as to
establish an international multilateral trading system that is public, fair,
rational, transparent, open and nondiscriminatory, and construct a good trading
environment conducive to orderly global economic development. We should further
improve the international financial system to create a stable and highly
efficient financial environment conducive to global economic growth. We should
step up worldwide dialogue and cooperation on energy, and jointly maintain
energy security and energy market stability. We should actively promote and
guarantee human rights to ensure that everyone enjoys equal opportunities and
right to pursue overall development. We should make innovations in the mode of
development, promote the harmonious development of man and Nature, and take the
road of sustainable development.
- Upholding tolerance and opening to achieve dialogue among civilizations.
Diversity of civilizations is a basic feature of human society, and an important
driving force for the progress of mankind. All countries should respect other
country's right to independently choose their own social systems and paths of
development, learn from one another and draw on the strong points of others to
make up for their own weak points, thus achieving rejuvenation and development
in line with their own national conditions. Dialogues and exchanges among
civilizations should be encouraged with the aim of doing away with misgivings
and estrangement existing between civilizations, and develop together by seeking
common ground while putting aside differences, so as to make mankind more
harmonious and the world more colorful. We should endeavor to preserve the
diversity of civilizations and development patterns, and jointly build a
harmonious world where all civilizations coexist and accommodate one another.
Over the years, China has persisted in the policies of peace, development and
cooperation, and pursued an independent foreign policy of peace. In the spirit
of democracy, harmony, justice and tolerance, China has been playing a
constructive role, and making efforts to attain the lofty goal of building a
harmonious world together with all other countries.
China is working hard to bring about a just and rational new international
political and economic order, and stands for greater democracy in international
relations. China adheres to the purpose and principles of the UN Charter,
attaches great importance to the UN's role in international affairs as the core
of the international multilateral mechanism, vigorously promotes multilateral
cooperation to settle regional conflicts and development problems, and actively
supports the UN to play a greater role in international affairs. China backs up
UN reform, and firmly helps safeguard its long-term interests and the common
interests of its members. China has joined more than 130 inter-governmental
international organizations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), is committed to 267 international multilateral treaties such as the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and actively participates in
international cooperation in such fields as anti-terrorism, arms control,
non-proliferation, peacekeeping, economy and trade, development, human rights,
law-enforcement, and the environment.
China takes practical steps to establish fraternal relations with surrounding
regions and promote cooperation in maintaining regional security. In line with
the generally acknowledged principles of international law and in the spirit of
consultation on the basis of equality, mutual understanding and mutual
accommodation, China has made efforts to properly resolve boundary issues with
neighboring countries, settle disputes and promote stability. So far, thanks to
joint efforts with various countries, China has signed boundary treaties with 12
continental neighbors, settling boundary issues left over from history. The
boundary issues with India and Bhutan are in the process of being settled. China
actively promotes dialogue and cooperation on regional security, and plays a
positive and constructive role in such regional mechanisms as ASEAN + China,
ASEAN + China, Japan and the ROK, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation, ASEAN Regional Forum, and Asian Cooperation
Dialogue. China has joined the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast
Asia, lending new vitality to the peaceful and friendly relationship between
China and ASEAN members.
China plays a constructive role in resolving weighty international and
regional issues for common security. With respect to the nuclear issue on the
Korean Peninsula, China has worked tirelessly with the other relevant parties,
and succeeded in convening and hosting first the Three-Party Talks (China, North
Korea and the United States) and then the Six-Party Talks (China, North Korea,
the United States, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan). China was
instrumental in getting the participants to issue a joint statement, thus
mitigating tension on the peninsula, and contributing constructively to peace
and stability in Northeast Asia. Regarding the Middle East issue, China
encourages the parties involved to resume talks and start a new peace process
based on relevant UN resolutions and the principle of "Land for Peace." As for
the Iraq issue, China advocates seeking a political solution within the UN
framework, and is making great efforts in this regard. On the Iran nuclear
issue, China has tried several approaches to persuade the parties involved to
engage in dialogue and find a proper and peaceful settlement within the IAEA
framework. Moreover, China is expanding its participation in UN peacekeeping
efforts, having sent military personnel, police and civil officers on 14 UN
peacekeeping missions, to the number of 3,000.
For many years, China has provided assistance within its capacity to other
developing countries to help them build the capacity for self-development as
well as engage in common development. So far, China has provided assistance to
more than 110 countries and regional organizations for over 2,000 projects.
China has reduced or canceled 198 debts totaling 16.6 billion yuan owed to it by
44 developing countries. In May 2005, the International Poverty-Reduction Center
in China was formally set up in Beijing. In September 2005, at the High-Level
Meeting on Financing for Development, on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of
the United Nations, President Hu Jintao announced the new measures China would
adopt to increase assistance to other developing countries: China will give zero
tariff treatment for certain products to all the 39 Least-Developed Countries
(LDCs) having diplomatic relations with China, covering most commodities
exported by these countries to China; further expand aid to Heavily Indebted
Poor Countries (HIPCs) and LDCs; through bilateral channels, exempt or cancel in
other ways within the next two years of all the outstanding interest-free and
low-interest government loans due as of the end of 2004 owed by all the HIPCs
having diplomatic relations with China; within the next three years, provide
US$10 billion in preferential loans and preferential export buyer's credit to
developing countries to help them strengthen the construction of infrastructure,
promote enterprises of both sides to carry out joint venture cooperation; within
the next three years, increase aid to developing countries, particularly aid to
African countries in related areas, provide to them medicines including
effective drugs to prevent malaria, help them build and improve medical
facilities and train medical personnel; and train 30,000 persons of various
professions from the developing countries within the next three years, and help
relevant countries expedite the training of talented people.
China continuously enhances exchanges and dialogues with other civilizations
to promote mutual tolerance. Opening, tolerance and all-embracing are important
features of Chinese civilization. As the trend of economic globalization
develops in depth, China, all the more aware of the significance of exchanges
and dialogues among different civilizations, is working harder to get the rest
of the world to understand China, while absorbing and drawing on the useful
fruits of other civilizations. In recent years, China has cooperated with
numerous countries in holding Culture Weeks, Culture Tours, Culture Festivals
and Culture Years, thus helping promote exchanges and understanding between the
Chinese people and other peoples, and creating new forms for equal dialogue
between civilizations.
