China's Peaceful Development Road
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-22 11:42

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.