People's Republic of China, 2013

This

year has been an unusual one in China’s development.

China’s new central collective leadership has put

forward the concept of the “Chinese dream”, a dream of

the great renewal of the Chinese nation, and it is leading

the 1.3 billion Chinese people in an endeavour to fulfil

the two centennial goals, namely, to finish building a

moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020

and to turn China into a modern socialist country by

the mid-twenty-first century. Having experienced

profound changes in the past 5,000 years and especially

the past century, China has reached a new historical

starting point today.

What development path will China take in the

future? What domestic and foreign policies will it

pursue? And what kind of international role will it play?

I understand that those questions are of great interest to

the international community. As the Foreign Minister

of the new Chinese Government, I wish to give an

emphatic answer to each of them.

China will stay firmly on the path of peaceful

development. China’s rapid development over the years

has given rise to worries that China might follow the

old pattern of wealth breeding arrogance and strength

leading to hegemony, and various versions of the China

threat theory have surfaced. However, what happened

in the past should not be applied to today’s China.

The outdated Cold War mentality has no place

in the new era of globalization. The Chinese nation

loves peace and the Chinese culture values harmony.

Throughout history, the Chinese people have always

embraced international exchanges and trade, not

foreign aggression and expansion, and have adhered to

the patriotic resolve to defend the homeland rather than

the colonialist doctrine of seizing new territories.

The culture of a country determines its values,

and its history points the way to its future. Close to 40

years ago, it was from this rsotrum that the Chinese

leader Deng Xiaoping solemnly declared on behalf of

the Chinese Government that China would never seek

hegemony in the world. Today, his statement remains

our unchanging commitment and conviction. China has

honoured and will continue to honour its promise and

remain a staunch force for upholding world peace.

China pursues peaceful development and calls

on all other countries to follow the same path. Since

the beginning of reform and opening up, China has

become increasingly interdependent with the global

economy and integrated into the international system.

We are committed to working with others to establish

a new type of international relations, based on win-win

cooperation, and to seek the peaceful resolution of

international and regional disputes. With regard to

China’s disputes with some countries over territorial

sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, we

sincerely hope to resolve them in accordance with

proper procedures, through negotiation and consultation

with the countries directly involved. Those disputes

that cannot be resolved now can be shelved for future

resolution. That is our consistent position and practice.

On the other hand, we will, whatever the circumstances,

firmly safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial

integrity and resolutely uphold China’s legitimate and

lawful rights and interests.

China will remain committed to reform, to opening

up and to sustainable development. It has been five

years since the outbreak of the international financial

crisis. The global economy is back on the right track

to recovery, but the foundations of the recovery are not

solid and the speed is not fast enough. The root causes

of the financial crisis have yet to be removed, and the

structural problems of developed countries remain

unresolved. The adjustment of unconventional monetary

policies from the outside, coupled with other factors,

have posed new challenges and the risk of financial

market volatility to emerging market countries.

Where the Chinese economy is heading engages

both domestic and international attention. In that

regard, I wish to inform the Assembly that both the

fundamentals and the overall performance of China’s

economy are sound, and China’s development prospects

are bright. The leading indicators of the Chinese

economy are generally good, and China leads the major

economies in growth rate.

In pursuit of progress while maintaining stability,

the Chinese Government has followed a macroeconomic

policy that addresses both immediate and long-term

needs and has adopted a series of innovative policy

measures with a view to promoing steady growth,

economic structural adjustment and reform. We are

vigorously pursuing reform, opening up, deepening

economic structural adjustment and accelerating

the shift in our growth model. We are implementing

the basic State policy of resource conservation and

environmental protection and promoting green,

circular and low-carbon development to build a sound

ecological environment and a beautiful China.

With its increasing economic output and its

changing growth model, China’s economy has entered

a phase of high-to-medium growth rate. That is

dictated by the law of economics, and it will ensure

the sustained and healthy growth of the Chinese

economy. The Chinese economy is being upgraded,

and its future growth will deliver major dividends in

four areas as a result of industrialization, information

technology application, a new type of urbanization and

agricultural modernization; reform and innovation;

structural readjustment; and further opening up. It is

projected that in the coming five years, China’s imports

of commodities will exceed $10 trillion, its overseas

investment will reach $500 billion, and Chinese

tourists will make over 400 million outbound visits.

That will give stronger impetus to the world economy

and bring an increasing number of tangible benefits to

other countries.

China will firmly promote reform of the global

governance system with the United Nations at its core.

The United Nations is a big stage for all countries to

conduct consultation and cooperation with one another.

It is also a big family where people of all countries are

brought together. It is our consistent position that the

purposes and principles of the Charter of the United

Nations form the cornerstone of current international

relations and provide safeguards for world peace and

stability. Respecting national sovereignty and opposing

interference in internal affairs, safeguarding peace

and opposing aggression, and promoting equality and

opposing power politics; those are important principles

that must be observed. China firmly upholds the role

and authority of the United Nations, supports the United

Nations in its renewal and self-improvement efforts, in

keeping with a changing world, and looks forward to a

United Nations that plays a larger role in international

affairs. China is ready to deepen cooperation with

the United Nations and get more actively involved in

United Nations activities in various fields.

China is committed to promoting democracy

in international relations and the trend toward a

multipolar world. We call for a greater representation

and voice for developing countries in the global

governance system and support the Group of 20, the

BRICS group — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South

Africa — and other emerging mechanisms that are

playing a key role in making the international order

fairer and more equitable. We also call for the reform

of the international monetary and financial systems and

want the role of the World Trade Organization as the

main forum in the area of trade to be maintained. We

are opposed to trade protectionism and are working to

make economic globalization more balanced, inclusive

and beneficial to all. We call on countries to enhance

macroeconomic policy coordination and be mindful

of the spillover effects of their respective adjustment

of economic policies. We call for the strengthening of

North-South dialogue and South-South cooperation to

make development benefits more accessible to people

of all countries.

China will firmly fulfil its international

responsibilities and obligations. The Chinese nation

is responsible and ready to play its part. Although it

remains a developing country facing the daunting task

of development, China, as the second-largest economy

and a permanent member of the Security Council, is

fully aware of its responsibilities and the expectations

placed on it by the international community. We will be

fully and more actively engaged in international affairs

and work closely with other countries to meet complex

global challenges and tackle the difficult issues facing

humankind. We will voice China’s views, offer China’s

wisdom, propose China’s solutions, play China’s due

role and provide more public goods to the international

community.

We will vigorously advocate the right vision on

justice versus special interests, and we will endeavour

to build a community of common destiny with other

developing countries. In our exchanges and cooperation

with other developing countries, we will uphold justice

and place it above special interests. We will provide

assistance to other developing countries to the best

of our ability, so as to enable developing countries to

realize independent and sustainable development.

We will play a more proactive and constructive role

in addressing international and regional hotspot issues

to promote peace and dialogue, defuse conflicts and

safeguard world peace and stability. We will maintain

our escort missions and counter-piracy operations in the

Gulf of Aden and increase our participation in United

Nations peacekeeping operations so as to contribute

more to peace and security in Africa and other relevant

regions.

The turmoil in Syria has lasted for nearly three

years, causing great suffering and trauma to both the

Syrian people and Syria’s neighbours. The recent use of

chemical weapons has met with universal condemnation.

China firmly opposes the use of chemical weapons.

We hope to see the early adoption of a Security

Council resolution to support the Organization for the

Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in launching

the verification and destruction of chemical weapons,

and we stand ready to make financial contributions to

the OPCW for the destruction of chemical weapons in

Syria and to send experts to work there on the ground.

China calls for an immediate end to hostilities and

violence in Syria so that the necessary conditions for

the verification and destruction of chemical weapons

can be created. We call for the early convening of

the “Geneva II” conference and faster progress on a

political resolution of the Syrian issue. China seeks

no gains for itself in Syria. We respect the aspirations

and choice of the Syrian people. China is following the

humanitarian situation in Syria with great concern. We

have provided and will continue to provide assistance

within our means to the Syrian people, including Syrian

refugees outside the country.

Recently, China has been providing emergency

humanitarian aid to Jordan in the amount of ¥15 million,

and has provided emergency humanitarian aid in cash

worth ¥24 million to the World Food Programme and the

World Health Organization for displaced people within

Syria and Syrian refugees in Lebanon, respectively.

China has been working to promote a peaceful

settlement to the Iranian nuclear issue through

dialogue. We have played a constructive role in

seeking a comprehensive, lasting and appropriate

solution to the Iranian nuclear issue so as to uphold the

international non-proliferation regime and peace and

stability in the Middle East. The dialogue between Iran

and the permanent members of the Security Council

and Germany has created new opportunities. All the

relevant parties should scale up diplomatic efforts and

work for substantive progress in the dialogue at an early

date.

The Palestinian issue is at the core of the Middle

East conflict. Guided by President Xi Jinping’s four-

point proposal on resolving the Palestinian issue, China

will continue to work for a comprehensive, just and

durable solution to the issue.

Thanks to the concerted efforts of all the relevant

parties, tensions on the Korean peninsula are easing.

Achieving the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula

and maintaining long-term peace and stability on the

peninsula will respond to the common interests of all

parties concerned. It is China’s consistent position that

a negotiated solution through dialogue is the right way

to resolve the nuclear issue on the peninsula, and the

Six-Party Talks are an effective platform to promote

denuclearization on the Korean peninsula. This year

marks the tenth anniversary of the launch of the Six-

Party Talks. We hope that all parties will create

conducive conditions, build consensus, work towards

the same goal and resume the talks at an early date.

International development cooperation is at a crucial

stage, where we must build on past achievements to

make new progress. China supports the continued and

full implementation of the Millennium Development

Goals and the early launch of intergovernmental

negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda. The

post-2015 development agenda should continue to focus

on development and poverty elimination, give due

consideration to national conditions and the various

stages of development in the different countries, and

respect their independent choice of development path.

The agenda should give priority to strengthening global

development partnerships; adhere to the principles of

common but differentiated responsibilities, equity and

respective capabilities; improve follow-up mechanisms;

step up development financing; promote trade and

investment liberalization and facilitation; and increase

official development aid and technical support to

developing countries.

China welcomes the positive outcomes of the

United Nations Climate Change Conference held in

Doha in late 2012. China hopes that the developed

countries will demonstrate political will and honour

their commitments by scaling up emissions-reduction

efforts and providing capital, technology and capacity-

building support to developing countries. The Chinese

Government takes climate change seriously, and the

many forceful policy measures it has taken have resulted

in notable progress. China will continue to play its due

role in addressing global climate change.

Time flies. We will soon be celebrating the

seventieth anniversary of the founding of the United

Nations. Born out of the ashes of the Second World War,

the United Nations embodies the yearning of the peoples

of all countries for world peace and global development.

The Chinese dream is a dream of prosperity for the

country and happiness for the people; it has much in

common with the dream of people across the world. As

a responsible Member of the United Nations, China is

ready to work with all other Member States to faithfully

adhere to the purposes of the Charter of the United

Nations, faithfully carry out its historic mission and

continue to make relentless efforts to advance the noble

cause of peace and development for humankind.