People's Republic of China, 1995

Mr. President, please allow me, first of all, to

warmly congratulate you on your election to the

presidency of the current session of the General

Assembly. I am convinced that with your remarkable

ability and rich experience, you will admirably fulfil this

mission. I would also like to express my appreciation and

thanks to Mr. Amara Essy for the important contribution

he has made during his presidency.

I wish to avail myself of this opportunity to extend

my welcome and congratulations to the Republic of Palau,

which was admitted into the United Nations after the last

session.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the end of

the Second World War and the founding of the United

Nations. Over the past 50 years, the United Nations has

stood the test of the vicissitudes in the international

situation, grown steadily, scored remarkable achievements

and made major contributions to the peace and prosperity

of mankind. Its membership has increased from 51 at its

founding to today’s 185. The status and role of the United

Nations, the most universal and authoritative

intergovernmental organization of sovereign States today,

is irreplaceable by any other international organization.

The United Nations has traversed a tortuous and

uneven path over the past fifty years, just like the

development of anything else. On the occasion of the

fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations,

it is time to review the purposes and principles of the

United Nations Charter, earnestly summarize the positive

and negative experience, and introduce appropriate and

necessary reforms so as to revitalize the United Nations

and usher it into the new century with a new look to meet

the challenge of the times. This is the call of all peoples

and a lofty mission of the times.

The United Nations, which was founded in the

triumph of the world war against fascism, reflects the

ardent desire and determination of the world’s people to

avert the scourge of war forever, safeguard world peace

and security, carry out friendly international cooperation

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and achieve common development. History has repeatedly

proved that adherence to the purposes and principles of the

United Nations Charter will enable the United Nations to

play a positive role in safeguarding peace and promoting

development, while violation of and departure from the

purposes and principles of the Charter will impair the

dignity and image of the United Nations and weaken its

role. Therefore, to continue to uphold and carry forward the

purposes and principles of the Charter is an unshirkable

responsibility of all United Nations Members and a basic

principle guiding the reform of the United Nations.

The core of the United Nations Charter is the principle

of equality between sovereign States and non-interference

in each other’s internal affairs. All sovereign States,

whether they are big or small, rich or poor, strong or weak,

are equal members of the international community. The

internal affairs of a country should be managed by its own

people. Major world affairs should be addressed by

countries through consultations on the basis of equality and

mutual respect. In international relations, to bully the small,

oppress the poor, override the weak, impose one’s own

social system, ideology and values on others or interfere in

other countries’ internal affairs all run counter to the spirit

of the United Nations Charter. Some people are publicly

clamouring for “containment” of other countries, which

shows that the cold war mentality still refuses to quit the

stage of history. But it will ultimately be discarded by

history. The post-war period of half a century proves that

in handling State-to-State relations, “hot war”, “cold war”

or “bloc politics” do not work. Strict observance of the

principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial

integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each

other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit and

peaceful coexistence are the only way for States to live in

amity with each other and achieve common development.

Since the last session of the General Assembly, thanks

to the joint efforts of various quarters, the tendency towards

the peaceful settlement of disputes through negotiations has

grown and international economic cooperation has gained

momentum. However, there still remain many destabilizing

and uncertain factors in the international situation.

Hegemonism and power politics continue to hold out. Peace

and development, the two major tasks of the world today,

still face grave challenges.

Armed conflicts and catastrophic wars in some parts

of the world remain unabated, which has not only inflicted

heavy losses of life and property on the countries and

peoples concerned, but also casts a shadow over regional

peace and stability and that of the whole world. All this

cannot but cause concern and distress among the world’s

people. As the background and causes behind these

conflicts are complicated, to seek a just, fair and

appropriate solution to them would call for tremendous

and concerted efforts by all the parties concerned, the

United Nations and the international community as a

whole. We maintain that the parties concerned should, in

the fundamental and long-term interests of the people,

seek just and fair solutions through negotiations, taking

into full account both history and reality as well as the

reasonable interests and positions of all sides. Where

consensus cannot be reached immediately, the parties

concerned should exercise restraint and patience so as to

prevent contradictions from intensifying and at the same

time try to create conditions and an atmosphere for an

eventual peaceful settlement.

United Nations peace-keeping operations in recent

years have played a useful role in settling international

disputes peacefully. They have both accumulated

successful experience and learned lessons from setbacks.

We believe that, to ensure a healthy development of

United Nations peace-keeping operations and activities in

other related fields such as preventive diplomacy, the

following guidelines should be established and followed:

Observation of the purposes and principles of the

United Nations Charter, in particular the principle of

respect for State sovereignty and non-interference in the

internal affairs of other countries;

Settlement of disputes through peaceful means such

as good offices, mediation and negotiations instead of

resort to frequent mandatory actions. Even humanitarian

operations should not resort to military means;

Opposition to double standards and the imposition of

the policies and views of one or a few countries on the

Security Council. Some countries should not be allowed

to carry out military intervention in the name of the

United Nations;

For peace-keeping operations, adherence to the

principles that have proved effective, such as obtaining

prior consent from the parties concerned, observing strict

neutrality and the non-use of force except for self-

defence;

Adoption of a realistic approach and confining the

operation within one’s capability. Peace-keeping

operations should be launched only when conditions are

ripe and should refrain, in whatever circumstances, from

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becoming a party to a conflict in deviation from the

fundamental orientation of such operations.

It has been demonstrated time and again that United

Nations peace-keeping operations, if divorced from these

guidelines, would, contrary to our wishes, fail to achieve

their desired objectives and might even go astray.

Last May, the Review and Extension Conference of

the States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

Nuclear Weapons (NPT) adopted the decision to renew the

NPT indefinitely. This serves the interests of all signatories,

helps to strengthen the international non-proliferation

regime and is conducive to the maintenance of world peace

and security. China believes that nuclear non-proliferation

is only an interim step towards the ultimate goal of the

complete prohibition and total destruction of nuclear

weapons. The indefinite extension of the NPT must not be

construed as an indefinite license for the nuclear-weapon

States to perpetuate their prerogatives.

One year ago, also from this rostrum, on behalf of the

Chinese Government I called for the conclusion of a

convention on the complete prohibition of nuclear weapons

and put forward a series of complete and interrelated

proposals on nuclear disarmament. We are pleased to note

that the negotiations on a comprehensive test-ban treaty

have produced some gratifying progress. China supports the

conclusion of such a treaty no later than 1996 and will

continue to work with other countries to this end. Once the

treaty enters into force, China will stop its nuclear testing.

China’s possession of a limited nuclear capability is

entirely for self-defence and for deterring the nuclear threat

against it. The Chinese Government has from the very

beginning unilaterally undertaken not to be the first to use

nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances

and not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against

non-nuclear-weapon States. China’s nuclear weapons

therefore do not constitute a threat to any country. We

strongly urge other nuclear-weapon States to respond

positively to China’s initiative by immediately starting

negotiations aimed at concluding a treaty on mutual non-

first-use of nuclear weapons and an agreement on the non-

use or non-threat of use of nuclear weapons against non-

nuclear-weapon States and nuclear-free zones.

It has become a trend in today’s world that when

countries formulate their domestic and foreign policies they

accord top priority to the economy and pay close attention

to national economic development. The worldwide tendency

towards economic integration, regionalization and the

formation of economic groupings has accelerated, and

competition among States in the economic, trade,

scientific and technological fields has further intensified.

Under such circumstances, the developing countries are

faced with a formidable challenge as they strive for

economic growth and higher living standards for their

people.

Furthermore, over 1 billion people on this planet

remain in abject poverty; this constitutes one of the world

community’s most acute problems. Given much-needed

support to the developing countries as they reactivate their

economies and creating a favourable external environment

for them are not only important conditions for the shared

economic growth and common prosperity of all countries,

but also a crucial guarantee for lasting peace and stability

throughout the world. Given the present situation, the

United Nations should ask itself to pay at least as much

attention to development as to peace, effectively perform

its duties under the Charter and play a more dynamic role

in galvanizing economic growth and development in the

developing countries. The reform of the United Nations

must result in the strengthening, not the weakening, of its

role in the area of development.

True, fairly rapid economic growth in the developing

countries must depend primarily on their own efforts.

However, it is also important for the international

community, and the developed countries in particular, to

take practical and effective measures to open markets,

provide development funds, transfer technology, increase

development aid and reduce the debt burden in favour of

the developing countries. International economic

cooperation should be guided by the principle of mutual

opening-up, equality and mutual benefit. Such practices as

implementing protectionist policies of one form or another

and attaching political strings to economic assistance to

developing countries are obviously misguided.

Profound changes have taken place in China amid

the surging tide of change and development across the

world. The 17 years that have elapsed since the beginning

of reform and opening-up in China have been

unprecedented in terms of the economic growth rate and

the improvement of the people’s living standards. At

present, China enjoys political stability, economic

prosperity, ethnic harmony and vigorous advances in

democracy, legality and community undertakings. China’s

exchanges and cooperation with the rest of the world have

reached a level unprecedented in both scope and depth.

Although there may still be many difficulties and

challenges along the road ahead, we are confident that,

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through several generations of hard work, our people will

lift China out of economic and cultural backwardness and

turn it into a highly prosperous and democratic modern

country.

The Chinese people are peace-loving people. China’s

history for over a century following the Opium War was

one of tears, blood and humiliation in which the Chinese

nation was subjected to repeated aggression, suppression

and plunder at the hands of the big Powers. Do unto others

as you would have others do unto you. The Chinese people

treasure their hard-won independence and freedom and will

never commit aggression or intervene against others. China

is opposed to hegemonism and power politics of any kind

and will never seek hegemony for itself. With a population

of 1.2 billion, China will remain a low-income developing

country for a very long time and the steady improvement of

our people’s living standards will remain our objective,

towards the attainment of which no effort will be spared.

Even when China grows stronger, it will continue firmly to

pursue its independent foreign policy of peace and will live

in amity with other nations. A stable and prosperous China

is a positive factor for peace and development in Asia and

the world at large. This is a conclusion that people of

vision around the world have come to share.

The Chinese people have waged heroic and unyielding

struggles to resist external aggression and oppression and to

defend the sovereignty, independence and unity of the

country. There is but one China in the world. The

Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole

legal Government of China. It is the sole representative of

China at the United Nations, and Taiwan is an inalienable

part of China. The peaceful reunification of the two sides

of the Taiwan Straits represents the unshakable will and

determination of the entire Chinese people, including our

compatriots in Taiwan. Proceeding from this reality, the

Chinese Government has put forward the correct proposal

on peaceful reunification within the framework of the

concept of “one country, two systems” and a series of

realistic and practicable policies and measures. The past

few years have seen a steady expansion and deepening of

exchanges and contacts between the two sides in various

fields. Any attempt to obstruct peaceful reunification and to

split Taiwan from China is doomed to failure. Should

anyone try to do so, he would be lifting a stone only to

drop it on his own toes.

History moves on. Mankind is progressing. In four

years we will usher in a new millennium. The future is full

of promise. Let us join hands and make concerted efforts to

bring about a better world in which there are peace and

cooperation, justice and equality, mutual respect and

common development, a world of universal prosperity and

continuous progress.