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BUILDING A HARMONIOUS WORLD

Chinese President Hu Jintao spells out China’s views at the UN Summit

By CHEN XULONG

The UN World Summit, coinciding with the organization’s 60th anniversary, recently held the world’s attention in a vice-like grip, as hundreds of the world’s leaders explored ways of reforming the world body. Recollecting the changes that have taken place in the UN over the past 60 years and its monumental contributions to world peace, those attending were generous in their praise for the invaluable role the UN has played in this regard.

In addition, taking advantage of this international platform, leaders aired their respective views on the current state of world affairs, making known their countries’ diplomatic ideologies and principled policies. More importantly, a flood of creative suggestions were submitted on ways to promote peace and development on the planet.

As a founding member of the UN and a permanent seat holder in the Security Council, China attached great importance to this historically significant summit. Chinese President Hu Jintao, who personally headed the Chinese delegation, participated in the opening ceremony, the plenary meeting, the roundtable discussion, the high-level meeting on financing for development and the Security Council summit, as well as conducting several important bilateral activities.

On these occasions, President Hu elaborated on China’s views on the current international situation and other major issues on the global arena. He also made detailed proposals on promoting the healthy and harmonious development of international relations, enhancing the UN’s role and stepping up the UN reform, while announcing that China will take major steps to strengthen its economic cooperation with other developing countries.

China’s clarion call for peace, development and cooperation, consistent with the principles of the UN Charter, harmonizes well with the current trend of the times.

China came out strongly on four issues: renewing its commitment to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter to help advance all UN undertakings, thus enabling the organization to play a greater role in international affairs; stepping up the settlement of the development issue in full consideration of the interests of developing countries by appealing to the summit to adopt resolutions on increasing development aid, implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and promoting international cooperation oriented toward development; proceeding with the UN reform in an active yet prudent manner with a view to enhancing its capacity of addressing all kinds of threats and challenges; and consolidating multilateralism, forging solidarity and cooperation among member countries and promoting the healthy and harmonious development of international relations.

Specifically, the following messages China conveyed at the world summit deserve serious attention.

Upholding Multilateralism

FIRM STAND: Chinese President Hu Jintao drives home China’s message to the world during the UN World Summit

As is known, China highly values the UN’s role in maintaining world peace and development, believing that the UN plays an indispensable part in international affairs. China has made it plain that the UN, as the most universal, most representative and most authoritative international organization, is the best venue for practicing multilateralism as well as an efficient platform for dealing with various threats and challenges collectively. It should continue to be an envoy of peace and a pioneer for promoting development.

The Chinese president stressed that countries should adhere to multilateralism and join hands to cope with global security threats to achieve common security. In an effort to address the ever-increasing global threats and challenges and bring about universal security, multilateral cooperation should be strengthened, the role of the UN should be enhanced, and the authority of the Security Council should be maintained.

In short, China holds that the UN’s role in safeguarding world peace and security can be reinforced only when multilateralism prevails. Likewise, the multilateral approach with the UN at the core can be further boosted only when the UN’s role is brought into full play.

New Security Concept

China supports the UN’s endeavor to reach a new consensus on international security and establish a comprehensive collective security mechanism based on that consensus. It favors putting the UN and its Security Council at the center of the collective security mechanism, while laying paramount emphasis on the new concept of security.

President Hu pointed out that as the core of the collective security mechanism, the UN plays an irreplaceable role in international cooperation to ensure global security. As the special agency of the UN responsible for maintaining world peace and security, the Security Council must be given the authority to carry out its mandate. He further noted that a new security concept featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation should be adopted in place of the Cold War mentality, in order to build a fair and effective collective security mechanism.

Cooperating for Win-Win

China gives top priority to the issue of development. It prompted the UN summit to adopt major resolutions on the development issue, while proposing the initiatives of sticking to mutually beneficial cooperation, promoting universal development and achieving common prosperity. China believes that economic globalization should yield universal benefits to all countries, especially the developing countries, instead of leading to a more polarized world where the poor become poorer and the rich richer.

The international economic regime and rules should be made more fair and rational through deepened reform. In particular, the concerns of developing countries should be duly reflected so as to steer economic globalization in a direction of balanced development, with universally beneficial and win-win results. The international community is expected to take concrete measures to implement the MDGs and in particular accelerate the progress of the developing countries so that the 2lst century can truly become a “century of development for all.”

We should work actively to establish and improve a multilateral trading system that is open, fair and nondiscriminatory, and further improve the international financial regime with a view to putting in place a healthy and orderly trading environment and a stable and efficient financial environment conducive to global economic growth, said President Hu. He added that a step-up in worldwide energy dialogue and cooperation is needed to maintain energy security and energy market stability and to ensure a cost-effective, secure and clean energy environment conducive to global economic growth.

It is also China’s belief that the key to development lies in the independent choice of each country’s own path and mode of development in accordance with its reality. Given this, the countries should respect the diversity of development modes, facilitate the exchange of experiences and achieve mutually beneficial cooperation on the basis of mutual respect.

Inclusiveness and World Harmony

“Upholding the spirit of inclusiveness to build a harmonious world together” is a new idea proposed by the Chinese president during this summit. This noteworthy proposal embodies China’s diplomatic ideology of promoting the healthy and harmonious development of international relations in the new century.

According to President Hu, diversity of civilizations is a basic feature of humanity and an important driving force behind human progress. The world’s civilizations may differ in age, but none is better than or more superior to others. We should not impose uniformity on them. Differences in history, cultures, social systems and modes of development should not become barriers to exchanges between countries, let alone excuses for confrontation.

The Chinese president also called on countries to enhance inter-civilization dialogue and exchanges, thus allowing cultures to complement one another through competition and comparison, and to develop together by seeking common ground while putting aside differences.

Active and Prudent UN Reform

President Hu reiterated China’s position on the UN reform, clarifying the guiding principles that it will observe in the forthcoming reforms. It is China’s belief that since the UN reform is all-dimensional and multi-faceted, it may be conducted step by step, with a focus on the easier tasks before more difficult ones, to bring about maximized benefits as soon as possible. He said greater UN commitment to the question of development should be a priority of the reform. In the meantime, efforts should be intensified to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and strengthen the solidarity of the UN membership.

China believes that the reform of the Security Council is an important component of the UN reform. It should aim, as a priority, to increase the representation of developing countries, African countries in particular, and allow more countries, especially small and medium-sized countries, to participate in the decision-making of the Security Council. With the interests of many countries at stake, the reform should allow full consultations before any decision is made on the basis of the broadest consensus.

Commitments to the Developing World

China has put the concerns of the African nations on top of its agenda for addressing the development issue and for reforming the Security Council. President Hu called on the Security Council to pay closer attention to African concerns and increase its commitment accordingly at the Security Council Summit.

He said, “This meeting of ours should renew our pledges to Africa, give an impetus to the council to increase its input in Africa, listen more attentively to the concerns and propositions of the African countries and take into full account their fervent wishes for peace, development and cooperation so that hundreds of millions of African people can truly benefit from the care and support of the international community.”

Addressing the UN reform at the plenary meeting, the Chinese president pointed out the reform should aim at increasing the representation of developing countries, African nations in particular. He also appealed to the developed countries to take concrete actions to help African countries to rev up their development at the high-level meeting on financing for development, where he pledged a five-component package to aid less-developed countries, especially African countries. The package includes tariff-free trade, debt relief, preferential credits, as well as medical support and personnel training.

As the largest developing country, China is constant in its support and seeking of benefits for the developing world. China’s announcement to further aid other developing countries marks the advent of a new era of economic cooperation between China and these nations.

Peaceful Development

Peace, development and cooperation represent the main theme of the times and are the banner of China’s diplomacy in the new era. Under this banner, China has made innovative headway in its diplomacy, serving its domestic development and contributing to world peace and common development of all countries. Besides, it is also active in conducting multilateral diplomacy, promoting international cooperation, defending the UN and its Security Council’s status, supporting the UN reform, enhancing its authority, improving its efficiency and raising its capacity to take on global threats and challenges to make the world body render better services to its member countries.

At the UN summit, President Hu demonstrated to the world China’s determination to stick to a peaceful road of development, maintain world peace and promote common development through enhanced international cooperation.

Comments on UN Summit and Reforms

“The UN document almost perfectly mirrors the UN’s historical strengths and weaknesses. The dissension and consensus that shaped the final document on various issues were true to form for the UN.

“It was not surprising that the members failed to agree on matters of international security, proliferation and disarmament. The UN has never been a very effective body in galvanizing a consensus on serious security issues, whose resolution tends to fall within the spheres of other bodies such as NATO or, increasingly, U.S. unilateral decision making. Dissension has long been rife in this area, as reflected in the longstanding stalemate on proliferation and disarmament at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. That virtual chaos in this area comes as no surprise in an era when the United States is the dominant security actor and evinces little interest in multinational approaches to security, and is prone to veto collective action on security. This is a time of great divisiveness in the world on the security front and the UN is utterly incapable of overcoming it.

“The reorganization of the Security Council and addition of new members are a casualty of this traditional weakness to galvanize consensus.

“The UN is also notoriously incapable of policing its own ranks, eradicating waste, inefficiency and corruption and reforming the system. The document reflects this weakness in the form of watered down steps for future reform.

“The document is stronger in the area of foreign aid, peacekeeping and related global operations that generally incite little controversy and dissension among the major players.

“So in short, it’s a microcosm of what the world is able normally to accomplish through the UN. It’s a very feeble document that mimics a very feeble international institution that remains in dire need of restructuring and reform. Its structure is outmoded, a legacy of the past era of Cold War politics and global balance of power. An adaptive UN is needed more than ever, to address 21st century challenges, but its adaptation has been stymied so thoroughly that other institutions are more likely to carry the major brunt of the responsibilities for world security, peace and development.”

Bruce Blair President of the World Security Institute in Washington

“The big item missing is non-proliferation and disarmament. This is a real disgrace. We have failed twice this year: We failed at the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Conference, and we failed now. And I hope the leaders will see this as a real signal for them to pick up the ashes and really show leadership on this important issue when we are all concerned about weapons of mass destruction and the possibility that they may even get into the wrong hands. So I will appeal to the leaders who are coming here in the next few days to really step up to the plate and accept the challenge and show leadership on this issue.

“Obviously, we didn’t get everything we wanted, and with 191 member states it’s not easy to get an agreement. I shared with them an experience at a Security Council lunch when the Russian ambassador said, ‘But what are you complaining about? You’ve had more time than God.’ And I explained to him that God had one big advantage: He worked alone, without the General Assembly and the Security Council and the Committees. And, of course, with this huge number of member states, it has been difficult, but I think it is a success. We’ve got a good document. It’s not everything we wanted, and I think we can build on it and we can really do a lot with it.

“Now that we’ve got the document—and I hope the heads of state will approve and endorse it—the challenge is implementation, moving ahead and working together to implement it and pressing ahead for agreement on those issues where agreement has been elusive till today. But we have not given up on those either.

“All of us would have wanted more. But we can work with what we have been given, and I think it is an important step forward, and we all have to make sure that in putting it—in translating it into practical and functional terms—we all do our best to really make sure we are giving the organization the effective structures it needs to work. And I think we can work with what we have been given.

“There were governments that were not willing to make the concessions necessary. There were spoilers also in the group; I tried to get them to understand that, in our interconnected world, we need to look at issues in much broader terms, rather than narrow national interest, and that when we are asked to seek collective interest—look out for the collective interest—often the collective interest is also the national interest, and one should not assume automatically that the collective interest may be against one’s national interest. But it’s a tendency to sort of look inward at their national requirements, instead of looking at the broader picture. I must say that during this process in the last couple of weeks I think some delegations focused on the trees and missed the forest.”

Kofi Annan UN Secretary General

“This year’s UN Summit is the biggest one in the UN history. Although some major disagreements, such as on reforms to the UN Security Council, remain unsettled, international communities, based on common understanding of the necessity and urgency of the UN reform, expressed their strong will and confidence in pushing the reforms forward, which marks UN’s reforms and development entering a new era.

“The history of the UN proves that its reforms are arduous and complicated, which is why progress needs to be made step by step. The reforms the UN has made reflect the fact that the world has decided to establish a multilateral cooperation system and collective security system that center on the UN, and the UN will play a more and more important role in dealing with international affairs.

“After the summit meeting, the reforms will be put into practice. During this process, various disagreements and conflicts may become furious. It requires all UN members to show their sincerity and make efforts to build the authority of the UN and establish the multilateralism represented by the UN.”

Gao Zugui senior researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations
The author is with the China Institute of International Studies