China is a force for peace, stability and progress of the world

By Chen Xiaodong

ON March 7, a press conference was held on the margins of the Second Session of the 14th National People’s Congress at the Media Centre, during which Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi answered questions from Chinese and foreign media about China’s foreign policy and external relations.

He expounded on China’s position on more than 20 issues, including the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China-Africa relations and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The briefing was closely followed by the international community.

China’s proposals point directions for the world and are widely supported by the world. We propose to build an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation.

Certain or a few powers should not monopolise international affairs. Countries should not be categorised according to their “strength”.

Those with the bigger fist should not have the final say. And it is definitely unacceptable that certain countries must be at the table while some others can only be on the menu.

We must ensure that all countries, regardless of their size and strength, are able to take part in decision-making, enjoy their rights, and play their role as equals in the process toward a multipolar world.

President Xi Jinping has stressed many times that humanity live in the same global village and travel in the same boat. Facing various global challenges coming our way, countries should rise above their differences in history, culture, geography and system, and work together to protect the Earth, the only inhabitable planet for us all, and make it a better place.

Building a community with a shared future for mankind is China’s solution to the question of what kind of world to build and how to build it. It has developed from a conceptual proposition to a scientific system, from a Chinese initiative to an international consensus, and from a promising vision to practical outcomes, showing strong vitality.

China’s economy is steadily-developing with Belt and Road cooperation opening up new prospects. China’s economy grew by 5.2 percent last year, contributing to one-third of global growth.

It shows that China remains strong as an engine for growth, and will stabilise expectations and provide longer-term benefits to global investors and partners.

First, China’s development is driven not only by a reasonable growth in quantity but also an effective upgrade in quality. Second, China’s super-sized market, with over 1.4 billion people, is unleashing opportunities for the world.

Third, China is opening its door wider. Our overall tariff has been reduced to a level similar to developed country members of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Negative list for foreign investment is shortened to less than 31 items. Return on investment for foreign businesses is still one of the highest in the world.

Spreading pessimistic views on China will end up harming oneself, and misjudging China will result in missed opportunities. In the past more than 10 years, the BRI put forward by President Xi Jinping has become the most popular global public good and the largest platform for international cooperation.

China will work with the international community, including South Africa, to usher in a second golden decade of Belt and Road cooperation. We hope that high-quality Belt and Road cooperation will serve as an engine of the common development of all countries and an accelerator for the modernisation of the whole world.

China-Africa cooperation is time-tested and ever-growing with the Global South rising rapidly. The Global South, including China and Africa, is growing fast.

Now taking up over 40% of the world economy, the Global South is a key force for reforming the international order. BRICS expansion reflects the collective rise of the Global South and a world evolving faster toward multipolarity.

China was, is and will be a steadfast member of the Global South. We are always a crucial force for the development and prosperity of the Global South.

China and Africa are brothers treating each other with sincerity and sharing a common future. President Xi Jinping has put forth the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith and called for taking the right approach to friendship and interests.

The endeavour of building a China-Africa community with a shared future has thus been steered onto a fast track. China has remained Africa’s biggest trading partner for 15 years straight, and the pie of China-Africa cooperation is growing bigger.

The Chinese and African people are feeling closer to each other. The next meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in China this autumn.

Through this summit, China and Africa will enhance their long-standing friendship and deepen unity and collaboration to open up new vistas for faster common development and start a new chapter for a China-Africa community with a shared future.

China supports efforts to settle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and fully implement the two-state solution.

We commend South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and hope to see effective implementation of the interim order by the ICJ.

We believe that restoring justice to the Palestinian people and fully implementing the two-state solution is the only way to break the vicious cycle of Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, to eliminate the breeding ground of extremist ideologies, and to realise enduring peace in the Middle East.

We firmly support the Palestinian peoples’ just cause of regaining their legitimate national rights, and urge certain U.N. Security Council member not to lay obstacles to that end.

We call for a more broad-based, more authoritative, and more effective international peace conference to work out a timetable and road map for the two-state solution.

We believe that Palestine and Israel should resume peace talks as soon as possible to achieve the ultimate goal that they coexist in peace as two states, and the Arab and Jewish peoples live in harmony as two ethnic groups.

China and South Africa are both major developing countries and emerging markets, and are both important practitioners of multipolarisation and economic globalisation.

China is ready to work with South Africa to practice true multilateralism, create an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation, hold high the great banner of building a community with a shared future for mankind, build a high-level China-South Africa and China-Africa community with a shared future, and create a better future for humanity!