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BEIJING: China supports multilateral frameworks, including the United Nations, in tackling challenges and seeking common prosperity, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday.
He made the remarks in a speech titled “Firmly Uphold Multilateralism and Build a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind” at a high-level conversation of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, “Multilateralism after COVID-19: what kind of UN do we need at the 75th anniversary?”
“Seventy-five years ago, our fathers’ generation won the epic victory of the World anti-Fascist War following a heroic struggle,” Wang said, adding that the ensuing decades witnessed the founding of the United Nations which has played an indispensable role in maintaining peace and promoting development.
Seventy-five years on, the world has seen profound shifts, accentuated by the enormous impact of COVID-19, he said. The myriad challenges before the international community have driven home the fact that this is an era of inter-connected interests of all countries, and the world is “increasingly an indivisible community with a shared future,” he said.
In the face of unprecedented changes in a century, the role of the UN can only be strengthened, instead of being weakened, while its authority must be safeguarded, Wang said. The world needs a United Nations that safeguards world peace and security, and fairness and justice, a United Nations that advocates harmonious co-existence across different races, systems and cultures, a United Nations that champions common development by addressing the North-South gap, and a United Nations that keeps abreast of the times and effectively responds to global challenges, Wang said. Wang put forward four proposals as following:
First, the world needs to uphold multilateralism and reject unilateralism and protectionism. “We must always stand on the side of multilateralism and international justice. We must uphold the international system built around the UN, safeguard the World Trade Organization-centered multilateral trading regime and speed up the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We need to say no to unilateralism. We need to oppose any act of walking away from international organizations and treaties or replacing them with something out of nowhere. No one should challenge or undermine universally recognized rules out of selfish interests,” he said.
Second, the world needs to support greater democracy in international relations and reject hegemonism and power politics.
