Building BRICS Unity and Working Together for the Future – Speech by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Video Meeting

Source: Website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Wang Yi, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China

Dear colleagues,

In June this year, we will host the 14th BRICS Summit. This is an extremely important meeting to be held in the current special historical context. An important task of today's foreign ministers' meeting is to make political preparations for the upcoming leaders' meeting and ensure that the leaders' meeting will achieve fruitful results.

At present, the century-old changes and the century epidemic are intertwined, and the world has entered a new period of turbulent change. As representatives of the vast number of emerging market countries and developing countries, the BRICS countries should have a clear understanding of the direction, grasp the general trend, strengthen confidence, and recognize changes and changes.

First, efforts are made to find a common denominator of universal security.

The Cold War mentality, camp confrontation and the rise of power politics seriously threaten world peace and security. To this end, President Xi Jinping recently put forward the Global Security Initiative, stressing the need to adhere to the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security; to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries; to abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter; to attach importance to the legitimate security concerns of all countries; to resolve differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation; and to uphold the overall maintenance of security in traditional and non-traditional areas. The Global Security Initiative has pointed out ways and paths to make up for the peace deficit and solve the global security dilemma, and is a security public good that China provides to the world.

In today's interdependent state-to-state situation, the pursuit of "absolute security" and "exclusive security" will not work, and we must go beyond the Cold War mentality of "you lose and I win", respect and protect the security of every country, replace confrontation with dialogue, replace coercion with consultation, replace alliance with partnership, and replace zero-sum with win-win results. It is necessary to practice true multilateralism and oppose all kinds of unilateral sanctions and "long-arm jurisdiction". It is necessary to implement the principle of indivisibility of security and promote the construction of a balanced, effective and sustainable regional security architecture.

The crisis in Ukraine is still pending. China's position has always been consistent, that is, to persuade peace and promote talks. The delivery of weapons cannot be exchanged for peace in Ukraine, and sanctions and pressure will not solve the security dilemma in Europe. The international community should unite and unite for peace, and Western countries should show political sincerity and use practical actions to cool down conflicts instead of adding fuel to the fire. China supports and expects Russia and Ukraine to overcome difficulties and continue peace talks, and calls on NATO and the EU to conduct a comprehensive dialogue with Russia, respect the legitimate security concerns of all parties, and find a real way to melt through the ice and resolve accumulated grievances. China opposes the weaponization of international economic and financial cooperation and coerces other countries to choose sides. The crisis is impacting the normal development of international trade and the stability of the industrial chain supply chain, threatening global food, energy and financial security. Efforts should be made to reduce spillover effects, especially by supporting vulnerable developing countries to tide over the difficulties. We must be vigilant against using the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to provoke bloc confrontation, which will pose a serious threat to global security and stability. On the Ukrainian issue, the BRICS countries should continue to uphold independence, autonomy, objectivity and justice, speak out for peace, and do their utmost for peace.

The nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula has been delayed for decades, and historical experience tells us that we must abandon the old model of sanctions and pressure and explore a new way out of dialogue and reconciliation. The key is to earnestly resolve the DPRK's reasonable security demands and promote the denuclearization of the peninsula and the peace mechanism on the peninsula in parallel. Now, we should stabilize the situation and avoid escalation. The Security Council should play a constructive role for peace on the peninsula, not the other way around.

Afghanistan is facing a historic opportunity for peaceful development. We should respect the wishes and choices of the Afghan people, truly implement the principle of "Afghan leadership and Afghan ownership", and timely extend a helping hand to the Afghan side to help them tide over the difficulties and embark on the road of inclusive government. The United States should immediately lift the assets freeze on Afghanistan and return the afghan people's life-saving money to its true owners and use it where it is urgently needed.

Global terrorism is experiencing a new wave and must be highly vigilant. Recently, the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi in Pakistan suffered a suicide terrorist attack, and three innocent Chinese teachers were brutally killed, which is outrageous. With the determination of "zero tolerance", we must investigate and severely punish the perpetrators of terrorist attacks to the end, resolutely crack down on all terrorist and extremist forces, and resolutely resist interfering in the internal affairs of other countries through the issue of counter-terrorism.

Second, efforts should be made to draw concentric circles of common development.

The epidemic has seriously impacted the recovery of the world economy, resulting in an increase in the development gap between the north and the south, weakening the momentum of development cooperation, and serious setbacks in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Development Initiative to promote the international community to pay attention to development issues, revitalize the cause of global development, and promote the 2030 Agenda to start again. The initiative has provided a Chinese solution to solve the global development problem, which has been widely responded to by the international community, with more than 100 countries and many international organizations, including the United Nations, expressing positive support, and more than 50 countries joining the "Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative".

Development is the equal right of every country. We should insist on placing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the top of the agenda for international cooperation, pay attention to the practical difficulties of developing countries, and developed countries should earnestly fulfill their commitments and increase financial, technical and capacity-building support for developing countries. It is necessary to give play to the role of multilateral institutions and mechanisms such as the United Nations, improve global development governance, and unite greater synergy. The BRICS countries are all big developing countries and emerging market countries, and we should take practical actions to promote the international community to focus on the cause of global development, pool resources and deepen cooperation.

Individual countries have built "small courtyard walls", created "parallel systems", and adopted irresponsible macroeconomic and monetary policies, which have aggravated the uncertainty and imbalance of economic recovery and seriously squeezed the development space and resources of emerging market countries and developing countries. We must resist this practice of dividing the world, advocate mutual benefit and win-win results, build an open world economy, and create a favorable environment for common development.

Third, we should strive to build a firewall for human health.

The global epidemic is still at a high level, the new crown virus continues to mutate, and the international fight against the epidemic is at a critical moment, so we cannot take it lightly and give up halfway. President Xi Jinping called for accelerating the construction of a community of human health, advocating mutual support among countries, strengthening the coordination of epidemic prevention measures, improving global health governance, and forming a strong international synergy to deal with the epidemic. The Indian side also proposed "one world, one health", which is of positive significance for safeguarding the common health of mankind.

China adheres to the general policy of "dynamic zero clearance", which aims to protect people's life safety and physical health to the greatest extent possible and minimize the impact of the epidemic on economic and social development at the lowest social cost. This is a responsibility to the people of the Chinese, but also to the world. We have full confidence in winning this hard battle of epidemic prevention and control and making greater contributions to the early global victory over the epidemic.

COVID-19 will not be the last public health crisis facing humanity. BriCS countries should give full play to their respective advantages and jointly promote the development of global health governance in a direction that benefits developing countries.

Fourth, strive to gather the positive energy of global governance.

At present, global challenges are emerging in an endless stream, and only by mobilizing global resources and coordinating global action can we properly deal with them. Under the guise of multilateralism, a small number of countries have instigated ideological confrontation, which has seriously impacted the current international order and aggravated the global governance deficit.

"Small circles" cannot solve the "big challenges" facing the world, and "small groups" cannot adapt to the "big changes" in today's world. We should firmly uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, and ensure that major international events are jointly participated in by all countries, that international rules are jointly formulated by all countries, and that the fruits of development are shared by all countries. The global governance system must be built and improved by everyone together, and no country or group has the right to engage in "one country hegemony" or "several parties to rule together", let alone exclude other countries for any reason. BRICS countries should conform to the historical trend of multipolarization in the world and the democratization of international relations, advocate the concept of global governance of consultation, co-construction and sharing, strengthen solidarity and cooperation with emerging market countries and developing countries, lead the reform of the global governance system, and enhance the voice of developing countries and emerging market countries in global governance.

Dear colleagues,

Over the past 16 years, the BRICS countries have worked together to forge ahead, withstand the test of the international situation, and become an important force that cannot be ignored on the international stage.

Current events are difficult, and the original intention has not changed. Since China took over the presidency this year, it has worked hand in hand with all parties to steadily promote cooperation in the fields of political security, economic and trade finance, people-to-people exchanges, sustainable development and public health, held more than 50 important activities, and made important progress in many areas of cooperation, laying a solid foundation for the 14th BRICS Summit.

At present, only one month before the leaders' meeting is held, and the preparatory work has entered the sprint stage. We should strive to translate the BRICS spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation into practical actions, deepen the construction of BRICS partnership around the theme of "building high-quality partnerships and creating a new era of global development", and inject more BRICS power into global development.

We must further strengthen strategic communication and coordination and set an example of political mutual trust. Political mutual trust is the foundation of BRICS unity. "The hearts of the people are united, and Tarzan moves." We should give full play to the role of cooperation in the political and security fields, accommodate each other's core interests and major concerns, and respect each other's sovereignty, security and development interests. Concepts such as "Community of Shared Future for Mankind" and "One Family In the World" embody the pattern of BRICS members bearing the world in mind, which is conducive to achieving more inclusive and progressive development. We must inspire and support each other to jointly enhance the appeal and appeal of the BRICS countries. It is necessary to carry forward the diplomatic tradition of independence and self-reliance, strengthen coordination on major international and regional issues, and play a unique BRICS role in the chaotic and changing situation.

We should further deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields and set an example of pragmatic action. Pragmatic cooperation is the endogenous driving force for BRICS cooperation. It is necessary to make good use of the BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Center, establish an early warning mechanism for the prevention of large-scale infectious diseases in the BRICS, and provide high-quality public goods for global health governance cooperation. Reach the "BRICS Initiative to Strengthen Supply Chain Cooperation" and the food security cooperation strategy as soon as possible, make good use of the energy research cooperation platform, and maintain the safety and smoothness of the industrial chain supply chain. Relying on the New Development Bank and the emergency reserve arrangement mechanism, we will enhance the financial resilience of developing countries. Build a BRICS digital economy partnership to enable industrial innovation to empower the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. For the brics partners such as the "Belt and Road", "Global Development Initiative", "Greater Eurasian Partnership", "One Sun, One World, One Power Grid", "National Green Growth Plan" and "Wallingdra Action", they should open up ideas, innovate methods, rely on the BRICS mechanism to deepen docking, complement each other's advantages, and achieve multiplier effects.

We should further demonstrate openness and inclusiveness and set an example of joint self-improvement. Solidarity and cooperation with emerging market countries and developing countries is the fine tradition of the BRICS countries, and it is also the only way for the development and growth of the BRICS mechanism. It is necessary to make good use of the "BRICS +" model, explore the development of "BRICS +" cooperation at more levels, in a wider range of fields and on a larger scale, promote the normalization and institutionalization of "BRICS +" activities, and establish a wider range of partnerships. In the face of the new challenges of the international situation, we must unite all forces that can be united to inject new vitality into BRICS cooperation. The Chinese side proposes to start the BRICS expansion process, explore the criteria and procedures for the expansion, and gradually form a consensus. This will help to demonstrate the openness and inclusiveness of the BRICS countries, respond to the expectations of emerging market countries and developing countries, and also help enhance the representativeness and influence of the BRICS countries and make greater contributions to world peace and development.

Dear colleagues,

Unity is strength. Let us join hands, move forward courageously, and contribute new wisdom and strength to promote the high-quality partnership of BRICS and create a new era of global development!