"China's Policy and An Tianxia" (Part II): Re-knowledge and Action unite to build a model of a big country

Beijing, 9 Jun (Xinhua) -- "China's Policy of An Tianxia" (Part II): Re-establishing knowledge and action as a model for a big country

Xinhua News Agency reporter Song Ying

Not long ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2022 Annual Conference of the Boao Forum for Asia, proposing a global security initiative for the first time, contributing Chinese wisdom and consolidating international synergy to eliminate the root causes of international conflicts and achieve long-term peace and stability in the world.

"The knower knows the beginning of the deed, and the practitioner knows the success." China is not only the initiator of this initiative, but also a firm practitioner of its spirit. For a long time, China has always held high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and win-win results, and has firmly been a builder of world peace, a defender of international order and a mediator of hotspot issues, demonstrating the world's feelings of establishing itself and establishing a model of a big country that integrates knowledge with action.

Builders of world peace

"Do not do to others what you do not want." The Global Security Initiative is deeply rooted in China's history and culture, as well as New China's independent foreign policy and practice of peace.

As a country that has suffered from foreign aggression and oppression, China is well aware of the preciousness of peace. Since the founding of New China, no matter how the international situation changes, China has always pursued an independent foreign policy of peace, adhered to the path of peaceful development, never taken the initiative to provoke a war, never invaded an inch of land of another country, never engaged in proxy wars, and did not participate in or form any military clique.

China is the only country that has enshrined "adhering to the path of peaceful development" in its constitution, and the National Defense Law clearly declares that China pursues a defensive national defense policy. China is also the only of the five nuclear-weapon states to have pledged not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. This policy plays an important role in reducing nuclear risks and preventing nuclear war, and has been widely recognized and welcomed by the vast number of non-nuclear-weapon States.

Although China has the longest border and the largest number of neighboring countries in the world, it adheres to the concept of close and tolerant peripheral diplomacy, insists on completing the demarcation and demarcation of the boundary with 12 of its 14 land neighbors through peaceful negotiations, and promises to continue to resolve the remaining disputes through negotiations and consultations. In handling the South China Sea issue, over the past 20 years, China and ASEAN countries have jointly implemented the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, maintaining the overall stability of the situation in the South China Sea.

China has actively participated in the United Nations military expenditure transparency system and has submitted to the United Nations every year since 2008 a report on military expenditures for the previous fiscal year. No matter how much national defense expenditure is invested and to what extent national defense and army modernization have developed, China will never seek hegemony, never expand, never seek to establish a sphere of influence, never engage in an arms race, and never threaten any country. This is China's solemn commitment to the world.

China's nature as a socialist country, its strategic choice to take the path of peaceful development, its independent foreign policy of peace, and its Chinese cultural tradition of "valuing peace" have determined that China has unswervingly pursued a defensive national defense policy. China has proved with practical actions that there are no words such as "coercion" and "bullying" in its diplomatic dictionary.

As a major country developing rapidly, China's insistence on peaceful coexistence with other countries and its insistence on not seeking hegemony, expansion or coercion is undoubtedly a major contribution to world strategic stability. Former French Prime Minister Raffarin praised China as "a force for peace that the world needs today." Kenyan international relations scholar Kavins Adehill said that China firmly follows the path of peaceful development, which reflects the responsibility of a big country. Former Croatian Foreign Minister Pushic believes that China's adherence to an independent foreign policy of peace has played a pivotal role in international relations, exerted a positive impact on the world, and made important contributions to global development.

Defender of the international order

"To rule the world, we must first be just, and the world will be peaceful." The establishment of a just and rational international order is the goal that mankind has diligently pursued, and it is also China's unswerving belief. This is reflected both in the claims of the Global Security Initiative and in China's consistent actions.

In 1971, New China regained its legitimate seat in the United Nations. For more than 50 years, China has always firmly upheld the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, practiced genuine multilateralism, and become a mainstay in safeguarding the authority of the United Nations and the stability of the international order.

Today, China is the funding country and peacekeeping contributor to the Second General Assembly of the United Nations and the largest troop contributor among the permanent members of the Security Council. Over the past 30 years, the Chinese military has participated in more than 20 UN peacekeeping operations, dispatched nearly 50,000 officers and soldiers, and 16 people have sacrificed their precious lives. At present, more than 2,000 Chinese military personnel are carrying out missions in seven peacekeeping mission areas and at United Nations Headquarters. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN's under-secretary-general for peacekeeping, said China played an "extremely important role" in improving the impact and performance of peacekeeping.

Over the past 10 years, China has sent a total of 40 escort formations to the Gulf of Aden and Somalia to carry out escort and anti-piracy missions, and participated in international rescue operations such as the search and rescue of Malaysia Airlines MH370 missing flight, the fight against the Ebola epidemic in Africa, the earthquake relief in Nepal, and the rescue and salvage of Indonesia's shipwrecked submarines.

In response to the non-traditional security issue of the new crown epidemic, China was the first to commit to the new crown vaccine as a global public good, the first to support the exemption of intellectual property rights for vaccine research and development, as of early May, it has supplied more than 2.2 billion doses of new crown vaccine to more than 120 countries and international organizations, and provided 4.6 billion protective clothing, 18 billion test reagents, more than 430 billion masks and other anti-epidemic materials to 153 countries and 15 international organizations, making real contributions to bridging the global "immunization gap".

In the field of arms control, at the beginning of this year, the leaders of China and five other nuclear-weapon states jointly issued the Joint Statement on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding an Arms Race on the issue of nuclear weapons for the first time. China has pushed all parties to agree to emphasize that "nuclear war cannot be won or fought", and has also promoted the inclusion of important content such as reaffirming that nuclear weapons should not be aimed at each other or any other country, which has played a positive role in building a major-country relationship with overall stability and balanced development.

China has achieved positive results in the field of counter-terrorism and de-radicalization, and is increasingly becoming an important force leading the right direction of international counter-terrorism cooperation. China proposed that ideological prejudice should be discarded, the "double standard" of counter-terrorism should be opposed, and the linking of terrorism to specific countries, nationalities and religions should be opposed, and stressed that the international community should strengthen solidarity and work together to combat terrorism.

Chen Gang, assistant director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, said that China has proved to the world through diplomatic practice that it does not engage in group politics, while stressing that all countries, big or small, regardless of social system, are equal. Syrian political expert Marsil Ihsan believes that over the years China has always been committed to promoting world peace and development, firmly safeguarding multilateralism and promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. China's diplomatic practice plays a very important role in maintaining international order and world stability, and is of particular significance and far-reaching influence in the current turbulent international situation.

Mediator of hotspot issues

Profits should be calculated for the world.

The Global Security Initiative proposes to persist in resolving differences and disputes among states peacefully through dialogue and consultation. This is precisely the position that China has always upheld, that is, it has always placed its own development in the coordinate system of human development, adhered to the methods of dialogue and consultation, persuasion and promotion of talks, and unswervingly acted as a mediator of hot issues.

From advocating the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to proposing important concepts and initiatives such as promoting the construction of a new type of international relations and promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind, China has always put common security in mind, shouldered moral responsibility on its shoulders, actively explored ways to solve hotspot issues with Chinese characteristics, and contributed its wisdom and strength to safeguarding world peace and regional stability.

On the Ukraine issue, China has always stood on the side of peace, proceeded from the merits of the matter itself, made judgments independently and autonomously, and has been using its own way to persuade peace and promote talks and promote the cooling of the situation. Chinese leaders have successively held telephone calls or video conferences with the leaders of many countries, calling for "creating space for peace and leaving room for political settlement" and "overcoming difficulties to continue to talk about results and peace." China has put forward a five-point stand on the Ukrainian issue, a six-point initiative to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, and the "four shoulds" for resolving the Ukrainian crisis, and has made unremitting efforts to resolve the crisis and seek peace.

On the Middle East issue, China put forward a four-point proposal on the settlement of the Palestinian issue and a five-point initiative on achieving security and stability in the Middle East, supported the unity and cooperation of Middle East countries in resolving regional security issues, and supported the people of the Middle East in independently exploring their own development path.

On the Afghan issue, China has taken the initiative to carry out international coordination and provide humanitarian assistance, thus playing a constructive role in promoting a smooth transition of the situation in Afghanistan. Last September, the Chinese government announced that it would provide Afghanistan with emergency humanitarian assistance worth 200 million yuan in food, wintering supplies, vaccines and medicines. As of late April this year, 6,220 tons of food aid had been completed under this item. The Chinese side also arranged 36 charter flights to import pine nuts to help Afghanistan enhance its independent development capabilities.

With regard to international counter-terrorism cooperation, China puts forward a five-point proposal: give play to the central role of the United Nations, adhere to the principle of treating both symptoms and root causes, abandon any "double standards", curb new threats and challenges, and strengthen counter-terrorism capacity building in developing countries.

The Chinese concept is rooted in the hearts of the people, China's actions benefit the world, and China's initiative wins the hearts of the people.

Hussein Shamari, director of the International Media Department of the Ministry of Information of Saudi Arabia, said that China's attitude of supporting the Russian-Ukrainian peace talks is clear and it is willing to provide further humanitarian material assistance to Ukraine. China's attitude and measures reflect China's consistent position of advocating persuasion and promoting talks, as well as its high concern for international humanitarian issues, and demonstrate the responsibility of a responsible major country. Muthana Mazrui, a professor at The Mustan Siria University in Iraq, said that China has always opposed confrontation, adhered to dialogue and consultation, and played an active role in global politics.

"Establish the right position of the world, and walk the road of the world." For many years, China has insisted on running for world peace and doing its best for international security. Today, in the face of the world's chaotic and intertwined situation and full of risks, China has put forward a global security initiative from the perspective of building a community with a shared future for mankind, which responds to the urgent needs of the international community to safeguard world peace and prevent conflicts and wars, conforms to the common pursuit of all countries in the world to uphold multilateralism and safeguard international solidarity, and responds to the common aspirations of the people of all countries to overcome difficulties and work together to create a better world in the post-epidemic era. (Participating reporters: Wang Lili, Dong Yalei, Bai Lin, Wang Zizheng, Liu Zongya, Shi Xiantao, Wang Shoubao, Wang Jian, Li Binian, Shi Zhongyu, Zhang Jiye, Yao Bing, Jiang Shengxiong, Huang Shuo, Tang Ji, Lu Haiyue, Wang Hongyang)