Today, 50 years later, why do we still have to look back at the laughter of China's "shattering the glass of the United Nations"

Chinese will not be unfamiliar with the photo of "Qiao Guanhua laughing" in the history textbook.

On October 25, 50 years ago, the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758 by an overwhelming majority, deciding to restore new China's legitimate seat in the United Nations. At the venue, Qiao Guanhua, head of the Chinese delegation, looked up at the sky and laughed, a moment that was captured by the media and spread around the world, with Western journalists exaggerating that Qiao's laughter "shattered the glass of the United Nations deliberative hall."

Half a century later, this moment that shook the world is still flashing in time and space. Looking back at the history of New China, from domestic to international, from closed to open, from confrontation to cooperation, this is a tortuous road of progress. To a certain extent, the diplomatic development of New China pressed the "acceleration button" before and after the restoration of the legitimate seat of the United Nations, and the great diplomatic victory laid a solid foundation for international cooperation in reform and opening up afterwards.

History has proved that the progress of the world cannot be separated from China, and China's development cannot be separated from the world. In the 1980s, when meeting with foreign guests, Deng Xiaoping stressed: "It is impossible to carry out construction behind closed doors, and it is impossible to develop." He closely linked China's reform with the situation of world development, and it was indispensable to carry out reforms at home while opening up to the outside world. The purpose of opening up to the outside world lies in absorbing all the achievements of civilization created by human society.

In light of the past, without the participation of the world in development, there can be no real development, and there is no friendly diplomatic environment, and the fruits of development may be wasted at any time. In today's globalized world, this truth, which is no longer unfamiliar to people, is one of the spiritual legacies left by New China's restoration of the legitimate seat of the United Nations - the trend of history, the vast soup, conservatism and closure are the way out of self-extinction, and openness and cooperation are the right way in the world.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of The restoration of the legitimate seat of the United Nations in New China, China's solemn commemoration of this historic event demonstrates China's determination to firmly open up, and also means that the door of China's opening up will only open wider and wider in the future. As President Xi Jinping said: "Adhere to cooperation, do not engage in confrontation, adhere to openness, do not engage in closure, adhere to mutual benefit and win-win results, do not engage in zero-sum game" - this is the right way for the world and is China's consciousness.

Over the past 50 years, China's fruitful material development and spiritual progress have all proved the correctness and unshakability of the above judgment. At the new historical node, China's exchanges with the world have become closer, and from economic and material exchanges to multi-dimensional in-depth development of spiritual exchanges and civilizational exchanges, in this sense, world civilization and Chinese civilization cannot be left alone, and China, as a big country, needs to make due contributions and responsibilities for the development of human civilization on the international stage.

The data is telling. Today, China has established partnerships with 108 countries and 4 regional organizations in the world, joined almost all universal intergovernmental international organizations, and participated in more than 600 international conventions and amendments. Since 1990, China has sent more than 50,000 peacekeepers to nearly 30 UN peacekeeping operations. Since the outbreak, China has provided more than 1.5 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine to more than 100 countries and international organizations...

This situation is not easy to come by. Today, when we look back at Qiao Guanhua's laughter, we need to understand how strong the diplomat's smile is, and how difficult it is for China to integrate into the world. For a country, the open environment does not fall from the sky, but is stepped out step by step by the predecessors, opening the door of the country little by little, and every diplomatic victory is based on the work already done by the predecessors.

In this sense, openness is by no means a slogan, but a real action – action is the best memorial. In the new era, only with greater opening up efforts and more practical opening measures can we maintain and develop the hard-won achievements of opening up and write a new legend of opening up.

At present, narrow nationalism and populism have expanded around the world and have become a global phenomenon. We must take a clear-cut stand against all kinds of conservative and closed ideological trends and create a good public opinion, ideological, and institutional environment for the new round of opening up.

All countries should jointly stand on the right side of history, stand on the side of human progress, and on the basis of the common values of all mankind, and make more contributions to building a world of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, inclusiveness, cleanliness and beauty.

Although the historical trend still has repeated twists and turns, the overall trend of opening up and progress has not changed. Even in the current situation of increasing uncertainty, no matter what, we can no longer return to a state of closed conservatism, estrangement and hostility, and zero-sum game, the world cannot, human beings cannot.

Column Editor-in-Chief: Zhu Minyi Text Editor: Zhu Minqi Inscription Source: Visual China Infographic Photo Editor: Xiang Jianying

Source: Author: Gu Jie