Africa -China Review Africa -China Cooperation and Transformation
Published: September 15,2023
Today, changes in the world, in our times and in history are unfolding in ways like never before. The deficits in peace, development, security and governance are growing. Humanity is once again at a crossroads, and facing a consequential choice on its future. Meanwhile, world multi-polarity and economic globalization keep evolving. Peace, development and win-win cooperation are the unstoppable trends of the times. Solidarity, cooperation and progress remain the aspiration of people around the world.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of President Xi Jinping’s proposal on building a community with a shared future for mankind. Facing global changes unseen in a century, and keeping in mind both China’s realities and global developments, President Xi Jinping has creatively put forth the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind. This proposal has pointed the way forward for the future development of the world and provided a solution for common challenges. Over the past decade, the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind has grown from an idea to action and a vision to reality. China calls on the international community to act on true multilateralism, uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core, support the U.N. in playing a central role in international affairs, further develop and improve the global governance system, and jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind.
1. Enhancing global security governance and safeguarding world peace and stability
Security is humanity’s most basic need and the most important global public good. As the world faces frequently emerging hotspot issues, rising geopolitical conflicts, and rampant unilateral and bullying practices, the international community needs peace, trust, solidarity and cooperation, rather than war, suspicion, division or confrontation. China welcomes the New Agenda for Peace presented by Secretary General António Guterres, and is ready to have further discussions and build consensus with all parties.
President Xi Jinping has put forward the Global Security Initiative (GSI). It advocates a commitment to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security; a commitment to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries; a commitment to abiding by the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter; a commitment to taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously; a commitment to peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation; and a commitment to maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional domains, with a view to jointly promoting a global community of security for all.
China firmly supports a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be upheld, the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter observed, and the legitimate security concerns of all sides taken seriously. All efforts conducive to a peaceful settlement of the crisis should be supported. The root cause of the crisis lies in the problem of security governance in Europe. Parties concerned must face the crux of the issue squarely, stop shifting problems, build mutual trust and accommodate each other’s legitimate security concerns, so as to gradually create conditions for ceasefire and peace talks. No one gains from conflicts and wars. Imposing sanctions, exerting pressure, or adding fuel to the fire will only escalate the situation. It is important to maintain mutual respect, abandon the Cold War mentality, stop ganging up to stoke camp-based confrontation, and work to build a balanced, effective and sustainable European security architecture.
China maintains that it is important to preserve peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, achieve denuclearization and establish a peace mechanism on the Peninsula. The issue needs to be resolved through dialogue and consultation, and the legitimate concerns of all sides addressed in a balanced manner. Given the current situation, parties concerned need to remain calm and restrained, work to ease the situation and make efforts to create conditions for the resumption of dialogue, rather than insisting on sanctions and pressuring, which would only aggravate problems and escalate tensions. China has been actively promoting peace and talks, and will continue to work with the international community to follow the dual-track approach and take phased and synchronized steps, and to play a constructive role in the political settlement of the Peninsula issue.
China calls on the international community to respect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, follow the “Afghan-led, Afghan-owned” principle, and maintain engagement and dialogue with Afghanistan on that basis. The international community needs to continue its humanitarian and development assistance for Afghanistan, support Afghanistan in integrating into the connectivity and economic integration process in the region to enhance its capability for independent and sustainable development, and encourage Afghanistan to put in place an inclusive political framework, adopt moderate policies, combat terrorism and develop friendly external relations. Certain country needs to draw lessons from what happened in Afghanistan, abandon double standard on combating terrorism, unconditionally return to Afghanistan its overseas assets, lift unilateral sanctions on Afghanistan, and take concrete actions to fulfill responsibilities to the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan.
China firmly supports the Palestinian people’s just cause of restoring their legitimate national rights. The fundamental solution to the Palestinian question is to establish an independent state of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty on the basis of the 1967 border and with east Jerusalem as its capital. The international community needs to step up development assistance and humanitarian aid to Palestine, and help meet Palestine’s economic and livelihood needs. It is important to keep to the right direction of peace talks, respect the historical status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem, refrain from making radical and provocative comments and moves, promote the hosting of an international peace conference with wider participation, higher authority and greater influence, create conditions for the resumption of peace talks, and make concrete efforts to help the two states of Palestine and Israel to coexist peacefully. China will play an active role in facilitating Palestine’s internal reconciliation and peace talks.
China believes that regional hotspots such as the Iranian nuclear issue and the issues of Syria, Sudan, Libya and Yemen need to be resolved through political means. China supports Middle East countries in independently exploring development paths, resolving regional security issues through solidarity and coordination, and maintaining lasting peace and security in the region. China supports African countries in solving African issues in the African way to restore peace and stability on the African continent, supports African countries and people in independently choosing their paths to modernization, and supports Africa in speaking with one voice on international affairs and continuously elevating its international standing. China will enhance solidarity and coordination with the African side, and jointly implement the Initiative on Supporting Africa’s Industrialization, the Plan for China Supporting Africa’s Agricultural Modernization and the Plan for China-Africa Cooperation on Talent Development, to help Africa bring its integration and modernization onto a fast track. China firmly opposes certain country’s wanton use of unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, and believes that conditions should be created for the developing countries to grow their economy and improve the people’s well-being.
China strongly condemns all forms of terrorism and extremism. China opposes associating terrorism and extremism with any particular country, ethnic group or religion, opposes double standard on counter-terrorism, and opposes politicizing or instrumentalizing the issue of counter-terrorism. It is important to take a holistic approach and address both the symptoms and root causes in fighting terrorism, so as to eradicate the breeding ground of terrorism at the source. China supports the U.N. in playing a central and coordinating role to help developing countries build capacity for fighting terrorism, form greater synergy worldwide against terrorism, and address the challenges brought by emerging technologies.
Nuclear weapons must not be used and nuclear wars must never be fought. The international community should jointly oppose the threat or use of nuclear weapons. China supports greater efforts to reduce strategic risks based on the joint statement by the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states on preventing nuclear war. Nuclear disarmament should be advanced in a step-by-step manner under the principles of “maintaining global strategic stability” and “undiminished security for all.” Countries with the largest nuclear arsenals should earnestly fulfill their special and primary responsibilities in nuclear disarmament, continue to effectively implement the New START Treaty, and make further substantial and substantive cuts to their nuclear arsenals in a verifiable, irreversible and legally binding manner, so as to create conditions for achieving the ultimate goal of general and complete nuclear disarmament. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is the bedrock of international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime, and an important part of the post-war international security system. It plays an irreplaceable role in promoting world peace and development. The international community should advance the three pillars of the NPT in a balanced way and jointly safeguard the treaty’s authority, effectiveness and universality.
China pays great attention to nuclear security. It has proposed a rational, coordinated, and balanced approach to nuclear security and worked actively for a global community of shared future on nuclear security. Nuclear security is a lifeline in the development of nuclear energy and application of nuclear technology. Peaceful uses of nuclear energy should not be pursued at the expense of the environment and human health. The Japanese government should respond fully to the international community’s major concerns on the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima, shoulder its moral responsibilities and obligations under international law, and stop discharging the nuclear-contaminated water. The Japanese government needs to show sincerity and have full communication with neighboring countries, accept strict international oversight, and ensure that the contaminated water is disposed of in a science-based, safe and transparent manner.
China is committed to upholding the authority and effectiveness of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (CWC) and to achieving the goal of a world free of chemical weapons. China urges Japan to speed up the destruction of abandoned chemical weapons in China. China upholds the CWC as a guideline for properly settling hotspot issues concerning chemical weapons, opposes politicization, and promotes international cooperation on peaceful uses of chemistry.
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