Greet the Spring Hand in Hand
Beijing, 28 April 2010
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to be invited by the Association of Former Diplomats of China (AFDC) to the Ninth Session of the Spring of Diplomats and the Fortune Leaders Forum of the Fifth Convention of Outstanding Chinese Entrepreneurs. Since its inception in 2001, the Spring of Diplomats has made unique contribution as an important platform for friendly exchanges between Chinese and foreign diplomatic and business communities. Spring is a season for sowing the seeds of hope. In this mid-spring, we see gradual recovery of the global economy and accelerated transformation of economic growth pattern. Against this backdrop, this year's theme, "scientific development and green growth", is particularly relevant to our joint effort to continue tackling the international financial crisis, promote global economic recovery and lasting prosperity and answer the call of our time to transform economic growth pattern. Let me take this opportunity to extend, on behalf of Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, warm congratulations on the opening of the forum.
Since its establishment 15 years ago, the AFDC has actively conducted external exchanges with the aim of promoting exchanges, mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation and contributed to the country's overall diplomatic work and modernization drive. For that I would like to pay high tribute to the AFDC and I sincerely wish you even greater success.
Not long ago, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Yushu county of China's Qinghai Province, inflicting severe loss of lives and property. Ruthless as the earthquake was, great love knows no borders. Since the earthquake, sincere support and valuable assistance have been pouring in from governments and people of other countries and international organizations. The AFDC also shared the pains of the quake-affected people and acted vigorously to provide generous assistance to the disaster relief efforts. Let me express heartfelt thanks to the governments and people of the relevant countries, international organizations, diplomatic missions in China and the AFDC.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This year kicks off the second decade of the new century. Many people may not have anticipated the magnitude, profoundness and speed of the changes in the world over the past decade. A host of major events hastened the arrival of a new era marked by economic fluctuations, institutional overhaul and structural adjustments. Several new features and trends deserve our attention.
First, the profound impact of the international financial crisis persists. As countries benefit from their effective responses and stimulus measures, the world economy has shown signs of gradual rebound. But the foundation for a full recovery is not entrenched yet. In face of global competition in the post-crisis era, many countries are busy adjusting their development strategies and creating new economic growth areas with a stronger sense of urgency in seizing opportunities and meeting challenges.
Second, the collective strength of developing countries continues to rise. The rise of developing countries, that of emerging market countries in particular, is one of the most important trends in today's world. Developing countries, also hit and burdened by the financial crisis, have been able to sustain relatively fast growth on the whole. The share of developing countries in the world GDP will continue to rise, while that of traditional powers will drop further. That being said, with economic development level still falling behind, developing countries have to travel a long way before they can truly achieve economic development and poverty eradication.
Third, the reform of global economic system has entered an important stage. The financial crisis has made it widely acknowledged that the world needs to strengthen global economic governance, give more say to developing countries and make the international order more just and equitable. The reform of the international economic and financial system has made important progress. The G20 summits have become institutionalized and the reform of the World Bank and other international institutions has taken significant steps forward. Even so, the reform remains a long and tortuous process as it involves the redistribution of interests and reaffirmation of the new balance of power.
Fourth, international cooperation on global issues has been strengthened. Climate change, energy and resources security, food security, public health security, nuclear security and other global issues have been thrown into sharp relief, and no country can deal with them alone. The right way to survive and thrive is to stick together in tough times like passengers in the same boat and pursue mutual benefit and win-win progress. Countries tend to look at their own interests when choosing partners and form diverse interest groups. International relations have entered a new round of adjustment. Cooperation amidst competition has become the basic policy orientation of countries at large.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The past year witnessed challenges overcome and breakthroughs made in China's diplomatic work. In a changing international situation, we acted under the correct leadership of the Central Party Committee and the State Council, with our response to the financial crisis as the focus, multilateral summits as the main diplomatic platform, innovations in diplomatic theory and practice as an important driver, and overall planning and coordination as the fundamental work approach. We seized the opportunities, overcame the challenges, developed external relations on all fronts, effectively safeguarded China's sovereignty, security and development interests, secured the important period of strategic opportunity for China's development and made new progress in all diplomatic endeavors.
We endeavored to promote the healthy and steady growth of China's relations with major countries. After experiencing some setbacks, China-US relations have started to gradually get back onto the track of normal development. President Hu Jintao met with President Obama on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C. and urged the US to make positive responses to China's major concerns. The two sides agreed that a sound China-US relationship serves the interests of both countries and contributes to world peace, stability and prosperity. The two sides pledged to jointly the relationship forward. China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination continued to advance at a high level. Strategic coordination and practical cooperation continued to deepen. The success of the "Year of the Russian Language" in China and the "Year of the Chinese language" in Russia further enhanced public support for the bilateral ties. China-EU relations demonstrated a sound momentum of growth. Premier Wen Jiabao held talks with EU leaders. The all-dimensional, wide-ranging and multi-tiered cooperation between the two sides was constantly enriched and improved. China-Japan strategic relationship of mutual benefit continued to develop. The two countries maintained close high-level exchanges. President Hu Jintao had a successful meeting with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C. The two countries worked earnestly to implement agreements and measures for developing bilateral ties and breathed new life into China-Japan relations.
We continued to deepen good-neighborly and friendly cooperation with neighboring countries. Firmly committed to the principle of amity and partnership with neighboring countries, we have built various types of partnerships with almost all the neighboring countries. We participated actively in ASEAN plus China, ASEAN plus China, Japan and the ROK, East Asia Summit, China-Japan-ROK, APEC and other cooperation mechanisms. We established the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area as scheduled, promoted the implementation of the Chiang Mai Initiative, set up a regional foreign reserves pool and further advanced the Greater Mekong Subregion cooperation. We continued to deepen dialogue and cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and enjoyed fruitful outcomes in cooperation in politics, security, economy, culture, people-to-people exchanges, health and other areas.
We worked actively to strengthen traditional friendships with other developing countries. President Hu Jintao attended the Second Summit Meeting of BRIC Leaders in Brasilia and visited Brazil, which helped improve the BRIC's cooperation mechanism and enriched China's cooperation with relevant countries. Friendships with African countries continued to grow with frequent exchanges of high-level visits and the deepening of win-win and results-oriented cooperation. New progress was made in China's relations with Arab countries bilaterally and multilaterally. The Fourth Ministerial Meeting of China-Arab Cooperation Forum will be held in Tianjin. Political mutual trust and win-win cooperation reached a new height. We continued to deepen relations and enriched exchanges and cooperation with the African Union, the League of Arab States, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and other organizations of developing countries.
We actively engaged in international cooperation on multilateral occasions. China played an important and constructive role by promoting the settlement of international disputes and regional hotspot issues through diplomatic and peaceful means. We were active in international cooperation on counter-terrorism and non-proliferation. At the just concluded Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C., President Hu Jintao personally led the Chinese delegation to the summit from the strategic and long-term perspective of building consensus, promoting international cooperation and protecting international security. He expounded on China's propositions on relevant issues, showed to the world that China is a responsible country and greatly contributed to international cooperation on nuclear security.
We endeavored to ensure the success of our diplomatic work on all fronts. We actively carried out foreign-related work in relation to the disaster relief for Yushu, the earthquake-hit area in Qinghai Province. We scaled up economic diplomacy to facilitate the implementation of the "going-out" and "bringing-in" strategies. We worked hard to promote energy-and-resources-related diplomacy. We took an active part in the international dialogue and cooperation on countering the financial crisis and firmly opposed protectionism to create a more favorable external environment for the domestic efforts of ensuring stability, promoting development, adjusting economic structure and transforming economic development pattern. We adopted new approaches for public diplomacy, enhanced mechanisms and institutions, gave out extensive and timely information on our policies and provided briefings and policy statements on major emergencies and sensitive issues at home and abroad in a timely fashion so that the world will have an objective and fair opinion on China.
We actively strengthened cultural and people-to-people exchanges with other countries through rich and colorful cultural diplomacy. We worked hard to ensure foreign-related work for the Shanghai World Expo. In two days, the World Expo, reputed as an event to bring out human vitality, wisdom and eagerness for progress, will open by the Huangpu River in Shanghai. It is another international gathering hosted by China after the Beijing Olympic Games and the first world expo held in a developing country. It belongs not only to Shanghai and China, but more importantly, to the whole world. The expo will provide an important platform for people all over the world to showcase development fruits, enhance understanding and friendship and promote common development. China will mobilize all its resources and pool the wisdom of the whole world to turn the Shanghai World Expo into a bridge of friendship and cultural exchanges.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
China's development has attracted more and more attention from the international community. How will China position itself? How will it interact with the world? What role will it play on the world stage? These are questions of great interest to many people.
Yes, over the past 60 years since New China was founded, particularly the past 30-odd years since China started reform and opening up, China's economic strength has increased substantially. Now it is the third largest economy, the largest exporter, the second largest importer and the largest emerging market in the world. Today, with its interests never so closely connected with those of the rest of the world, China is an important player and reformer in the international system and is increasingly becoming an important force for world peace and common development.
－ China's development has brought benefits to the world. Statistics show that in 2009, China contributed 50% to world economic growth. China has taken an active part in international cooperation on the financial crisis. In the height of the financial crisis, China kept the RMB exchange rate basically stable, facilitated the establishment of the Asian foreign exchange reserve pool totaling US$120 billion and signed currency swap agreements worth RMB650 billion, thus playing an important role in promoting stability and development of the regional and global economy. China has adopted a host of major measures to meet the climate challenge, worked vigorously for important and positive outcomes at the Copenhagen conference and actively contributed to international cooperation on climate change.
－ China is assuming increasing international responsibilities commensurate with its capability. We have fulfilled our commitments under the UN Millennium Declaration, provided economic assistance to more than 120 developing countries, cancelled the debts owed by 49 heavily indebted poor countries and least developed countries and provided zero-tariff treatment to the commodities of over 40 least developed countries. China is an active participant in UN peacekeeping operations. Since we sent the first peacekeeping group to Timor-Leste in 2000, we have dispatched 14,000 personnel to 24 UN peacekeeping missions, making China the largest contributor of peacekeepers among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Chinese peacekeepers can be found in Haiti of the Americas, in Bosnia and Herzegovina of Europe, in Timor-Leste and Afghanistan of Asia, and in Liberia and Sudan of Africa. Some of them made the ultimate sacrifice. We have given assistance, both in kind and in cash, to countries hit by earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters and sent our medical and rescue teams for many humanitarian relief missions. While promoting our own development, we are doing our utmost to contribute to the lofty cause of world peace and development.
On the other hand, one must always remember China's basic national conditions and the challenges it faces. China is a developing country and will remain so for a long time to come. Its basic national conditions, such as a huge population, weak economic foundation and imbalanced development, have not changed. It still lags behind advanced countries. Although China is the third largest economy in the world, its per capita GDP is a mere US$3,600, which is less than half of the world's average level of US$8,000, putting China behind 100 countries in the world. China still has the second largest poor population, with 135 million people living on less than one US dollar a day. We need to create 24 million new jobs every year. Our consumer spending is still at a fairly low level. Ten million people in China still have no access to electricity. There are huge development gaps between urban and rural areas and between the eastern coast and the western hinterland. The Yangtze River Delta Region, with just 1% of China's total land mass, creates more than 20% of the country's GDP. By contrast, the vast regions in central and western China are very poor. The once-in-a-century drought that hit five provinces in southwest China not long ago has affected more than 50 million people, leaving 16.09 million people lacking access to drinking water. China is a huge trader in the world, but 50% of its trade is processing trade and China lacks competitiveness in scientific research and development and high-end manufacturing. people put it vividly that China needs to export hundreds of millions of shirts in order to buy one Airbus or Boeing and a full container of shoes and socks in order to buy a tiny computer chip. We have an objective and sober minded reading about our national conditions. We are a big developing country with 1.3 billion people. The problems that we face on our way ahead are unmatched anywhere in the world in terms of their magnitude and complexity, and none of them has easy solutions. We have a long way to go and generations or even over a dozen generations of the Chinese people need to make strenuous efforts before China truly realizes development.
More than 30 years ago, China was called a backward, underdeveloped country. Today, it is known as one of the most dynamic and influential emerging economies. In retrospect, had China not followed the path of peaceful development or the win-win strategy of opening up, or secured an international environment of overall peace and stability, China would not have marched so steadily forward with such confidence. That is the key to our fairly remarkable development. We will stick to it and never abandon it.
China will stay firmly committed to the path of peaceful development. "Harmony without uniformity", an invaluable idea in the Chinese tradition, is so dearly cherished by the Chinese people. China's development has been made possible by our dedicated efforts on the economic and social fronts, not by armed expansion abroad. The path of peaceful development is a strategic choice that China has made in keeping with China's national conditions and the trends of our time. It is the path that we must take to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
China will stay firmly committed to the win-win strategy of opening up. The interests of countries are brought closely together by deepening globalization and informatization. We stand or fall together. The Cold-War mentality, which believes one's security is the other's danger and one's loss is the other's gain, is out of date. The right way to survive and thrive is to work together on an equal footing, complement each other and share interests with each other. China does not pursue development at the cost of others or seek to maximize its own gains. Quite the contrary, we have been working to broaden shared interests and combine our interests with the common interests of the people around the world. While developing ourselves, we are bringing more opportunities and making greater contributions to the world.
China will stay firmly committed to a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity. In an era of growing diversity and cultural pluralism, we should uphold democracy, harmony, coordination and win-win progress in international relations and work for peaceful coexistence between countries, amity between peoples and harmony between Man and nature. We should recognize differences of countries in culture, social systems and values and, at the same time, respect their rights to independently choose development paths so that different civilizations and development models can complement each other amidst competition and develop together by seeking common ground while recognizing differences.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
You are senior diplomats or outstanding entrepreneurs with a global perspective and strategic thinking. All of you have played an important role as a bridge in promoting state-to-state exchanges and cooperation and enhancing people-to-people friendships. The new era has given us new historic missions. Looking ahead, we should do more than being bridges. Our responsibility also includes setting up more bridges to give a stronger boost to China's exchanges and cooperation with the rest of the world. Let us join hands, redouble our efforts and further contribute our wisdom and energy to stronger mutual understanding and friendship between peoples and to the noble cause of world peace and development.
To conclude, I wish the Ninth Session of the Spring of Diplomats and the Fortune Leaders Forum of the Fifth Convention of Outstanding Chinese Entrepreneurs a crowning success.
Thank you.