Yang Jiechi Attends the General Debate of the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly and Delivers a Speech
2012-09-28 18:51

On September 27, 2012, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi attended the general debate of the 67th session of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters and delivered a speech.

Yang noted that the world is undergoing major and profound changes and that promotion of peace, development and cooperation has become the shared aspiration of people across the world and the common pursuit of the international community. Meanwhile, destabilizing factors and uncertainties affecting global growth have increased and the international security environment is highly complex. Faced with both unprecedented opportunities and challenges, China advocates promoting equality and democracy in international relations, seeking win-win progress through cooperation in the course of development, ensuring fairness and effectiveness in conducting global governance, pursuing common progress by embracing diversity of civilization and seeking common security amid growing interdependence.

The Foreign Minister stated that China respects and supports efforts by countries in West Asia and North Africa to independently handle their internal affairs and respects the aspirations and calls of people in this region for change and development. The unique features of this region, in terms of religion, civilization, history and ethnicity should be respected. China hopes that the relevant parties will settle differences through inclusive and constructive political dialogue and resolve problems peacefully. China will continue to make unremitting efforts with countries in the region to promote peace and development in keeping with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

Yang said to maintain peace, stability and sound growth in the Asia-Pacific is crucial to ensuring the well-being of people in the region. This also meets the broader interests of the international community. We should fully respect the reality of a diverse and interdependent Asia-Pacific and continue to follow an approach for regional cooperation that has proved effective over the years, namely, building consensus, making incremental progress and accommodating each other's comfort level, so as to uphold peace, stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region.

Yang stated that China will stay on the track of peaceful development and will enhance friendly relations and cooperation with all other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. China will adhere to the policy of building good-neighborly relationships and partnerships with neighboring countries, strengthen ties with the developing world on the basis of equality, mutual support and common development, and actively participate in the reform of international system and global governance. China has the confidence, means and ability to maintain steady and robust growth and achieve long-term, sound and sustainable development.

The Foreign Minister also expounded China's solemn position on Diaoyu Islands, saying that Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islets have been an integral part of China's territory since ancient times and China has indisputable historical and legal evidence in this regard. The Japanese government, by taking such unilateral actions as the so-called "island purchase", has grossly infringed upon China's sovereignty. This is an outright denial of the outcomes of the victory of the world anti-fascist war and poses a grave challenge to the post-war international order and the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. Yang emphasized that the moves taken by Japan are totally illegal and invalid and the Chinese government is firm in upholding China's territorial sovereignty. China strongly urges Japan to immediately stop all activities that violate China's territorial sovereignty, take concrete actions to correct its mistakes, and return to the track of resolving the dispute through negotiation.

The Foreign Minister finally said that the upcoming 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will push China's reform, opening-up and modernization drive to a new stage. China's development is peaceful, open, cooperative and win-win in nature. China will work with the international community to follow the trend of history and the call of the times and build a harmonious world of enduring peace and shared prosperity.

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