Chinese FM urges to inject UN Charter with new vitality

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday called for enriching the UN Charter and injecting it with new dynamism and vitality given the trend of a changing world and the practical needs.

Wang made the appeal while presiding over an open debate of the UN Security Council with the theme of "Maintaining International Peace and Security: Reflect on History, Reaffirm the Strong Commitment to the Purposes and the Principles of the Charter of the United Nations." China serves in the position of the rotating presidency of the Council for the month of February.

Wang pointed out that it is true that mankind has made significant progress in the cause of peace and development, but the vision as set forth in the Charter is yet to be fully realized.

"Though a world war has been averted, local wars and various conflicts have been incessant, and non-traditional security threats such as terrorism crop up one after another; though the world economy has grown markedly, the gap between the haves and have-nots remains prominent and new global challenges including climate change keep emerging; though multilateralism has become the prevailing trend, inequality and lack of democracy still exist in international relations, and the norms that govern international relations are violated from time to time; in addition, although the historical facts have long been made clear on the war against Fascism, there are still some who are reluctant to recognize the truth and even attempt to overturn the verdict and whitewash past crimes of aggression," he said.

Wang stressed the UN Charter, which marks 70 years into its creation, remains as relevant as ever before.

"Not only should we stay true to the spirit of the UN Charter, we also need to act along the trend of the times and in line with practical needs to add new dimensions to the Charter and bring to it new dynamism and vitality," he said. Endite