Full Text: Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao's Remarks at the Opening Ceremony of the Fourth World Peace Forum (2)

II. China is a proponent, supporter and facilitator for building a community of common destiny for all

The Chinese people are striving to realize the Chinese dream of the great renewal of the Chinese nation. The destiny of the Chinese people is inseparable from that of people of all countries, so are our dreams and aspirations closely connected with those of other peoples.

China actively advocates a community of common destiny for all. It upholds peace, development and win-win cooperation and promotes the building of a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation. China called for the fostering of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, adopts a neighborhood foreign policy of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, and upholds the principle of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith in its cooperation with Africa. President Xi Jinping made important initiatives of building a community of common destiny for all mankind as well as a community of common destiny for specific regions, such as in Asia, in China's neighborhood, in Africa, in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in the Asia-Pacific. All of these initiatives received broad recognition and positive response from the international community.

China has endeavored to follow through on community building with concrete measures. It has participated actively in multilateral cooperation and played its part as a responsible major country in addressing regional and international issues. By advancing the building of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road and encouraging the alignment of development strategies of countries along the routes, China will help create opportunities and dividends of development for over four billion Asians, Europeans and Africans. To strengthen connectivity and support mutually beneficial cooperation between countries along the routes, China contributed nearly US$30 billion to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank it initiated and set up a US$40 billion Silk Road Fund. Despite the pressure from the transformation of its growth model, China made vigorous efforts on energy conservation and emissions reduction. By 2014, energy consumption and CO2 emissions per GDP unit had been cut by 30% and 34% respectively from 10 years ago. By so doing, China has made important contribution to improving the global climate and protecting the environment.

China is a firm supporter of community building for all mankind. It stands for safeguarding the international order and peace regimes shaped by the victory of the Second World War, upholds the basic norms governing international relations based on the Charter of the United Nations, and respects the authority and role of the United Nations and its Security Council. China has participated in 29 UN peacekeeping missions so far and sent more peacekeepers than any other permanent member of the Security Council. China actively promotes the multilateral trade regime and global trade liberalization. It supports the leading role of the World Trade Organization, opposes trade protectionism, and supports efforts to make the international economic and financial system more fair, just, inclusive and stable.

III. We should work together to build a community of common destiny for world peace and security in the spirit of understanding,consultation and reciprocity

Peace and security are the prerequisite for common development of mankind. We should act on the principles of understanding, consultation and reciprocity wherever possible in the community building process.

First, we should promote understanding, as it leads to friendship,respect and equality. Sixty years ago at the Bandung Conference, leaders of 29 Asian and African countries and regions promoted unity and cooperation among Asian and African people by seeking common ground and shelving differences. They put forward Ten Principles on handling state-to-state relations on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence initiated by China, India and Myanmar. "All roads lead to Rome." As countries have different national conditions, their development paths vary from each other. The right of the people of all countries to independently choose their social systems and development paths should be respected. Taking the same path of development should not be a condition for good relations. Nor should size or wealth mean superiority. Instead, we should respect each other, treat each other as equals and promote friendly exchange to cement mutual trust for peace and security.

Second, we should promote peace, harmony and conciliation through consultation. It is natural for neighbors to have frictions, and there can be disagreements and differences between countries. History has shown that force cannot offer lasting solutions to disputes and resorting to war would only bring disaster. Consultation is the only way towards durable peace. In the 1990s, China signed boundary agreements with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan through friendly consultations and properly settled the boundary disputes left over from history. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was founded on that basis and provided strong support to peace and stability of the region. Through friendly consultation, China signed Treaties of Good-neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation with eight neighboring countries. It is now consulting on the signing of a similar one with ASEAN. And it stands ready to conclude such treaties with all other neighboring countries. For many international hotspot issues with intricate factors at play, force is hardly the solution. Conciliation can only be reached through consultation and dialogue. In dealing with long-standing conflicts, we should use consultation to address disputes, end fighting and promote peace, in an effort to achieve harmonious coexistence between different ethnic groups, religions and cultures and between different countries, systems and communities.

Third, we should encourage mutual assistance in the face of difficulties as a means of achieving common development and win-win cooperation. The Chinese have an ancient belief in the nobility of "sticking together through thick and thin". China has for long extended help to other developing countries within its capacity. It has cumulatively provided RMB400 billion in assistance to 166 countries and international organizations. China also received assistance and support from other countries. China made active efforts to encourage the formulation of a United Nations Post-2015 Development Agenda that addresses the difficulties faced by developing countries, especially by African countries and the Least Developed Countries. China extended a helping hand to countries affected by the Ebola outbreak and worked closely with the international community to get the epidemic under timely control. With more daunting development tasks ahead, we should strengthen mutual assistance to expand South-South cooperation, promote North-South cooperation, and build a more equal and balanced new global partnership for development.

This year, commemorative activities on the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Fascist War will be held in many countries as well as by the United Nations. These activities are meant as a reminder to mankind to cherish and protect our hard-won peace and never allow the tragedy of war to repeat itself. Let us remember the history and embrace the future. Let us join hands to build a community of common destiny for world peace and security and open up a new era of lasting peace. Endi