Full Text: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's speech at the luncheon of the Fourth World Peace Forum (4)

We will continue to safeguard contemporary international order and system. Seventy years ago, China was directly involved in designing and building the international order and system with the United Nations as the centerpiece. Naturally we wouldn't overturn what we had helped to build, nor would we want to start everything anew. We will join other countries in safeguarding and further developing the existing order and system. In fact, it is the failure to effectively honor the purposes and principles of the UN Charter that is very much behind the confrontation and injustice we see in our world today.

Meanwhile, the trend of multi-polarization and globalization means that we need to work together for the reform and improvement of the international order and system to make it more fair and equitable, and better serve the aspirations of the international community, especially the large group of developing countries which have grown stronger since the second World War. We should embrace three basic principles in the evolution of international relations, namely, more multilateralism and less unilateralism; stronger rule of law, not the law of the jungle; and greater democracy, not power politics.

Let me say a few more words about the Silk Road initiatives. The aim of these initiatives is to promote common development and shared prosperity along the routes, with a view to building a community of common destiny. And their implementation will follow a win-win approach featuring wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. Countries in the Asia-Pacific are both natural partners in these initiatives and their direct beneficiaries. The Eurasian landmass we are living in bears witness to much bloodshed in history. Today, we should work together to make the renewal of the ancient Silk Roads a pathway towards lasting peace and cooperation that had eluded our forefathers.

We will continue to advance regional cooperation and integration in the Asia-Pacific. Regional cooperation is a trend of the times. And our aim should be to achieve trade and investment liberalization on a global scale. We will promote coordinated progress in cooperation mechanisms, such as the APEC, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, ASEAN Plus One, ASEAN Plus Three, China-Japan-ROK Cooperation and East Asia Summit, in an effort to build an architecture of Asia-Pacific cooperation that is more open, inclusive, mutually beneficial and complementary. In East Asia, which is China' s immediate neighborhood, we will continue to support ASEAN centrality in regional cooperation, work actively with ASEAN to push forward the negotiations for an upgraded China-ASEAN FTA and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and endeavor to fulfill the vision for an East Asia economic community by 2020.

Before I conclude, let me say one more thing. As China continues to contribute to world peace and development, we hope the international community will also make the effort to learn more about China, and understand and support my country. China' s peaceful development is a process of modernization among 1.3 billion people. Seldom can we see such an inspiring and splendid endeavor in the history of human progress.

The growth of China has been accompanied by the extension of its national interests beyond its neighborhood. This is a trend of history that is both natural and unstoppable. This process brings to the region and the world, first and foremost, opportunities for cooperation and dividends of development. Even so, due to conventional thinking, some friends tend to worry that China might repeat the path of previous major powers and put the development space of others under constraint. Let me reaffirm here that as a participant of and contributor to the global and regional order, a growing China would only mean greater strength for peace and more positive energy in the world. We are determined to break the so-called law of history that draws a simplistic equation between power and attempts to seek hegemony. We will unswervingly go down a new path of sharing peace and development with all other countries. As President Xi Jinping has emphasized, China is committed to working with all countries to foster a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation. This is an objective and vision we are dedicated to achieve. President Xi's important proposition builds on the purposes of the UN Charter and is fully consistent with the trend of progress of human society. We look forward to joining hands with all countries to embark on a new journey that will lead us to the successful attainment of this vision.

Thank you all. Endi