Chinese envoy stresses role of regional organizations in safeguarding peace, security

A Chinese envoy to the United Nations on Tuesday highlighted the important role played by regional and sub-regional organizations in safeguarding world peace and security.

"Peace and development are the themes of our times, but the world is not peaceful yet. Regional turbulence, terrorism, major epidemics, natural disasters and other non-traditional security issues have been occurring now and then," said Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN, at a Security Council meeting on regional organizations and contemporary global security challenges.

The United Nations is at the core of the international collective security mechanism. The Security Council has the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, Liu said.

China supports regional organizations in fully displaying their experiences, their advantages in regional, historical and cultural expertise to play their unique role in resolving regional conflicts through peaceful means, said Liu.

The representative also spoke highly of the contributions made by regional and sub-regional organizations.

"China appreciates regional and sub-regional organizations, such as the African Union (AU), in their efforts to resolve hotspot issues through good offices and peaceful means," Liu said.

The AU, as the biggest and most representative regional organizations in Africa, has been playing an increasingly important role in regional peace and security affairs, he said. As for the cooperation between China and Africa, Liu said China has always been an active and constructive participant in African peace and security.

"In July 2012, at the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), China put forward an initiative of cooperation between China and Africa on developing partnerships for peace and security, which is aimed at strengthening the capacity-building of the AU in terms of security and peace-building, improving its peacekeeping operations and the fight against terrorism and piracy," said the envoy.

According to Liu, the initiative covers financial support from China to the AU to conduct peacekeeping operations and conventional military strength-building. It also covers strengthened training of peace and security officers and peacekeepers for the African Union.

Thanks to the joint efforts of China and Africa over the past three years, the implementation of the initiative has registered progress. In the second half of this year, the Forum will hold its sixth meeting, with peace and security as important themes, he added.

"China is ready to seize the opportunity (the sixth meeting), together with Africa, to step up implementation of the initiative on partnerships for peace and security between China and Africa, to facilitate the settlement of hotspot political issues and jointly promote peace, stability and development on the continent, " said Liu.

Also at the Security Council meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for strengthened partnerships with regional and sub- regional organizations to better respond to evolving global threats.

"The United Nations increasingly shares responsibility for peace and security with regional organizations. We should do everything possible to help them resolve regional problems -- and to include the States concerned in solutions," said Ban.

Improving partnerships and cooperation with regional organizations has been a recurring theme for the Security Council and other parts of the UN system.

Tuesday's open debate at the Security Council takes place at a time when threats to international peace and security increasingly appear to have trans-border and regional dimensions. Enditem