Full Text: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's statement at General Debate of 71st session of UN General Assembly (1)

Chinese Premier Li KeqiangWednesday made a statement at the General Debate of the 71stSession of the United Nations General Assembly here. The followingis the full text of Li's statement:

Work for a World of Peace,Stability and Sustainable Development

Mr.President,

I congratulate you on your electionas President of the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly. Ibelieve that under your presidency, this session of the GeneralAssembly will move forward and make good progress according to itsagenda. I also appreciate the effective work of Mr. Lykketoft asPresident of the last session of the UNGA.

I also wish to pay tribute toSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon who, with modesty and a drive forharmony and accommodation, has worked tirelessly and in adown-to-earth manner over the past decade, and whose work hascontributed significantly to world peace, sustainable developmentand the advancement and protection of human rights in theworld.

Mr. President,

Dear Colleagues,

The UN Sustainable DevelopmentSummit held last year adopted the 2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment, opening a new vision for global development. At thesummit, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a speech entitled"Towards Win-win Partnership for Sustainable Development" toexpound on China' s principles and position as well as itsreadiness to advance the agenda for sustainable development.

This year is the first in theAgenda's implementation. The G20 Summit held not long ago inHangzhou of China reached the Hangzhou consensus on world economicgrowth. A blueprint was drawn for building an innovative,invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy.Participants at the Summit pledged to actively implement the 2030Agenda for Sustainable Development and formulated an action plantoward that end, which injected new vigor to global sustainabledevelopment. The Chinese government was also among the first toadopt and release the country's National Plan on Implementation ofthe 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As for the GeneralAssembly, it has decided that for this year's session, the generaldebate will focus on the theme "The Sustainable Development Goals:a universal push to transform our world". These, in my view, areall highly relevant.

Sustainable development is firstand foremost about development. Development underpins every humanachievement. Without development, nothing can be sustainable. Thelack of development is often at the root of many problems facingthe world. Be it poverty or the refugee crisis, war, conflicts orterrorism, they all could be attributed to insufficient developmentand none can be addressed properly without development. Onlydevelopment can guarantee people's fundamental rights. Onlydevelopment can root out the cause for global challenges. And onlydevelopment can advance human civilization and progress.

Development must be sustainable. Itmust be sustainable in all dimensions, otherwise development willbe stalled and strained. Development won't be sustainable if it isunbalanced, unequal and widens the gap between the North and theSouth and the rich and the poor. Development won't be sustainableif it is achieved in an extensive manner, driven by highconsumption, high pollution and high emissions and depletesresources and strains the environment. Development won't besustainable if economic growth and social progress are not wellcoordinated. Only when we keep a profound understanding of theimplication of sustainability, make all-round progress in povertyreduction, North-South and South-South cooperation, climate changeand other fields, and work to promote equal sharing and greendevelopment can we ensure that development is truly solid andsustainable.

Sustainable development must beinclusive and interconnected. Currently, the sustainabledevelopment endeavor is faced with grave challenges: regionalconflicts and hotspots are incessant, traditional andnon-traditional security threats intertwine, and the environmentfor sustainable development gives no reason for optimism. Worldeconomic recovery remains lukewarm, economic globalization facesstrong headwind, and the momentum for sustainable development isweak. Frequent occurrence of major infectious diseases and naturaldisasters is increasingly prominent, the issues of energy andresource security, food security and financial security areinterwoven, and sustainable development remains an uphill journey.Difficult moments call for stronger confidence. I believe mankindhas the wisdom and capability to find a way out of difficulty. Forthat to happen, there must be cooperation and a spirit of workingtogether to tide over difficulties. It is time that theinternational community take on a new perspective. It should seeitself as a community of shared future in which all arestakeholders, and should make concerted efforts to jointly tackleglobal challenges.

Mr. President,

Dear Colleagues,

To advance sustainable development,we must keep both short-term and long-term interests in mind,tackle challenges with concrete efforts and work actively totransform and change our world.

-- We must uphold the purposes andprinciples of the UN Charter. Without peace and stability, therewill be no sustainable development; even the fruits of developmentalready reaped risk being lost. The hard-won peace that hasprevailed over the past 70 years or more testifies to theeffectiveness of the existing international system with the UN atits core and of the norms of international relations established onthe basis of the UN Charter. This international system and thesenorms governing international relations must be upheld resolutely,for they not only serve the common interests of people of allcountries, but also provide the most essential guarantee forattainment of the sustainable development goals. Countries need tohonor the purposes and principles of the UN Charter in letter andin spirit, and should support the leading role of the UN and itsSecurity Council in global affairs. Countries need to be supportiveof steady reform and improvement of global governance mechanisms,so as to adapt to the changing international political and economiclandscape. A new concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative andsustainable security should be nurtured and a global partnershipshould be established that features "dialogue instead ofconfrontation, and partnership instead of alliance".

-- We must stay committed to thegeneral direction of settling hotspot issues through politicalmeans. Political resolution is the fundamental way to addressregional hotspot issues. History has shown once and again that torepress violence with force can only lead to more hatred andwarfare, from which no winner will emerge. Parties involved inconflicts must reject the zero-sum mentality. They should settledisputes through dialogue, address differences through consultationand seek reconciliation with tolerance. The mediation efforts ofthe international community must be fair and impartial. It shouldonly facilitate the settlement of issues, not invite new troubles.On the Syrian issue, it is important to seek a politicalsettlement. The international community should step up efforts toencourage parties concerned in Syria to put an end to conflict atan early date and reach a deal for comprehensive politicalsettlement. On the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, it isimperative to achieve denuclearization and maintain peace andstability both on the Peninsula and in the region. It is importantto address issues through dialogue and consultation, andeffectively uphold the international nuclear non-proliferationregime. Terrorism is the common enemy of mankind and must becombated resolutely. At the same time, the practice of doublestandard should be avoided and there should be no linkage betweenterrorism and a certain country, ethnicity or religion.

-- We must work together for steadyrecovery of the global economy. The world economy cannot affordlong-term sluggishness, otherwise sustainable development will be afountain without source. The current world economy is faced withboth insufficient aggregate demand as well as outstandingstructural problems. It is necessary to employ effective policytools in a holistic manner, and to combine demand management withsupply-side reform and short-term policies with long-term ones. Atthe G20 Hangzhou Summit, participants reached common ground and putforward a series of major initiatives and measures to strengthenmacro policy coordination, find new ways of growth, advancestructural reform, improve global economic and financialgovernance, reinvigorate international trade and investment, thetwin engines of global growth, and achieve inclusive andinterconnected development. We call on all countries to makeconcerted efforts to drive the global economy along a path ofstrong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. Majoreconomies, given their significant influence, need to act in aresponsible manner in policy-making and policy coordination. Whilefocusing on their own growth, they also need to strive to reducenegative spill-overs of their policies and refrain from adding tothe difficulty of global economic recovery. (mo