The People’s Republic of China acknowledges that the global order is currently undergoing “profound transformation” that poses enormous multiple challenges to the human race the world over. However, typically, through a consistent foreign policy programme based on the principles of public good, international cooperation and shared prosperity, China sees a silver lining.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, addressed the international media on the margins of the Second Session of the 14th National People’s Congress in Beijing this week. Quoting President Xi Jinping during his address in his capacity as the head of the CPC, he said: “China will stand firmly on the right side of history and on the side of human progress, and will advocate vigorously for peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit.” He added: “China will pursue its development along with its efforts for peace and development, and at the same time, China will make contributions to world peace and development through its own development.”
Over the past decade, China’s development has been unmatched on a global scale, taking more than 800,000 000 people out of poverty into the middle class. The triggered public acknowledgement by the UN, noting that China’s impressive record in pushing back the frontiers of poverty was achieved way ahead of the deadline set for the attainment of the Millennium Goals.
China’s public diplomacy programme has also seen the country play a leading role in attempts to broker a peace deal in the on-going conflict in Ukraine by tabling a 10-point plan that the Western backers of Kyiv are yet to agree upon. Additionally, Beijing has been at the fore-front of international calls for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, where more than 30,000 people – mainly children and women – have been killed in a continuous barrage of bombardment by the Israeli Defence Force supported mainly by Washington through a supply of weapons. Mr Wang said in 2023 alone, “China took steps to promote international solidarity and cooperation, and offered solutions to crisis and challenges”. He continued: “We contributed to world peace and development, and broke new ground in China’s diplomatic theory and practice.”
China is also credited with facilitating the historic reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, two of the regional powerhouses in the Middle East. Furthermore, Beijing successfully mediated a ceasefire agreement in northern Myanmar, thereby saving of thousands of innocent lives. Said Minister Wang: “We promoted political settlement of all hotspots and conflicts. We resolutely opposed all hegemonic and bullying acts, and effectively safeguarded China’s sovereignty, security and development interests as well as the common interests of the developing countries.”
At the BRICS Heads of State Summit held in South Africa last August, China played a leading role in the resolution to expand the membership of BRICS from five members to eleven. In so doing, BRICS-Plus became a microcosm for the rejuvenation of the entire global south. Renewed vigour of the form of unity of purpose and international solidarity formed part of the repositioned BRICS-Plus. China is the world’s largest-growing economy and remains the world’s second-biggest economy after only the US. China is also home to the BRICS Bank, or the New Development Bank, and is the lead backer of the empowerment lender both financially and materially.
China’s visionary diplomacy is premised on the will to build an international community with a shared future for mankind. Mr Wang explained: “China always believes that there is only one system in the world, i.e. the international system with the UN at its core. There is only one order. i.e. the international order underpinned by international law and there is only one set of rules, i.e. the basic norms of international relations on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.”
At the recent hearings of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, China was one of the more than 50 countries that called for Israel to be ordered to stop its occupation of Palestine. China also took a similar line at the UN Security Council and in the General Assembly, where China called for the immediate ceasefire and implementation of a Two-State solution. Evidently, China’s foreign policy seeks to actively support the principles of the UN Charter. Beijing has previously decried a Western-led unipolar world order based on the so-called “rules-based” that are crafted by powerful Western states outside of the UN system. “No country,” Minister Wang warned, “should do whatever suits it or reinvent the wheel.
The crisis and challenges seen in recent years serve as repeated warnings that the role of the UN should be strengthened not weakened, and the status of the UN must be upheld, not replaced.”
He concluded: China is a place that makes the impossible possible.
