High-end interview| Ambassador Zhang Jun: China has played a "stabilizer" role in the United Nations for 50 years

Yu Xiaoqing, senior reporter of The Paper

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the legitimate seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations, and China will solemnly hold the commemorative meeting of the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the legitimate seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations in Beijing on October 25, and President Xi Jinping will attend the meeting and deliver an important speech.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres once said that with China's support, the United Nations can better fulfill its responsibilities.

At present, the world pattern is undergoing profound changes, the COVID-19 epidemic is fluctuating, the world economy is recovering in difficulty, while peace and development are still the themes of the times, and the call for safeguarding multilateralism, strengthening solidarity and cooperation, and jointly responding to challenges has become even stronger.

On October 22, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the China-UN Cooperation Position Paper. The position paper demonstrates China's outstanding contributions to the work of the United Nations in various fields over the past 50 years, and expounds China's position and propositions on important international issues such as safeguarding multilateralism, promoting global development, and uniting to fight the epidemic.

"On October 25, 1971, the 26th session of the General Assembly adopted resolution 2758 by an overwhelming majority, deciding to restore all the rights of the People's Republic of China at the United Nations. This is a major event that has attracted the world's attention, a major victory in new China's diplomacy, and a milestone in the history of the United Nations, which has had a profound impact on China and the world. On October 23, local time, Ambassador Zhang Jun, China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, was interviewed by the surging news (www.thepaper.cn) and answered questions from the surging reporters on many important topics such as the 50th anniversary of China's restoration of the legitimate seat of the United Nations, multilateralism and global governance, the global recovery of the epidemic, and the avoidance of the "new Cold War".

Ambassador Zhang Jun, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations Photo courtesy of the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations

Zhang Jun said that over the past 50 years, through the UN platform, China has actively participated in international affairs, fully integrated into the world system, made extensive development partners, stepped onto the world stage, and played an increasingly important role in international affairs.

The following is the full text of the interview:

The Paper: This year marks the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China's restoration of its legitimate seat in the United Nations. For half a century, China has always firmly defended the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and made Chinese contributions to the development of the noble cause of the United Nations. How do you see the impact and significance of this historical event on China and the world?

Zhang Jun: On October 25, 1971, the 26th session of the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758 by an overwhelming majority, deciding to restore all the rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations. This is a major event that has attracted the world's attention, a major victory in new China's diplomacy, and a milestone in the history of the United Nations, which has had a profound impact on China and the world.

For China, Resolution 2758 is first and foremost a correction of historical injustices. Obstructed by the United States, from 1949 to 1971, China's sole legitimate government was kept out of the United Nations for 22 years, which is a historical injustice to China as a founding member of the United Nations, and a historical injustice to all Chinese people who fought bloodily to win the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Resolution 2758 also opens a window for China's reform, opening up and all-round development with fairness and justice. Over the past 50 years, through the Un Platform, China has actively participated in international affairs, fully integrated into the world system, made extensive contacts for development, stepped onto the world stage with dignity, and played an increasingly important role in international affairs.

For the world, after New China restored the legitimate seat of the United Nations, the United Nations, as the core of the post-World War II international system, had real authority, universality and integrity. Imagine if the People's Republic of China, which accounts for a quarter of the world's population, had no real representation in the United Nations, where would the representation of the United Nations begin? The phrase "the maintenance of justice" in the preamble to the Charter of the United Nations has also become an empty phrase. Over the past 50 years, the world pattern and international relations have undergone complex and profound evolution, and China has always played the role of a "stabilizer" in the United Nations, leading international cooperation on many agendas, contributing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions, bringing the world the strength of peace, confidence in development, stable expectations, and cooperation dividends. It can be said that the restoration of the legitimate seat of the United Nations by New China has made the United Nations more trustworthy, powerful and responsible, and has also made the world more peaceful, prosperous and beautiful.

The Paper: The United Nations is the core platform for global governance and the most important multilateral mechanism in the world. In the past two years, the coronavirus has ravaged the world, and unilateralism and protectionism are still prevalent under the epidemic. How do you think we should give full play to the core platform of the United Nations and further revitalize multilateralism in the post-PANDEMIC world? What role will China play in this?

Zhang Jun: The United Nations is the banner and carrier of multilateralism, and in the 76 years since its establishment, the United Nations has experienced a series of tests such as the Cold War, demonstrating the strong vitality of multilateralism. Today's world is facing the superimposed resonance and mutual catalysis of the century-old changes and the century epidemic, and global challenges such as the north-south development gap, regional hotspot issues, terrorism, and climate change are also fermenting and amplifying, once again pushing human society to the crossroads of history. In times of crisis, we need to strengthen solidarity and cooperation in the United Nations, and we need to uphold and practice multilateralism. As leaders emphasized in the Political Declaration on the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the United Nations last September, multilateralism is not an option, but a necessity.

Shouting slogans is easy, the key is to look at action. Those who follow the United Nations will find that some countries are keen to make verbal support and paper commitments to multilateralism, but when it comes to concrete action, they will reveal the true face of unilateralism, hegemonism and power politics. This is typical of "pseudo-multilateralism", which does not benefit the world at all. In the post-pandemic era, humanity needs genuine action-oriented multilateralism. All countries should implement their commitments in a down-to-earth manner, truly abide by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, respect the sovereign equality of all countries, refrain from arbitrarily engaging in political coercion and unilateral sanctions, and adhere to consultation, joint construction and sharing in global governance, so that the vast number of developing countries can speak and do their jobs.

China's support for the United Nations has always been sustainable, predictable and reliable. President Xi Jinping recently attended the general debate of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly and delivered an important speech, which made a comprehensive and accurate summary of China's role: China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, a defender of international order, and a provider of public goods. President Xi Jinping also systematically expounded China's propositions and announced a series of major measures around issues such as solidarity against the epidemic, economic recovery, development of international relations, and improvement of global governance, which pointed out the direction for safeguarding the core role of the United Nations and deepening cooperation between China and the United Nations. Next, we will work with all parties to implement President Xi Jinping's speech with concrete actions and strive to build the United Nations into a core platform for all countries to jointly safeguard universal security, share the fruits of development and jointly grasp the destiny of the world.

The Paper: The challenge of COVID-19 inevitably affects the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At the same time, China has put forward carbon peak and carbon neutrality targets, announced the enhancement of nationally determined contributions, and announced that Chinese vaccines will be regarded as a global public good, actively contributing to the response to global challenges. Next, in the post-pandemic era, what aspects do you think countries should work on and cooperate with?

Zhang Jun: The solidarity you mentioned in fighting the epidemic, climate change and post-epidemic recovery are all issues of greatest concern to the international community and the most important agenda of the United Nations at present. The top priority is still to achieve the final victory in the global fight against the epidemic as soon as possible, which requires the United Nations to increase overall coordination and coordination, and more importantly, the joint efforts of all countries in the world. Western countries have hoarded vaccines in large quantities, exacerbating the unfair distribution of vaccines and artificially creating an "immunization gap". They should introspect themselves and stock up less vaccines that exceed their own needs, and there will be fewer tragedies in developing countries that "Zhumen wine stinks and the road has frozen bones". China has always regarded vaccines as a global public good, and will provide 2 billion doses of vaccines this year, and with the increase in production capacity, it will also provide more vaccines to the outside world, contributing to the fair and rational distribution of global vaccines with practical actions.

Climate change has become a real threat to the survival and development of mankind, and it is necessary for the international community to embody responsibility, action and joint response in accordance with the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities". The main sticking point is the huge gap in climate finance. Secretary-General Guterres has repeatedly stressed that severe underfunding limits the international community's ability to respond to climate shocks. Developing countries have suffered the consequences of historical emissions from developed countries without receiving the financial and technical support they deserve. Developed countries should honour their previous funding commitments as soon as possible and set new quantitative funding targets at the upcoming Glasgow climate conference. China has been at the forefront of global climate action. Not long ago, President Xi Jinping announced that China will take the lead in investing 1.5 billion yuan to establish the Kunming Biodiversity Fund. This is another important contribution made by China to protect global biodiversity and cooperate in addressing climate change.

At the heart of post-pandemic recovery is development issues. We support the United Nations in drawing a blueprint for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Development Initiative at the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, with the aim of pooling wisdom and strength to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve stronger, greener, healthier and shared global development. This initiative has been warmly welcomed by the United Nations and widely supported by developing countries, and many developed countries have also expressed their desire to participate in it. In the next step, we will work with all parties to strengthen the docking of national development strategies and policy communication, rely on the United Nations and relevant multilateral platforms, maintain the security, stability and smoothness of the global industrial chain and supply chain, promote the implementation of global development initiatives, see practical results, and achieve a more balanced, inclusive, green and sustainable global post-epidemic recovery.

The Paper: UN Secretary-General António Guterres previously mentioned in his speech that the world today should avoid a "new Cold War". At present, there are still many unstable conflict factors in the international community, and there is still a potential risk of major country relations sliding into vicious competition or even separatist conflicts. How can we effectively avoid the emergence of a "new Cold War"?

Zhang Jun: It is undeniable that major countries are in a particularly important position in international relations and play an irreplaceable role on the UN platform. History has repeatedly proved that how the major powers get along, whether it is dialogue or confrontation, cooperation or division, will determine world peace and stability to a large extent and affect the authority and efficiency of the United Nations. Today's world has once again come to a critical moment in history, and the international community has higher expectations for the major powers, and all hope that the major powers will unite and cooperate and play a good leading and exemplary role.

China has always maintained that a big country must have a big look, take the lead in stressing equality, honesty and cooperation, show a greater pattern and responsibility, and make more efforts and contributions. China has always played a unique role as a responsible major country in the United Nations, and we have done our best for international affairs, inheriting the concept of peace, harmony and harmony, and pursuing the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. We have not, and will not invade, bully, or claim hegemony in the past, nor will we claim hegemony. On many issues such as anti-epidemic cooperation, regional hotspot issues, global development, climate change, and safeguarding the nuclear non-proliferation regime, we have conscientiously fulfilled our responsibilities as major countries and made significant contributions.

When attending the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, State Councilor Wang Yi summed up the role that a major country should play in the United Nations in four words: performing duties, fulfilling responsibilities, assuming responsibilities, and acting. We hope that the big powers can move in the same direction, embody these four words in concrete actions, can no longer continue to be solipsistic, often proceed from the "position of strength" to suppress people, indulge in the Cold War mentality of pulling together gangs and factions to create small circles, and play double standards to use international rules in accordance with each other, and discard those who do not agree. We have noted that the US leader recently expressed that he did not want to engage in a "new Cold War," and the international community is waiting and waiting to see the United States fulfill its commitments with concrete actions, truly abandon the Cold War mentality, stop deliberately provoking confrontation, and do more good and practical things that are beneficial to the world on the UN platform.

Editor-in-Charge: Wang Xinran

Proofreader: Liu Wei