In pursuit of progress, peace and harmony

Editor's Note: At a symposium on China's foreign relations held in Beijing on Sunday, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered a speech on major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics. The following is an excerpt:

We will stay committed to our original aspiration and founding mission, and dedicate ourselves to pursuing human progress and world harmony. We will have a deep reflection on the future of humanity, devote ourselves to achieving rejuvenation and lasting greatness for the Chinese nation, commit ourselves to the noble cause of peace and development for humanity, and contribute to the grand cause of the continuation and transformation of the international system.

We will stay committed to a Chinese path of modernization, not only creating a new form of human advancement, but also providing new choices for developing countries. We will firmly support developing countries in exploring development paths suited to their national conditions and embarking on a fast track toward modernization at an early date.

We will stay committed to peaceful development, never seek hegemony or expansion, oppose hegemonism and power politics of all forms and manifestations, defend the legitimate rights of our people and people of all countries to pursue peace and development, and make China's contribution to addressing deficits in development and security.

We will stay committed to a global vision and to the noble cause of common good. We will follow the right approach in advancing the cause, promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, and work to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity.

We will stay committed to high-standard opening-up, pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of opening-up, adhere to the right course of economic globalization, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation and the building of an open world economy, and create new opportunities for the world with China's own development.

We will stay committed to independence, seek partnership and dialogue instead of alliance and confrontation, decide our position on issues based on their merits, pursue mutual respect, trust and benefit with all countries, and deepen and expand global partnerships featuring equality, openness and cooperation.

We will stay committed to dialogue between civilizations, respect the diversity and equality of civilizations, and advocate exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. We will promote the common values of humanity, and turn democracy and freedom from political tools manipulated by a few people into values shared by all mankind.

We will stay committed to our fighting spirit, which is for the purpose of upholding principles and promoting justice. China's core interests must not be undermined, its sovereignty and territorial integrity must not be infringed upon, and the cause of national reunification and rejuvenation must not be disrupted — this is a matter of pride and confidence for us as Chinese and is also a great sense of integrity for the Chinese nation.