Peace and development dominant themes of Xi's diplomacy

(chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2016-01-05 18:02

A soldier of China's Special Forces patrols a ship, June 2, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

Visit to the UN

Sept 26-28

President Xi Jinping said in his first speech at the United Nations as Chinese president that at the global level, peace and development remain the dominant themes of the times. To properly address the global challenges of various sorts, including the recent refugee crisis in Europe, there is no fundamental solution other than peace and development. He said only development can eliminate the root cause of conflict, protect the basic rights of the people and to meet the people's yearning for a better life.

China will establish an assistance fund for South-South cooperation, with an initial pledge of $2 billion in support of developing countries' implementation of the post-2015 development agenda, Xi added.

Xi stressed when attending the general debate of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly that peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom represent the common values of the whole mankind as well as the lofty goals of the UN. We should inherit and advocate the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, establish a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core and build a community of shared destiny.

Attending the UN Leaders' Summit on Peacekeeping, President Xi announced China's plan to support and reinforce peacekeeping operations including building up an 8,000 person peacekeeping army and providing military aid amounting to $100 million to the African Union in the next five years.

He also stressed that all sides should not only connect the peacekeeping operations vertically with preventive diplomacy and peace construction, but also align them horizontally with political mediation, promotion of rule of law, national reconciliation, improvement of people's livelihood and others.