The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence
Commemorating 70th anniversary
China is ready to work with all countries to honour its responsibility for history and for the people to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and shared prosperity, says Zhao Weiping, the Chinese Ambassador to Namibia.
The conference marking the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence was held in Beijing on 28 June with around 600 attendees, including former leaders of Vietnam, Myanmar and other countries, representatives of international and regional organisations, diplomatic envoys from more than 100 countries, Chinese and foreign experts and scholars, as well as media and business representatives. President Xi Jinping addressed this important event with his speech titled, “Carrying Forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and Jointly Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind”.
Seventy years ago, national independence and liberation movements swept across the globe, while the world was overshadowed by the dark clouds of the Cold War, and newly independent countries aspired to safeguard their sovereignty and grow their national economies.
It was against this backdrop that, in 1954, the Chinese leadership put forth the Five Principles in their entirety for the first time. These are: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.
This was later adopted by the China-India and China-Myanmar joint statements.
Universal
Ever since then, the Five Principles have been widely accepted and recognised by countries across the world.
It has become open, inclusive and universally applicable basic norms for international relations and fundamental principles of international law.
The principles have made indelible historic contributions to the cause of human progress by setting a historic benchmark for international relations and international rule of law, serving as the prime guidance for the establishment and development of relations between countries with different social systems.
They are a powerful rallying force behind the efforts of developing countries to pursue cooperation and self-strength through unity, as well as providing historic wisdom to the reform and improvement of the international order.
Changing world
As the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, common challenges, interests and responsibilities have linked the future of all countries more closely together.
It is imperative for the international community to pursue harmony on the basis of peaceful coexistence and build a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at its core.
The Five Principles must be strengthened, not weakened; multilateralism must be upheld, not undermined; and the process toward greater democracy in international relations must move forward, not backward.
Intertwined destinies
With the intertwined destinies of countries and the shared and fundamental interests of all peoples in mind, President Xi put forward the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, providing a new answer to what kind of world to build and how to build it.
This is the best way to inherit, advance and enrich the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence under new circumstances.
The international community should make it right in the face of the critical choices of unity and cooperation versus division and confrontation, mutual benefit versus zero-sum game, and common security versus turbulence and warfare.
Honour
China is ready to work with all countries to honour our responsibility for history and for the people to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and shared prosperity.
The country is ready to implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilisation Initiative.
It will hold high the banner of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and take a historical step forward to building a common homeland for humanity.
Join hands
Under the new circumstances, it is important for the Global South to join hands and take the lead in building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Together, we should be the staunch force for peace, the core driving force for open development, the construction team of global governance, and the advocates for exchange among civilizations.
To this end, President Xi announced eight measures to support the cooperation of the Global South at the above mentioned conference.
We will always stand with all countries of the South through thick and thin and give a stronger boost to the common development, unity and cooperation of the Global South, making a greater contribution to the building of a better world.