China adheres to peaceful development 

By Le Yucheng (People's Daily Overseas Edition)

16:53, September 29, 2011

Edited and Translated by People's Daily Online

The Chinese government has released the White Paper titled "China's Peaceful Development" at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century in which it firmly declared to the world that China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development. 

As Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo said, China's path of peaceful development has become a strong commitment of the Communist Party of China, the government and the Chinese people. Despite the great unrest, adjustments and transformations in the world since the beginning of 2011, China has shown a clear and sincere attitude and determination to firmly practice the idea of peaceful development and has persistently explored a path of peaceful rise as a major power. 

Given the severe challenges posed by the continued spread of the international financial crisis and continual deterioration of China's external economic environment, China has striven to handle its own affairs well, maintained domestic stability and achieved healthy and rapid economic development through further reform and opening-up. During the first half, China's GDP increased by around 10 percent and its imports surged by 27 percent, which has provided indispensable confidence, energy and dynamics to help the world get through difficulties and maintain growth. 

Meanwhile, China has tried its best to offer assistance to other countries in order to work with them to overcome difficulties. China has actively conducted related dialogues and cooperation, participated in multilateral consultations under the G20 framework, promoted each country to strengthen the adjustments to macro policies, and improved global economic and financial governance. 

China has striven to conduct pragmatic bilateral cooperation and helped the countries exposed to the crisis stimulate their economic growth and employment. China and the United States signed 40 billion U.S. dollars worth of economic and trade agreements during Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the United State in early 2011, which has alone created 250,000 job opportunities for the United States. Given the continuous deterioration of the European debt crisis, China has actively offered assistance by buying a certain amount of European sovereign debt and continuing to expand imports from Europe. 

China's imports from the European Union were up by about 28 percent to 138 billion U.S. dollars in the first eight months of 2011 and its non-financial direct investments in the union were almost doubled to 860 million U.S. dollars. 

Chinese enterprises, such as Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, SANY and Geely, have made remarkable progress in their investments in countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden and played positive roles in advancing local economic developments and increasing job opportunities, becoming a highlight amid the shadow of the European debt crisis. 

Since the beginning of the wave of political turmoil in West Asia and North Africa, China has adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, shown great respect and supported the sovereignty of related countries and the wishes of local residents, provided timely humanitarian aid to troubled countries, and made unremitting efforts to pacify the situation in the region. 

As for Libya, which witnessed the most intense conflict and most complex situation, China has shown consistent respect for the will and choice of the Libyan people and recognized the National Transitional Council as the representative of the Libyan people in hopes that the country can quickly stabilize and start economic reconstruction under the NTC's leadership. 

When the South China Sea issue came into the international spotlight earlier this year, a few countries took the opportunity to make waves and expected to harm China's interests through little tricks. Although the South China Sea issue has a direct bearing on China's interests and the Chinese people's feelings, the Chinese government did not resort to verbal abuse or military power. Instead, it attached great importance to the regional stability and peace as well as the people’s welfare and made great efforts to reduce tension and resolve disputes in accordance with the principle of building friendly relationships and partnerships with neighboring countries. 

At the ASEAN Regional Forum in Bali, Indonesia, China's foreign minister worked with his counterparts of the ASEAN countries to develop a set of guidelines for implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which effectively prevented the escalation of the South China Sea issue. 
Furthermore, the Chinese government has invited the newly elected Philippine President Benigno Aquino to visit China and conducted mufti-level exchanges with the Vietnamese government in order to build up mutual understanding and trust between the two countries. Not long ago, China hosted the International Workshop on Cooperation and Development in the South China Sea, which promoted the exchanges among the academic circles of China and other related countries on the South China Sea issue and showed China's willingness to boost cooperation in the South China Sea and to turn it into a sea of peace, friendship, and cooperation. 

In 2011, hot regional issues, including the Sudan issue, the Iran nuclear issue and the DPRK nuclear issue, have eased to different extents, and behind it, China actively made a lot of efforts and played an important promoting role. China always tried to make peace and promote negotiations to push forward the peace process between Sudan and South Sudan and solve the Darfur issue properly; always insists on bilateral talks and negotiations and applies itself to a peaceful solution of the Iran nuclear issue; always calls on solving the Korean Peninsula issue by talks and negotiations and tries hard to restart the Six-Party Talks, realize the denuclearization of the peninsula and safeguard the peace and stability of the North-East Asia. Recently, China also held an international seminar commemorating the sixth anniversary of the publication of the Sept. 19 Joint Declaration, trying to promote relevant parties to return to the track of the declaration.

The year 2011 is a year when many massive natural disasters frequently occurred. After a rarely seen combined disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear leakage occurred in Japan, China sent a rescue team and provided relief supplies worth 30 million yuan and 20,000 tons of fuel to Japan immediately. When the eastern part of Africa was suffering from a severe famine caused by the harshest drought of the past 60 years, China provided urgent food aid and cash aid of 440 million yuan to countries including Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. When Pakistan was suffering from a severe flood disaster, China also urgently provided humanitarian aid of 30 million yuan. 

China's diplomatic practices in 2011 proved an undeniable fact once again that China firmly adheres to the peaceful development road. Peaceful development is not a slogan or empty words or a temporary strategy of China but a strategic choice, fundamental state policy and practical action of China. It will not only benefit China but also help promote the peace and prosperity of the world. No matter how the international situation changes, China will always hold high the flag of peace, development and cooperation, insist on the foreign policy principle of safeguarding the world peace and promoting the common development, pursue independent and peaceful foreign policies and walk on the peaceful development road firmly, consistently and unshakably. 

The 21st century is a century of peace, development and cooperation, and peaceful development is a requirement of the times. Not only should China stick to peaceful development but also all countries of the world should promise, choose and fulfill it. We all should discard the improper zero-sum game rules, dangerous mentalities of hot war and Cold War and old roads that have lead the human to confrontation and war many times and instead should join forces and make efforts together to carve out a bright road for the peaceful development of human society. 

The author is the director of the Department of Policy Planning under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.i>


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