China and Russia Friday issued a joint statement on a new world
order in the 21st century, setting forth their common stand on
major international issues, such as UN reforms, globalization,
North-South cooperation, and world economy and
trade.??
The statement was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and
visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao
after their talks in Moscow.
During their talks, the two leaders discussed ways to further
enhance the strategic and cooperative partnership between China and
Russia, and exchanged views on major regional and international
issues.
The joint statement said the two countries are determined to
strengthen their strategic coordination in international affairs
and promote peace, stability and prosperity of the world.
UN reforms
The joint statement says that UN reforms should be aimed at
strengthening the world body's leading role in international
affairs, improving its efficiency and increasing its potential for
dealing with new challenges and threats.
UN reforms should be based on consensus through consultations,
and should fully embody the common interests of the vast number of
member countries.
The UN is the world's most comprehensive, representative and
authoritative organization, and both its role and function are
irreplaceable, says the statement on a new world order in the 21st
century.
The UN should play a leading role in global affairs and be the
core for establishing and executing basic norms of international
law, it adds.
The statement calls for UN peacekeeping operations to be carried
out in accordance with the tenets and principles of the UN
Charter.
Resolutions of the UN Security Council must be strictly abided
by. Cooperation between the UN and regional and subregional
organizations should be developed, according to the statement.
It also calls on the world body to play a bigger role in the
study of global economic and development problems.
Multilateralism
The joint statement says that countries must be allowed to
decide autonomously on their internal affairs while international
issues should be solved through dialogue and consultations on the
basis of multilateralism.
The international community should completely renounce the
mentality of confrontation and alliance; there should be no pursuit
of monopoly or domination of world affairs; and countries of the
world should not be divided into a leading camp and a subordinate
camp, the statement says.
Every country must be assured of the right to choose its own
path of development that fits its national realities, the right to
participate in international affairs as an equal, and the right to
development on an equal footing, it says.
Differences and disputes must be solved through peaceful means
rather than through unilateralism or coercion. There should be no
use or threatened use of force, it says.
Only on the basis of universally recognized tenets and norms of
international law, and under an impartial and rational world order,
can problems facing mankind be solved, it says.
All countries should strictly observe the principles of mutual
respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity,
mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal
affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence, it
says.
The statement believes that the world is undergoing a historic
change. The establishment of a new world order will be a long and
complicated process, it says.
The central task of mankind in the 21st century is to safeguard
peace, stability and security for the whole mankind, and to realize
full-scale coordinated development on the basis of equality,
maintenance of sovereignty, mutual respect, mutual benefit and
guarantee of good development prospects for future generations.
New security framework
The joint statement calls on the international community to
establish a new security framework on the basis of mutual trust,
mutual benefit, equality and cooperation.
The framework should have the universally recognized norms of
international relations as its political foundation, and mutually
beneficial cooperation and common prosperity as its economic
foundation, it says.
The establishment of this framework should be based on the equal
security rights of all nations while dialogue, consultation and
negotiation on an equal footing should be the means for settling
conflicts and maintaining peace, it says.
China and Russia support efforts to maintain global strategic
stability, and the multilateral process of establishing legal
systems on arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, it
says.
The two sides will work together to put the Comprehensive
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into effect as soon as possible and to push
for the universality and effectiveness of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Biological Weapons
Convention and the Convention on the Banning of Chemical Weapons
(CWC).
They also call for the peaceful use of outer space, and voice
opposition to weapons deployment and arm races in outer space. They
push for relevant international legislation to this end.
The two leaders believe that in face of new threats and
challenges, further effective measures should be taken to prevent
the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) as well as
their carriers and relevant materials, according to the joint
statement.
It says the two sides have decided to cooperate more closely in
related international organizations and forums and expand
cooperation with other like-minded countries. The issue of
proliferation of WMDs should be resolved through political,
diplomatic and international cooperation within the framework of
international law.
The two sides think that a UN-led global system should be set up
to deal with new threats and challenges on the basis of the UN
Charter and international law, it says.
It says regional integration is an important character in the
development of the current international situation.
Open, non-exclusive regional organizations are playing a
positive role in shaping a new world order.
The two countries appeal for the promotion of further economic
cooperation in regional integration and for the establishment of
security cooperation mechanisms.
They also voice support for regional organizations to set up
ties with each other and produce an atmosphere of mutual trust and
cooperation, it says.
Attention to gap of disparity
All countries should have an equal opportunity to enjoy the
profits of globalization in such fields as economy, society,
science, technology, information and culture, said the joint
statement, calling for mutually beneficial cooperation and common
development.
Developed and developing countries should make efforts to
eliminate discrimination in economic relations, and narrow the gap
of disparity between the rich and the poor, it says.
The international community should formulate a comprehensive
economic and trade regime acceptable to all, through negotiation on
an equal footing. Pressure and sanctions should not be used to
force a country into unilaterally making economic concessions, it
says.
It also calls for respect for the history and traditions of
those countries with diverse ethnic groups and their efforts to
maintain national unity. Attempts to encourage secession or incite
ethnic hatred within a country should not be accepted.
Diversity in cultures and civilizations should not be the source
of conflict, but rather resources from which all countries can
exploit.
Different historic backgrounds, cultures, social and political
systems, values and modes of development should not be used as
pretext for interference in other countries' internal affairs, it
says.
President Hu arrived in Moscow Thursday for a state visit. He
will also visit Kazakhstan, where he will attend a Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO)
summit, and the UK, where he will attend the G8+5 summit.
(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2005)