中文 | Español

Home > China-LAC Relations
China: A Staunch Force for World Peace and Development
Keynote Speech by Chinese Ambassador to Mexico Qiu Xiaoqi at the Mexico National Defense College
Chinese embassy to Mexico
2016-06-24 14:29

 

On June 20th, 2016, Chinese Ambassador to Mexico Qiu Xiaoqi gave a keynote speech at the Mexico National Defense College. The following is a transcript of his speech.

 

 

Your Excellency Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, Secretary of Defense of Mexico,

Your Excellency Lieutenant General Prior Valencia, Director General of Military Education Administration and Rector of the University of the Army and Air Force,

Your Excellency Lieutenant General Guillermo Almazán Bertotto, Director of of the National Defense College,

Dear faculty and students of the National Defense College,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear friends,

 

It gives me great pleasure to be here at the National Defense College to meet with you. This is the first time a Chinese ambassador gives a lecture at the highest military institute of Mexico, which fully demonstrates the rapid and comprehensive development of relations between our two countries and two militaries. I want to take this opportunity to reiterate my sincere thanks to Mr. Secretary of Defense for his kind invitation and to express my cordial greetings to all the faculty and students of the college.

 

The theme of my presentation today is China’s diplomatic and national defense policies. The late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who was the architect of reform and opening up in China, once said, “development is an unyielding principle”. Diplomatic and national defense policies of a country always fit its specific stage of development. To have a better understanding of China’s diplomatic and national defense policies, one must first know a little about the process and the state of development of China and its development goals.

 

The following figures might be helpful for your understanding about the development of China today. Over the past three decades since 1978 when China began to implement the policy of reform and opening up, the Chinese economy has grown by an average of 9.8 percent annually. In 1978, China’s GDP was US$211.9 billion, but the figure exceeded US$10 trillion in 2014. China’s ranking in terms of economic aggregate in the world jumped from the 15th to the 2nd, only after the U.S. Last year, China accounted for approximately 15 percent of the global economy, and the ratio was only 1.8 percent in 1978. The per capita income of the Chinese people rose from US$220 in 1978 to US$8,000 in 2015, an increase of 36 times. China’s foreign exchange reserve has risen from US$168 million in 1978 to US$3.3 trillion. In comparison, China's GDP surpassed Japan to become the world's second largest economy in 2010. Currently, China's GDP is twice that of Japan, the third world economy whose GDP is US$4.6 trillion. China’s GDP is now bigger than the total of Germany, the United Kingdom and France added together. At the same time, the Chinese economy is increasingly linked with that of the world. Last year, China’s trade in goods, in terms of both export and import, ranked No.1 in the world. China’s outbound investment totaled US$118 billion. There were 120 million Chinese traveling overseas. The Chinese economy contributed 25 percent to world economic growth.

 

We are very proud of the achievements we have scored in economic and social development, but are fully aware of the difficulties and challenges that lie ahead in our path forward. At present, China ranks only around the 80th in terms of the per capita GDP, lower than the world average of about US$10,000. Imbalance remains an outstanding problem with widening gap between different regions and between urban areas and the rural areas. More than 70 million people in China are still living in poverty.

 

Looking ahead, China is moving towards the two ambitious centenary goals, i.e., doubling its 2010 GDP and individual income by the year 2020 when the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrates its centenary, thus completing the building of a "moderately prosperous society in all respects", and turning China into a prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious modern socialist country and achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation by the middle of this century when the the People's Republic of China celebrates its centenary, when the per capita GDP in China will reach the level of medium developed countries. The year 2016 is the first year of implementation of the Thirteenth Five Year Plan on Economic and Social Development. China’s economy started well registering stable growth, and reform and development are going on steadily. In the next five years, we will fully implement the strategy of “four comprehensives”, and redouble our efforts to implement the five development concepts, so as to achieve the first centennial goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

 

The reality of China as the largest developing nation in the world has determined that development is the No.1 task for governance. The historical gene of peace-loving of the Chinese people, their painful sufferings in the contemporary history, their aspiration for development and the historical trend of peace and development in today's world have all determined that China will not seek its development following the old colonial and hegemonic way of western powers. Chinese President Xi Jinping has made it clear that China follows the path of peaceful development, which is not an expediency, much less a diplomatic rhetoric, but a conclusion we have drawn based on the history, reality and assessment of the future.

 

At present, the international situation is undergoing profound changes. Unbalanced development, instability in some regions, and problems in global governance remain protruding problems. In its world outlook, China views peace and development as the calling of our times, and takes multi-polarization and globalization as two major trends that will restructure the current world. China works to improve the international structure while maintaining its overall stability, and promotes its improvement through reforms. China will continue its strategic choice to follow the path of peaceful development and act as a responsible major country to promote balanced distribution of international resources, and work to make the international order more stable, so that all nations share opportunities of development, achieve mutual benefits and shoulder their due responsibilities.

 

The strategic choice to follow the path of peaceful development has determined that China pursues the independent foreign policy of peace, with the purpose of safeguarding world peace and promoting common development, follows the five principles of peaceful coexistence as the basic norm, keeps to its basic position of independence, takes the defense of its sovereignty, security and development interests and promotion of world peace as the basic goal.

 

Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the CPC held in November 2012, China's diplomacy has made new progress while inheriting its traditions. At present, we are committed to promoting a major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, which is not only a systematic theoretical innovations in foreign policy but also a unique diplomatic practice with Chinese characteristics. It includes five main parts:

 

First, it aims to build a community of common destiny of humanity. After raising ideas to build a community of common destiny between China and its neighboring countries and an Asian community of common destiny, President Xi Jinping proposed during his speech at the general debate of the General Assembly of the UN last September the building of a community of common destiny of humanity and expounded the road map to realize this initiative, pointing the way forward for a major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.

 

Second, its strategic choice is peaceful development. China not only adheres to peaceful development itself, but also encourages other countries to follow the same path so as to jointly promote world peace and development.


Third, its fundamental principle is win-win cooperation. The Chinese initiative to build a new type of international relations based on win-win cooperation is an important innovation in the traditional western theories of international relations. Its sole purpose is to abandon the old mentality of "zero-sum game "and “the winner takes all” to open a new perspective that all will come out as winners.

 

Fourth, its main route is building partnerships. We advocate to form partnerships rather than alliances and conduct dialogues rather than confrontations. We have established partnerships in different ways with more than 80 countries and regions in the world on the basis of equality, peaceful coexistence and inclusiveness.

 

Fifth, its value orientation is the right approach to principles and interests. We defend and promote fairness and justice in international affairs and attach importance to both principles and interest in international relations with priority given to principles first.

 

Currently, the major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics is being fully implemented, presenting many bright spots. Our interaction with other major powers has entered a new stage. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination between China and Russia is operating at a high level. Solid steps have been taken in the building of a new type of major-country relationship between China and the United States. China and the European Union are committed to forging partnership for peace, growth, reform and civilization. Under the guidance of the policy of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness", good neighborliness and friendly cooperation between China and its neighboring countries have achieved new progress. Solidarity and cooperation between China and other developing countries have been strengthened continuously: the mechanism of BRICS cooperation is becoming more mature and BRICS countries have developed closer cooperation; with the establishment of China-CELAC Forum, we have established a comprehensive network of dialogue and cooperation covering all developing regions. Meanwhile, China has actively participated in global governance and in addressing international and regional hot-spot issues. And through a series of important initiatives including the building of the “Belt and Road”(Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road), and the establishment of the Asian Development Bank Infrastructure Investment (AIIB), China is offering more public goods to the international community. In September, the Chinese city of Hangzhou will host the G20 summit and where China will contribute its own proposals and wisdom for the global economic recovery.


Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear friends.

 

Defending peace and promoting development is not only an important task of China’s diplomacy, but also a glorious mission of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China, which will welcome its ninetieth anniversary next year. Over the past ninety years, the PLA has traversed a path of growth from a weak to a strong military. China always pursues a national defense policy which is defensive in nature, which includes the following:

 

First, China resolutely safeguards its sovereignty, security, territorial integrity and development interests. Protecting the security, unification and development interests of the nation is the primary objective of the national defense policy of China. Therefore, China adopts a military strategy of active defense and the principle of self-defense and attacking only after being attacked. The PLA is committed to winning local wars in an information era, focuses on preventing wars, works to enhance its capability to cope with various security threats, and continues and develops the strategic thinking of people's warfare.

 

Second, China firmly defends world peace and regional stability. China never seeks military expansion or military hegemony, but persists in the foreign policy of non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third parties. China advocates a new security concept of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination in order to achieve comprehensive security, common security and cooperative security. At the ceremony commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Invasion and the World Anti-Fascist War held in Beijing in September last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the cut of 300,000 troops of the PLA, which was another solemn commitment of China for world peace.

 

Third, China actively carries out its military diplomacy and promotes international cooperation. First, China has actively participated in international search and rescue missions in cases of natural disasters, offered international humanitarian aids and provided medical supplies and assistance to countries affected by natural calamities, and sent professional search and rescue teams to related countries to offer help on the ground. Second, China has taken an active part in international peacekeeping missions and has sent a total of over 30,000 peacekeepers, who have participated in 29 peacekeeping missions. Currently more than 3,000 troops and 100 Chinese policemen are guarding peace in 10 peace-keeping areas, ranking the top among the permanent members of the Security Council of the UN in the number of blue helmets dispatched. In the Leaders' Summit on Peacekeeping held in September last year at the UN headquarters, the Chinese president announced six major steps, namely, China will create a stand-by force of 8,000 troops for peacekeeping missions, provide training in the five years to 2,000 people of different nations for peace missions, implement 10 programs of assistance for mine clearance, support the establishment of the African Standby Force and a quick response force to deal with contingencies, and deploy the first fleet of helicopters for UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, and a part of the resources of China-UN Fund for Peace and Development will be used to support UN peacekeeping missions. Third, the PLA Navy has been actively fulfilling its international obligations by conducting ongoing escort operations in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters and cooperating with the escort forces of other countries to protect the security of international sea routes. Since 2008, the Chinese Navy has successfully completed escort missions for about 6,000 Chinese and foreign ships in 800 batches, undertaking its international responsibility to ensure the safety of ships and maritime routes, safeguard the freedom of navigation and combat piracy.

 

Currently, China is reforming the PLA and the national defense system, with the goal of strengthening the political awareness of the military, promoting integration between the management and control of armed forces and effective command of them so as to form a new structure in which the Central Military Commission will be responsible for the general administration of the PLA, armed Police, militia and reserve forces, various commands will focus on combat operations, and the different services focus on military building, in order to establish a combat command system composed of the Central Military Commission, the commands and military units and a leadership and management system that consists of the Central Military Commission, the military services and military units; of running the military in accordance with laws and strict disciplines, building a strict system to check and supervise the use of power; of developing an excellent combat force by improving its structure and composition of troops to promote the transition of the military from quantitatively superiority to qualititively superiority; of taking the strategic height of the military competition of the future by fully leveraging the role of innovation in driving development and cultivating new growth points of the fighting capacity; of developing, managing and making good use of military human resources by promoting the reform and policy innovation regarding talent development; and of implementing the strategy of civil-military integration to promote harmonious development between economic development and national defense. These reforms will enable the Chinese military to better fulfill its duties to defend peace and ensure national development and, along with their counterparts in other nations, make greater contribution to world peace and development.

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear friends,


After giving you a briefing about the basic contents of China’s foreign policy and national defense policy, I want to share with you my observations on several important issues that have attracted extensive attention from the international community.


One of the issues is the relationship between China and the United States. It would not be an exaggeration if we describe this relationship as the most important bilateral relationship in the world today. All are interested to know and even worried whether China and the US, the largest developing country and the largest developed country of our planet, one being the established power as the largest economy in the world and one being an emerging power as the second largest economy, will come into conflicts or confrontation and whether or not they fall into the “Thucydides trap”. The establishment of a new type of major-country relations featuring no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation by China and the US is the best response to those concerns.

 

First, China never thinks of and will not replace the US. Although China is already the second largest economy, in per capita terms, it is located after the 80th in the world. Ours is still a developing country and in a long time to come will still focus on our own development. As mentioned above, both the foreign policy and national defense policy of China are oriented to defend peaceful development of itself and of the world. We will continue the path of peaceful development. We do not want to compete for hegemony with others and have no intention to replace anyone. The gene of peaceful development is a part of Chinese identity. Starting from more than 2000 years ago, successive Chinese dynasties kept building and extending the Great Wall to defend itself, rather than send warships to foreign territorial seas to do whatever we want.

Second, China and the US have established various mechanisms for dialogue and exchange and have the ability to promote cooperation and manage their differences. In their meetings held respectively in California in 2013, in Beijing in 2014 and in Washington in September 2015, President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama conducted frank exchange of views. As a result, the two countries have established relatively high strategic mutual trust. So far, both countries have held eight rounds of Strategic and Economic Dialogue and seven rounds of High Level Consultations on People-to-People Exchange. Facts have proved that both China and the US have the will and the capability to carry out their cooperation and properly handle their differences. The differences that existed between the two sides on climate change and cyber-security have been successfully turned into bright spots of the Sino-American relationship.

 

Third, China and the US have forged interests links of inter-dependency. In 2015 China overtook Canada to become the largest trading partner of the US. The value of bilateral trade totaled 558.3 billion dollars. The US is China’s second largest trading partner, largest exporting market and fourth largest source of imports. Mutual investments between the two countries have maintained rapid growth. By the end of last year, investment projects of US companies in China totaled 66,000, involving an investment of 77.47 billion dollars, making the US the sixth largest foreign investor in China. Meanwhile, Chinese investment in the US has now totaled 46.6 billion dollars, meaning that the US is the No.6 destination for Chinese investment. At the same time, there are 4.75 million exchange of visits between the two peoples, meaning that every day more than 10,000 people are traveling between China and the US. Such intertwined interests determine that conflict between the two will lead to damage to both sides and only cooperation can entail mutual benefits.

 

Therefore, we can conclude that despite the existing differences and even frictions between China and the US, the two countries have increasing common interests and convergences on cooperation. As long as both parties stay the course to build a new type of major-country relations , they will not fall into the “Thucydides trap”.

 

The second issue that I want to mention here is the issue of South China Sea. Recently, the international media has been much trumpeted by this matter. I want to share with you my observations on the following two topics:

 

First, the situation in the South China Sea. China is the first country to discover, name, exercise administrative jurisdiction over, develop and use the islands in South China Sea, therefore having indisputable sovereignty over these islands and their adjacent waters. After the discovery of oil and natural gas in the South China Sea in the 1970s, certain neighboring countries began to nibble at and even illegally occupy islands and reefs of China. Around 2010, because of the implementation of the Asia-Pacific re-balancing strategy by the US, the issue escalated quickly. The essence of this issue is territorial disputes caused by the illegal occupation of the islands and reefs of China by a number of countries, and also the problem of maritime demarcation after the entry into force of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It is therefore purely a bilateral issue between China and a small number of countries directly involved. But because of the participation and agitation of extra-regional forces, the issue of South China Sea has been gradually politicized. However, the situation in the South China Sea remains peaceful and stable and freedom of navigation in this area has never become a problem. China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have reached consensus of adopting a dual-track approach, according to which disputes over the islands and reefs in the South China Sea and nearby waters will be resolved peacefully through friendly consultations and negotiations between China and the countries directly involved, and peace and stability in the region will be jointly safeguarded by China and regional countries. At the same time, most of the constructions by China under its sovereignty in the area belongs to civil construction and provide public goods that meet the need of this region for fisheries protection and search and rescue in maritime emergencies. We have the confidence to work together with countries in the region to make South China Sea a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation.

 

Second, the arbitration case over the South China Sea. This case is a mandatory arbitration procedure brought unilaterally and promoted stubbornly by the Philippines violating international law and breaking the consensus reached between China and the Philippines. The true intent of the Philippines is to deny the territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests of China through the so called "international judicial arbitration" and justify its illegal occupation of some of China’s Nansha islands and reefs. Therefore, China has always persisted in its position of not to accept or participate in it and not to recognize or enforce the judgment because of the following reasons. First, the action of the Philippine authorities is illegal. Although the Philippines has carefully fabricated the arbitration case, the essence of this case remains the territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation, which is beyond the jurisdiction of UNCLOS. Moreover, according to Article 298 of UNCLOS, China issued an opting-out statement in 2006, excluding the application of mandatory arbitration and other mandatory dispute settlement procedures to problems such as maritime delimitation. It should be noted that more than 30 countries, including Mexico, have made similar statements, which form an inseparable part of UNCLOS. Second, the Philippines has not fulfilled its commitment. China and the Philippines have reached agreement on a negotiated and peaceful solution to their disputes in the South China Sea through the publication of a series of bilateral and multilateral documents including a joint statement and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China sea, excluding the application of the mandatory dispute settlement procedures referred to in UNCLOS to bilateral disputes in the South China sea. The fact that the Philippines has unilaterally sought arbitration when the route of bilateral negotiations was far from being exhausted has not only violated the consensus reached between the two sides, but also breached one of the basic rules of international law that treaties must be respected. Third, the Philippine action is not justifiable. The Philippines, ignoring the historical facts, aims to occupy Chinese islands in the name of the international law. This act is as ridiculous as if someone who has stolen things of his neighbor, rather than return them openly, asks a court to make a ruling in his favor. Illegal and void arbitration application by the Philippines is being carried out because it receives strong backing of some extra-regional force which itself has not acceded to UNCLOS and has a bad history of non-compliance of the rulings of the International Court of Justice, thus making people doubt the fairness and legitimacy of the Court of arbitration on the South China sea and be alert to the political objectives behind the arbitration. Faced with this situation and by taking such a just position, China not only works to defend the authority of international law, but also safeguards and the effectiveness, seriousness and integrity of UNCLOS.

 

Third, the Taiwan question. Taiwan is an inseparable part of the Chinese territory. The Taiwan question is a problem left over by history and an internal affair of China. Since 2008, both sides of the Taiwan Straits, based on the common political basis of adhering to 1992 Consensus and opposing Taiwan independence, have opened a path of peaceful development for relations across the straits. As a result, the situation in the Straits has broken free from tension and turmoil and has been calm and stable. The key to maintaining peaceful development of cross-straits relations lies in sticking to the political basis of the 1992 consensus. These consensus clearly define the nature of relations across the straits and show that the mainland and the island of Taiwan belong to one and the same China and that their relations are not inter-state relations. Last May, there was a change of government in Taiwan. Whatever changes have happened to the political situation in the island, the principle of one China has not changed and will not change. We resolutely oppose Taiwan independence, strongly uphold the principle of one China. We are opposed any official contact with Taiwan by countries that have diplomatic relations with China, and are also against the accession of the island to international organizations composed only of sovereign countries. We hope and trust that the friendly countries, including Mexico, will continue to adhere to the principle of one China and give us the understanding and support on the Taiwan question.

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear friends,


The historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation is unstoppable, like what the famous Mexican poet Octavio Paz said, “A river might turn, advance or go round, but will ultimately move into the sea”. China and Mexico are both emerging countries and important members of the developing world. We have a great responsibility to safeguard world peace and promote common development. I am convinced that with the joint and tireless efforts of the two sides, relations between China and Mexico and between our two militaries will have broad prospects, as Octavio Paz said, “The world will change if two know each other and understand each other”.

 

Thank you. I am now willing to take your questions.

 

Suggest to a friend:   
Print