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On June 28th and 29th, 2014, China, Myanmar and India jointly convened the Meeting Marking the 60th Anniversary of the Initiation of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. In 1954, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, Indian Prime Minister Nehru and Myanmar Prime Minister U Nu initiated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, namely, mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.
Over the past 60 years, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence has kept up with the development trend of the era and the common aspirations of people of all the countries, increasingly showed a strong vitality, and become the basic norms governing international relations as well as basic principles of international law, effectively upheld the rights and interests of the developing world, and made a historic contribution to build a more equitable and rational international political and economic order .
At the Meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed, China will firmly pursue peaceful development, firmly pursue friendship and cooperation with all other countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and firmly pursue a win-win strategy of opening-up. President Xi called for a six-point initiative of “uphold sovereign equality, uphold common security, advance common development, promote win-win cooperation, champion inclusiveness and mutual learning as well as uphold fairness and justice", which further enriches the contents of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and marks the guiding principle of China's diplomatic policy in the new period.
China has been an active advocate and mover of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as well as a participant, builder and contributor of the harmonious world. Globalization has turned the world into a community of common destiny in which the members are closely interconnected. China’s future is more closely linked with the rest of the world. China unswervingly pursues the path of peaceful development, which is a must choice made on the basis of its history, reality and development goals, and a reasonable result considering the close ties of interests between China and the world. China will continue to uphold and carry forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit and strive to uphold world peace and promote common development.
As a member of Asia, China follows through on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, adheres to the neighborhood diplomacy of friendship and partnership and the idea of "affinity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness", strengthens good-neighborly relations and practical cooperation with our neighbors and benefited them with prosperity and stability.
China has been the largest trading partner, the largest export market and a major source of investment for many Asian countries. China has accounted for 50% of Asia's total economic growth. China actively advocates a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security strategy for Asia, encourages Asian countries to establish new regional security cooperation architecture and jointly build a shared, win-win road for Asian security. China is committed to settling its disputes with relevant countries over territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests through peaceful means.
China has so far successfully solved the boundary issues with 12 of its land neighbors, and delineated and demarcated 20,000 kilometers of boundary, which accounts for 90% of China's total land boundary with neighbors. Regarding the disputes over maritime, China always shows restraint when some countries take provocative actions, and believes the relative disputes should be settled through friendly consultation and negotiation between countries directly concerned and on the basis of respecting historical facts and international law.
China has always upheld the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as basic norms governing China-Afghanistan Relationship and attached importance to develop bilateral friendly cooperation. When President Karzai attended the 4th CICA Summit in Shanghai this May, President Xi reiterated that, China adheres to the friendly policy toward Afghanistan. China remains a reliable friend of Afghanistan no matter how the international and regional situations change. Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi also said that, China firmly supports peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan and will take the opportunity of hosting the 4h Foreign Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul Process to promote international cooperation and facilitate Afghanistan's political, economic and security transition.
For a long time, China actively participates in the Afghan peace and reconstruction process through concrete actions. China has provided to Afghanistan a large amount of assistance without any preconditions, helped build projects like Multifunctional Center in the Presidential Palace, National Scientific and Teaching Center and teaching buildings of Kabul University, as well as trained more than 1000 officials and provided scholarship for hundreds of students to study in China.
The Chinese government encourages and supports competent Chinese enterprises to invest and develop in Afghanistan. China's development has created favorable opportunities for Afghan peace and reconstruction. Chinese investment is advancing Afghan capability of independent development. China was the first foreign country to invest mining industry of Afghanistan and sign agreement on oil production with Afghanistan. Besides, China actively promotes bilateral exchanges between parliaments, political parties, local authorities, business community and media.
As an important participant of the international and regional cooperation on Afghanistan, China intends to, through hosting the 4th Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul Process on Afghanistan, work together with the Afghan side, participating countries, supporting countries as well as relative international and regional organizations to ensure more substantial outcomes for the Process, so as to promote the peace, stability and development in Afghanistan and the region.
The next year will mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship between our two countries. China-Afghanistan relationship is standing at a new historical starting point. Let’s join hands together to inherit and carry forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, with a view of further deepening the bilateral Strategic Cooperation Partnership and open new pages for friendly cooperation of our two countries.
By Special Arrangement with : South Asia Monitor (http://www.southasiamonitor.org)