Global Governance Initiative hailed as key to revitalizing multilateralism

NEW YORK, /PRNewswire/ — The following article was published today by China Daily.

The Global Governance Initiative, unveiled by President Xi Jinping at a summit two weeks ago, was in the spotlight on Monday at a forum at the United Nations marking the world body’s 80th anniversary, with China’s top UN envoy and experts calling it a pathway to revitalizing multilateralism and international cooperation.

At the Vision China event, held under the theme “Standing United: Inheriting the UN Legacy, Advancing Global Governance”, China’s permanent representative to the UN Fu Cong recalled the UN’s achievements in advancing world peace, development and human progress, but warned that its structures were under strain.

“What we are grappling with today are the underrepresentation of the Global South, the undermined authority of multilateralism, and the underperformance of the international community as a whole in addressing global challenges,” he said.

The Global Governance Initiative, put forward by Xi on Sept 1 at the “Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus” Meeting in Tianjin, has “immediately captured the world’s attention, and has been warmly received by the international community”, Fu said.

He cited UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ endorsement of the initiative’s multilateral focus and defense of an international order grounded in law.

The initiative is founded on five core concepts: sovereign equality, international rule of law, multilateralism, a people-centered approach, and real results.

“Together, they outline the principles and pathways for improving the global governance system,” Fu said, adding that the core concepts “echo the very purposes and principles of the UN Charter”.

The initiative also demonstrates China’s firm support for the UN’s central role in international affairs, Fu told the gathering, which was co-hosted by China Daily and the Permanent Mission of China to the UN.

Speaking at the forum, Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, said the Global Governance Initiative is the latest in a series of proposals by Xi aimed at supporting the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, alongside global initiatives on development, security and civilization.

He said the principles of the Global Governance Initiative “offer Chinese wisdom and solutions for strengthening global governance at a time when unilateralism and power politics are undermining the UN and other multilateral institutions”.

As the UN enters its ninth decade, speakers at the forum underscored the significance of China’s new initiative and called for ramped-up efforts on cooperation.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Li Junhua said the Global Governance Initiative offers a timely framework to reinforce international cooperation at a moment when global institutions face mounting pressure from conflict, inequality and climate threats.

Li said China has long been a key supporter of the United Nations in addressing the “global governance deficit”.

In his speech, United States economist Jeffrey Sachs called for renewed global cooperation and lauded China’s Global Governance Initiative as key to revitalizing the UN’s mission.

“We need to get back to cooperation of the major powers,” said Sachs, who is also president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.

“There is nothing fundamental that divides the interests of the United States, China and Russia. … The ideology is over the top in (the US) — the Russophobia, the Sinophobia, it’s just crazy,” he said.

Sachs urged China to play a larger role, proposing that the UN open a major campus in Beijing or Shanghai to focus on climate and energy solutions.

“China is the only country in the world that can guide the path to zero carbon energy,” he said, highlighting the nation’s capacity to scale renewable technologies at levels the world urgently needs.

Speaking via video, former Singaporean ambassador to the UN Kishore Mahbubani endorsed the Global Governance Initiative, calling it a “timely effort” ahead of the UN’s 80th anniversary to strengthen the organization. “Let’s not try to create a new institution. Let’s build on the one that we have,” he said.

Mahbubani added that Asian countries could play a larger role in shaping global solutions, saying they are “very pragmatic and not ideological” in their approaches. He urged dialogue among civilizations to build “a better, safer and more peaceful world”.

Nell Chennault Calloway, president of the Chennault Aviation and Military Museum in Louisiana, said the UN’s birth in 1945 represented a promise that nations would sit as equals and pursue peace through dialogue.

Calloway, who is the granddaughter of General Claire Chennault, the founder of the famed Flying Tigers, a group of volunteer US pilots who fought side-by-side with the Chinese during the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), added that sustaining the UN’s promise requires long-term vision and cooperation over rivalry — a message that she said remains as urgent now as in 1945.

Also speaking at the Vision China forum, Dima Al-Khatib, director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, said that the Global Governance Initiative, with its five pillars, represents another “promising” strategy from China in support of the countries of the Global South.

The event, sponsored by the Bank of China, drew more than 200 participants, including diplomats from Morocco, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Qatar and Russia, along with representatives from the fields of politics, business, academia, research and media.

The discussion on global governance and cooperation continued well after the forum concluded.

Albadawe Abdalla, former head of the Chinese department at the University of Khartoum, said the world needs peace now — that only with peace can there be stability, and only with stability can there be development and effective governance of issues, whether large or small.

“Just look at how China has sent many medical teams and peacekeeping teams to Africa. I believe China has made great contributions in recent years to global governance and to peace and stability in Africa,” Abdalla said.

For Zlatko Lagumdzija, a Bosnian diplomat and politician who serves as Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the UN, China’s new initiative is showing the way ahead.

The Global Governance Initiative “gives us a clear road map and clear steps that we must take, and a call for action”, Lagumdzija said.

Bilin Lin and Belinda Robinson in New York contributed to this story.

By Zhao Huanxin in New York

SOURCE China Daily

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