(Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)
Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Monday that China is willing to work with various parties to actively advance the Global Governance Initiative, and jointly work to inject more positive energy into regional peace and development.
He made the remarks during his speech at the 20th East Asia Summit (EAS) held in Malaysia.
Li recalled that the EAS was born 20 years ago in Kuala Lumpur and over the past two decades, the summit has played an overall constructive role, promoting stability and rapid development in the region.
Today, the world has entered a new period of turmoil and transformation, as peace and development face new risks and challenges, he explained.
Focusing on responding to global upheavals and solving the most pressing problems, Chinese President Xi Jinping solemnly proposed the Global Governance Initiative, he noted.
This initiative, which emphasizes adhering to sovereign equality, respecting the international rule of law, practicing multilateralism, upholding a people-centered approach and focusing on concrete measures, carries great practical relevance and is closely aligned with the founding objective of the EAS, Li continued.
China is ready to work with all parties to remain true to the original aspirations of the EAS, the prime minister assured, calling on them to continue building broad consensus.
Mutual respect, equality, equity and justice, among others, are major foundations governing relations between countries. Economic globalization and international multipolarization are irreversible, and the world must not return to the law of the jungle that makes the weak prey fall into the clutches of the powerful predator, he said.
Only by upholding these common values of humanity and following the flow of history can we make the right decisions at critical moments and stay on the right track in the future, Li added.
He stressed the need to focus on solving the most salient problems, indicating that economic development and improving people’s living standards were the main priorities of countries in the region.
He called for stronger commitment to defending the free trade system, efforts to establish a high-level regional free trade network, and vigorously advance regional integration.
More power must be brought together to improve the well-being of people and achieve universally beneficial and inclusive development, he added.
Li also called for reform and improvement of rules and systems. The more unrest the situation becomes, the more necessary it will be to preserve the authority of the international rule of law, he insisted.
He urged all parties to respect the rules, particularly to preserve the international system with the United Nations at its heart, and to support the centrality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the regional architecture, acting as a promoter of regional cooperation.
At the same time, efforts should be made to actively promote reforms and facilitate the establishment of a more just and reasonable global governance system to better defend the interests of all parties.
Leaders at the meeting noted that the current international situation is experiencing profound and complex changes, with intensifying geopolitical conflicts and rising protectionism.
They urged countries in the region to return to the original aspirations of the EAS, respect multilateralism and fundamental principles of international law such as the United Nations Charter, and work together to foster peacebuilding, conduct dialogue in the spirit of mutual respect and create new models of partnership.
They also asked them to strengthen practical cooperation, jointly address challenges such as energy and food security, green transformation, climate change and public health, and encourage lasting peace, stability and prosperity in the region, and further afield around the world.
Organized at the invitation of Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian Prime Minister, the meeting also adopted the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the 20th anniversary of the EAS and the Leaders’ Declaration on supporting localization in preventive actions for disaster preparedness and response.
