Li Yuanchao, Vice President of the People’s Republic of China

Tsinghua University, 27 June 2013

One year ago, the first World Peace Forum was successfully held at Tsinghua University, setting up a new platform for all parties to strengthen dialogue and exchange and jointly seek peace in the world. The theme of this year’s Forum - “International Security in a Changing World: Peace, Development, Innovation”—is in keeping with the trend of historical progress and the common aspiration of people across the world.

A review of human history puts countries into two categories: those for peace and those for war. The former love peace and prosper through peace while the latter favor force and seek hegemony and expansion through war. When those for war invade other countries out of selfish motives, their own people also suffer deeply. In the 500 years since the 16th century, colonial invasions and imperialist wars wreaked havoc and caused untold suffering to people across the world, the Chinese nation included. China, however, has always followed the guiding principle of good-neighborliness and friendship. It has never waged a war of aggression, annexed territory of other countries, or sought expansion abroad. China is a country for peace, who loves, safeguards and upholds peace.

The Chinese is a peace-seeking nation. The spirit of peace is a defining feature of the Chinese civilization throughout history. Such spirit values peace, seeks good relations among nations and aims to turn swords into ploughshares. The Silk Road, which was in service for a thousand years, was a road for trade, prosperity, peace and culture. Zheng He led seven voyages to the western seas, visiting over 30 countries and regions in Asia and Africa. Those were journeys for peace and friendship. In modern times, China suffered from the scourge of war. To eliminate war and achieve peace became the most pressing and profound desire of the Chinese people. The founding of New China put an end to the humiliation and bullying of the Chinese nation at the hands of foreign invaders. The Chinese people are most keenly aware of how precious peace is. Over the past 60 years and more, China has firmly followed an independent foreign policy of peace. Today, in a world faced with a multitude of complex and grave challenges, China will, as clearly articulated at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, continue to uphold peace, development and win-win cooperation and commit itself to maintaining world peace and promoting common development. Socialism with Chinese characteristics stands for peace. The Chinese dream is a dream about peace.

Peace is at the core of China’s foreign policy. China makes the pursuit of peace the top priority in its foreign policy. We always believe that the international relations should be handled in accordance with the five principles of peaceful co-existence. Countries, big or small, should be treated as equals. All countries should uphold the principles of mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit and peaceful co-existence. China is against the practice of the big and strong bullying the small and weak. We are opposed to hegemony and power politics. China calls for peaceful resolution of international disputes and conflicts through consultation and negotiation. We are opposed to arbitrary use or threat of force, violation of other countries’ sovereignty, and interference in other countries’ internal affairs against their will. When it comes to conflicts left over from the past, calm and restraint should be exercised in order to seek a new path of peaceful solution through talks and reconciliation. For immediate tensions, joint efforts should be made to find peaceful solution through dialogue and consultation. We call for the establishment of mechanisms whereby all countries can work together to maintain regional and global peace. We call on countries to reject the Cold-War mentality and the alliance-or-confrontation mindset, establish security mechanisms featuring multilateral cooperation, let the United Nations play its important role in safeguarding world peace, and work together to prevent conflict and war.