On November 28, 2016, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and incoming Secretary General António Guterres of the UN jointly met the press after their talks. When answering questions on the UN’s role under current international situation, Wang Yi stressed that the UN should stay true to its mission and safeguard the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

Wang Yi said that the first thing the UN should do is to promote peace and development in a more proactive manner. There are many problems in the world, which all come down to peace and development. As to the work related to these two issues, the UN should give equal emphasis with neither aspect neglected. The three main tools for the UN to promote peace are conciliation and meditation, peace-keeping operation and peace-building, which should be used properly and thoroughly. At the same time, the UN shoulders due responsibility of coordinating the implementation of two historic documents, namely, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The UN should make stronger efforts to advocate fairness and justice. The UN is a place where we speak and act fairly, while fairness and justice constitute the core of the UN Charter. Whether in addressing hotspot issues or developing international relations, the UN should implement and carry forward principles of the UN Charter such as sovereign equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of states and peaceful resolution of international disputes, treat big and small countries the same, and safeguard international fairness and justice.

The UN should also be more active in advocating cooperation and win-win results. It’s an important purpose of the UN to promote international cooperation. The concept of win-win cooperation echoes the development trend of the times, conforms to the spirit of the UN Charter, and is also written in UN documents. The UN should promote its member states to abandon the old mentality of zero-sum and confrontation in international relations, practice the new concept of win-win cooperation, and find a new path of working together with one heart.

How can the UN play the above-mentioned roles? One sentence said by President Xi Jinping came to my mind, “stay true to your mission and move forward”. For the UN, this means to stay true to the series of purposes and principles jointly established by its member states. As we review the past, these purposes and principles are not outdated today and are still good recipes for solving all kinds of international problems. The root of various turbulence and chaos in the world today lies in the failure to implement or even violation of these purposes and principles. Therefore, China is willing to work with all countries to support the UN in staying true to its mission, moving forward and playing a greater role in world peace and development as well as human prosperity and progress through constant reform and innovation.