July 19, 2024
President,
I thank Your Excellency Mr. Sergey Vershinin for presiding over today’s debate. I thank Assistant Secretary-General Elizabeth Spehar, Secretary-General Zhang Ming, Secretary-General Imangali Tasmagambetov, and Secretary-General Sergey Lebedev for their respective briefings. I welcome the presence of representatives of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan at today’s meeting.
The United Nations cooperation under Chapter VIII of the Charter with regional and subregional organizations in the field of peace and security serves to further strengthen the international collective security network for the better maintenance of international peace and security. China applauds the positive results achieved in the cooperation between the United Nations and the SCO, CSTO, and CIS over the years. We hope that the UN will continue to enhance dialogue, exchanges, and cooperation with those three bodies and make even greater contributions to international peace and security.
President,
Against the current backdrop of a rapidly evolving international landscape, great strides in human civilizations are accompanied by a significant increase in insecurity, instability, and uncertainty. In light of the new situation and emerging challenges, the SCO Astana Summit held earlier this month adopted the Astana Declaration and other outcome documents, signaling the SCO’s resolve to take on the historical mission, collectively respond to risks and challenges, and jointly promote security and development. We must practice true multilateralism under the guidance of the UN Charter and continue to promote dialogue and cooperation between the UN and the SCO to form a stronger synergy for the maintenance of international peace and the promotion of common development.
First, it is imperative to jointly uphold the right direction of global governance. The UN represents the banner of multilateralism and is at the core of the international system. Faced with the real threat of Cold War mentality and bloc confrontations, Secretary-General Guterres and SCO Member States issued a strong call at the Astana Summit to safeguard the standing and role of the United Nations. China appreciates the SCO’s consistent efforts to uphold the Shanghai Spirit, embrace important values such as building partnerships instead of alliances, non-targeting at third parties, openness and inclusiveness, as well as SCO’s commitment to upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. The international community should heed the calls of SCO Members, take the Summit of the Future as an opportunity, strive toward greater equity and fairness in global governance, build a multipolar world in an equal and orderly fashion, and promote inclusive economic globalization.
Second, we must commit ourselves to jointly promoting regional security and stability. Terrorism, separatism, and extremism are major threats to global security. China calls on the United Nations to work with the SCO to embrace the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, strengthen dialogue and cooperation in counter-terrorism, narcotics control, and combating transnational organized crimes, and assist regional countries in information sharing, joint operations, and capacity building for security and law enforcement sectors. Afghanistan is an important neighbor of the SCO. We support the SCO and UNAMA to work together to promote the international community’s engagement and dialogue with the Afghan interim government, help Afghanistan stay away from terrorism, war, and narcotics, and achieve lasting peace and stability in the country.
Third, it is imperative to jointly promote regional development and prosperity. China appreciates the SCO’s efforts in implementing the agenda and goals of the United Nations relating to economic and social development, contributing to cooperation among regional countries in areas such as trade facilitation, infrastructure connectivity, agriculture, poverty reduction, and green development. We should support the SCO to scale up its exchanges and cooperation with relevant UN entities. 2025 has been declared as the SCO Year of Sustainable Development. Using this as an opportunity, we should help regional countries overcome their development challenges. In particular, we should leverage the digital transformation to effectively implement the GA resolution on enhancing international cooperation on the capacity building of artificial intelligence, with a view to injecting stronger impetus into the realization of the 2030 Agenda and the common development of regional countries.
President,
At the Astana Summit, President Xi Jinping called on SCO Member States to hold the bottom line of security, safeguard the right to development, consolidate efforts for unity, and build a common home of solidarity and mutual trust, peace and tranquility, prosperity and development, good neighborliness and friendship, as well as fairness and justice. As a founding member and the rotating president of the SCO, China remains committed to supporting, together with the international community, even deeper engagement between the UN and regional organizations such as the SCO, and make unremitting efforts to promote world peace and development and build a community with a shared future for mankind.
Thank you, President.