At the end of 2000, Shen Guofang, deputy permanent representative of China to the United Nations, gave his views on international situation as well as the role of China in world affairs.

Shen said that there are three general characteristics of current international situation. Firstly, the current international situation is moving towards d?tente; secondly, relations between big powers are stable and the trend towards multi-polarization is developing despite many obstacles; thirdly, economic globalization is enlarging the North-South divide.

He stated that great changes of crucial significance on the Korea Peninsula distinguish the trend towards d?tente in the international situation. From June 13 to 15, the historic summit meeting between the heads of the DPRK and the Republic of Korea drew worldwide attention. This meeting enabled the two countries to end 50-year-long hostility while enhancing peace in Asia. Meanwhile, many Western countries established or restored diplomatic relations with the DPRK or began negotiations to do so.

“While the whole situation is moving towards d?tente, there still exist regional conflicts in terms of religious disputes, ethnic clashes and ideological contradictions, among which the ongoing clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians is the most prominent. The UN Security Council has held meetings to discuss the issue, but has so far not been able to prevent it from deteriorating,” he said.

Shen also summed up roles China played in international arena. “As a peaceful, stable power, China is playing a more and more important role in the international arena.” he said.

According to Shen, the most significant action was China proposing the UN Millennium Summit. During the summit, Chinese president Jiang Zemin also attended the meeting of the heads of the Security Council of UN and the meeting of the heads of the five permanent members of UN Security Council. China actively joined the consultations on various documents in order to protect the interests of developing countries. The final consultation on the documents was conducted between China and US, with many proposals set forth by China being accepted. The other four permanent members of UN gave much consideration to China’s proposals.

From August 30 to September 1, China attended the Millennium Parliament Leaders Conference held at the UN headquarters in New York. Li Peng, chairman of NPC, presided over the conference and played the role as its vice president.

Meanwhile, a Chinese delegation of top religious leaders attended the Millennium World Peace Summit of religious leaders held in the United Nations on August 28. This is the first time that China took part in such a religious meeting since 1949.

China also participated actively in the various proceedings of the UN Security Council. Chinese representatives joined in the UN missions in Kosovo and conflict-ridden areas of Africa in order to size up UN peacekeeping operations for proposing improvements. China possesses certain strength and potentiality in peacekeeping missions.

China regularly consulted with the other four permanent Security Council members, and also consulted closely with the non-aligned Group of 77, ASEAN and the Rio Group. In many statements, China is often included in the Group of 77, known then as the Group of 77 plus China.

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation—-the Ministerial Conference held in Beijing in last October found echoes in the UN and international society. The documents adopted at the conference have been issued as formal UN documents. These documents will help to establish a fair and equitable international economic order.

“China was also an important participant in the APEC Informal Leadership Meeting, ASEM, and ASEAN (10+3) meeting," Shen said.

(CIIC 01/05/2001)