Wang Yi Attends the Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council and the UN Secretary-General

On September 23, 2021, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Permanent Members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council and the UN Secretary-General in Beijing via video link. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attended the meeting.

Wang Yi said, today's world is full of uncertainties and instability. The international community has high expectations for the five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council, especially for the P5 to strengthen solidarity and coordination so as to inject confidence and stability into the world. China believes that the P5 should take their responsibilities from four aspects:

First, the P5 should take the responsibility of safeguarding world peace. The P5 should be positive rather than negative factors for peace and problem-solvers rather than problem-causers. To resolve hotspot issues, all sides should abide by the UN Charter, use good offices and mediation, make good use of peacekeeping operations, exercise caution in the use of coercive measures, and refrain from the willful use of force.

Second, the P5 should take the responsibility of practicing multilateralism. True multilateralism means that world affairs should be handled through extensive discussion and consultation and international rules should be formulated by all. We should pursue dialogue and inclusiveness rather than confrontation and exclusivity, and build a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation. All sides attach importance to the U.S. President's statement that the United States does not want a "new Cold War". The key is to put this statement into action. That is, abandon the Cold War mentality and zero-sum games; abandon ideological bias and close cliques; abandon the impulse of group confrontation and geopolitical rivalry. All countries will keep watching this.

Third, the P5 should take the responsibility of promoting solidarity in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. We should pool our strength and confidence, set an example in respecting science and upholding solidarity, and take the lead in upholding the authority and role of the UN and the WHO. We should work together to provide anti-pandemic assistance to developing countries, make vaccines a true global public good, and enhance coordinated global COVID-19 response to build a global firewall against the pandemic. We should unequivocally oppose attempts to politicize the pandemic, label the virus, and use the origin tracing as a tool, and rule out any words and actions that interfere with international cooperation against the pandemic.

Fourth, the P5 should take the responsibility of promoting global cooperation. The world is facing various challenges such as regional hotspot issues, terrorism, climate change, food security and economic recession. The P5 should strengthen cooperation and make contributions to this end. In his speech at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly, President Xi Jinping proposed a Global Development Initiative, which aims to build global synergy and accelerate the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. China welcomes the active participation of all sides. The P5 have made commitments to implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change, and they should keep their words.

All sides exchanged views on Afghanistan, the Iran nuclear issue, strengthening P5 coordination and other issues.