Peace Through Health
16th World Congress
Beijing, China
September 16-19, 2004
The Challenges and Opportunities Our World is Facing
Huan Guoying
Vice-President, Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament
It is a great pleasure for me to attend this Congress. I am not a doctor, but feel much honored to have the opportunity to speak at this plenary session in the presence of so many respected doctors. As we all know, IPPNW is an important force in the international peace movement, and has all along made unremitting efforts and precious contributions to safeguarding world peace and promoting common development. Please allow me, on behalf of the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament to express our sincere congratulations on the convening of the 16th Congress of IPPNW. As doctors, you always work for patients. Your profession has entrusted you a strong sense of responsibility, because what you face are the decisions on the patients' health, or even their life or death. I respect your profession, and also admire your sense of responsibility to world peace. When looking from the perspective of doctors, we may find that our world is suffering from various kinds of diseases which require us to provide treatment and cures.
We long for peace, but the gunfire of invasion and endless bombings in Iraq keep warning us that the world is far from tranquil. We wish to promote development, but what we see is that with the accelerated globalization, the gap between the South and the North is widening, and mankind is not enjoying common prosperity. We wish to participate in the world affairs as equal partners, and resolve the problems we are facing through multilateral cooperation, but to our great dismay, the unilateral actions by the superpower have brought about more problems to the world. World peace indeed is still confronted with many threats and challenges.
First of all, mankind has not been free from the haunting of traditional security threats. Local conflicts arising from ethnic and religious clashes, and border or territorial disputes keep cropping up one after another. The world cannot enjoy peace when one superpower wantonly invades other countries and resorts to military force at will. In addition, groups of displaced people in Darfur, Sudan are telling the world the shocking misery that innocent people may suffer in the time of conflict.
Secondly, non-traditional security issues are becoming more and more salient, posing threats to the development of mankind. In the present world, we are faced with such non-traditional security factors as outrageous terrorism, rampant transnational crimes, widespread diseases, huge gaps between the rich and the poor, and serious environmental pollution. All these are in fact diseases tormenting our world and threatening peace and development of all countries.
Thirdly, the unjust international political and economic order still exists. We have witnessed there still exists the mentality of seeking absolute security through military means, and the dream of pursuing world hegemony by the superpower. Some unilateral actions have already challenged the basic norms of international law, and have impeded the process of democratization of international relations. Economic globalization has not brought universal benefit to all countries but, instead, has made quite a few developing countries marginalized. According to the World Bank, at present nearly half of the world population live on less than US $2 per day per person, among whom 1.2 billion live on less than $1 per day per person.
It is obvious that our world is plagued by various diseases. Then, what are effective prescriptions to treat and cure these diseases? We come from different countries representing different cultures. In my view, each country has its own way of being great, each culture contains its own unique wisdom. Let's pool together all these wisdoms, to work jointly to build a better world of peace and security. This is the opportunity our world is facing. In this connection, please allow me to make some personal observations.
First, promote democracy in the international relations. The international community should not go back to the days when big powers divided spheres of influence, neither should we allow the repeat of history that big powers contended with each other all over the world. A new type of international relations should be established, in which countries, big or small, rich or poor, strong or weak are all equal. No country is entitled to impose its own will on others. We always say that the world is a big family, then the affairs of the family should be handled through consultations by all its members. The United Nations is the core of the international collective security regime, and the best venue to exercise multilateralism. Therefore, the United Nations should play an important role in the international affairs. We should advocate and promote multilateralism, and oppose unilateralism. It has been proved that unilateralism is a great challenge to world peace and security, and the pre-emptive military strategy can only generate more problems.
Second, safeguard the authority of international law, and honor the UN Charter and the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence. The UN Charter is the guide for international relations. Under the current situation, its purposes and principles are still valid and authoritative, and should be observed. Fifty years ago, together with other Asian leaders like the late Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the Chinese leaders initiated the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, i.e. mutual respect for sovereignty and territory integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful co-existence. As a great treasure of human society, these shining principles have stood the test of the times and become the basic norms in handling state-to-state relations.
Third, to establish a new concept of security based on mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation. Lasting and comprehensive security can only be built upon mutual trust and cooperation. Peoples from Asia and Europe should promote mutual trust through dialogue among various countries, resolve disputes through negotiations, and achieve development through cooperation.
Fourth, preserve the diversity of the world and promote dialogues among civilizations. There are six billion people in the current world comprising more than 200 countries and regions, with more than 2,500 ethnic groups and over 5,000 languages. We live in a colorful and diverse world. Among the world's dilferent civilizations, one might be longer than the other, but never more superior. All civilizations were created by human beings. All contributions to the world civilization by each nation should be respected. Among countries and nations, an attitude of openness should be adopted, accommodation and understanding should be adhered to, and peaceful coexistence promoted. They can complement each other through competition, and realize development by seeking common grounds while reserving differences. To conduct dialogues among civilizations will help advance human society, while to advocate "the clash of civilizations" will benefit no one.
Dear friends,
As I understand, among you there are also many experts on arms control and disarmament. Although confronted with various difficulties, we should continue our efforts to push forward the multilateral arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation process, which are of great significance to world security. In recent years, some countries' unilateral actions have seriously affected the process of arms control and disarmament. Meanwhile, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the delivery systems, and the possibility that terrorist groups may acquire or use these weapons have posed more serious and real threats to international peace and security. The effective way to meet these challenges should be political and peaceful means and international cooperation. To build up missile defense systems is not a good solution at all to these problems. To bring weapons to outer space will make things even worse. In addition, the lessons drawn from the Iraqi war tell us that the problem of terrorism and non-proliferation can not be resolved through war.
Dear friends,
As you may know, China has been marching on the road of reform and opening up to the outside world over the past 26 years, whose achievements have drawn worldwide attention. My colleagues and I are the witnesses and beneficiaries of this great cause and have been supporters all along. Now we are working hard to realize the goal of building a well-off society in an all-around way. We need to continue our reform and opening up, and build our own country. This requires a peaceful and stable international and peripheral environment. China's road of development is a road to peace. We will achieve development in the cause of safeguarding world peace, and will promote world peace through our own development. We should strive for peace, stability, and development, and we should pursue equality, mutual benefit, and the win-win results. Let us rally under the banner of promoting peace and development of mankind and continue to make new contributions to the prosperity and progress of the world.
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