China's goals for world peace in harmony with UN

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session is one of the most important global events. Leaders from around the globe gather to ponder over grave issues impacting the world. The 72nd session of the UNGA commenced on the 19th of September and is scheduled to end by September 25th, during this time discussions will be held among the global leaders and speeches will be delivered; highlighting the contributions of their respective countries in their bid to meet the goals set by the UN and give their stance on various global issues. 

The theme of the 72nd session of the UNGA is "Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and a Decent Life for all on a Sustainable Planet." There are top four issues under discussion at the 72nd session. First is the issue of “North Korea’s nuclear program” as the country has remained unfazed by the sequential rounds of U.N. sanctions. Secondly, the issue of “Global Warming” is high on the agenda owing to recent rise in the frequency of hurricanes which have wreaked havoc in the US. The third most important issue concerns the Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, which the U.N.’s top human rights official has termed as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” The fourth significant issue is with regards to “Iran’s Nuclear Program.” For this all important UNGA session China has sent its top diplomat Foreign Minister Mr. Wang Yi along with his team to attend. During his stay in New York Mr. Wang Yi is expected to not only attend the main UNGA sessions and participate in the discussions, but will also attend other significant meetings like the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action which is responsible for reviewing Iran’s nuclear deal in Which Chinese leadership played an instrumental role in establishing and has been termed as a major success by most of the global leadership. As UNGA is a major platform with global presence Mr. Wang Yi will also be having meetings with various global leaders on the sidelines to maintain and strengthen China’s foreign relations network.  

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) shakes hands with the President of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly Miroslav Lajcak during their meeting at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, on Sept. 18, 2017.[Photo: Xinhua]

The 72nd Session began with an opening speech by Mr. Miroslav Lajčák, President of the 72nd Session of the General Assembly. Mr. Miroslav Lajčák opened the session by first creating grim picture of the various conflicts plaguing our planet and then by highlighting the importance of the UN in helping to resolve those conflicts. He then talked about other challenges including poverty, growing inequalities, indiscriminate terrorist attacks and the worsening effects of climate change. He explained that the task of the UN is not easy, as it is a mammoth take to take on all these challenges head-on. He urged that Efforts must be recalibrated around peace and prevention, as “That is the only way to ensure that the United Nations is doing the job for which it was created.”

President Trump made his first appearance at the UNGA and addressed the assembly for the first time. There was a lot of anticipation regarding President Trump’s speech, owing to his “America First” policy, and his dismissal of the policies pertaining to global warming. The US President didn’t disappoint the world audience as he didn’t spring out any surprises by shifting from his previous stances. He made no mention of global warming despite the record breaking damages caused by consecutive hurricanes in USA and he did adhere to his “America first” policy and also preached it to the audience of the global leaders. He also stuck to his strong man stance against North Korea and upped the ante by stating, “will have no choice than to totally destroy” the country unless Pyongyang refrains from its nuclear tests and missile launches. Apart from these points Trumps speech focused on the need for reforms within the UN and he termed Iran’s nuclear deal as, "one of the worst and one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into." He threatened that the US will withdraw from this deal and once again his statements have come out stronger than intended compelling his staff to clarify. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said. "It's not a clear signal that he plans to withdraw. What it is, is a clear signal that he's not happy with the deal." From President Trump’s speech it seemed he still hasn’t shed his habits from his days of campaigning for the US presidency as he once again mentioned the issue of the South China Sea to gain brownie points, even though President Trump and President Xi, had a very productive telephonic conversation on Monday Sept 18 2017, just a day before his speech at UNGA. The official stance of the White House clearly released details about the phone call and confirmed that both leaders are on the same page and agree with each other. Donald Trump during the telephonic conversation expressed that, “it is satisfying that the two heads of state of China and the US maintain close contacts and sound working relationships. Both China and the US have important domestic agendas this year. It is hoped that these agendas will run smoothly.” He expressed during the same phone call that he is very much looking forward to the upcoming state visit to China, and believes that, “this visit will give a strong boost to forward-looking development of the US-China relations.” This is the reason why policy analysts the world over have started to give lesser importance to President Trump’s speeches as they tend to be go off script with glimpses of bravado causing confusions, in-order to get a truer picture the analysts now tend to mostly follow the official press releases.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his trip to New York has met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. During the meeting Mr. Wang said that, “China hopes the United Nations can play a more important role as the number of uncertainties and destabilizing factors increases and China appreciates the fact that the United Nations and the secretary-general himself highly agree with the ideas put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping, such as the building of a community of shared future for mankind, the building of an open global economy, and the rebalancing of economic globalization.” The major outcome of the meeting was that the two sides pledged to boost cooperation in tackling hot spot issues.

Mr. Wang also met with President of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly Miroslav Lajcak and had a very productive meeting in which Mr. Miroslav Lajcak said, “the international community welcomes China's increasingly important role in international affairs, and hopes that China can display leadership in conflict prevention, settlement of hot spot issues, peacekeeping and the implementation of the 2030 agenda.” 

Mr. Wang Yi is also scheduled to deliver his speech at the UNGA on the 21st of September during the first half and within this speech it is expected that he will outline China's stance towards the UN reforms and the various global issues related to the various conflicts and global warming. Since China has always whole heartedly supported the UN it is expected that he will once again reiterate in his speech, China’s continuous active role in aiding the UN's activities pertaining to politics, security, development, human rights and disarmament, promotion of democracy and rule of law in international relations. He is also most likely going to highlight China’s stance on upholding peace in the world through trade and by the creation of win-win scenarios for all its trade partners. Mention of Chinese foreign policy is incomplete without the mention of the Chinese vision of the Belt and Road initiative which, as most global leaders believe in letter and in spirit by far the only global measure to jump start the global economy and since it starts by the provision of the much needed infrastructure to the developing world it is bound to lower global poverty levels which is a major challenge for the UN. 

(Dr. Shafei Moiz Hali studied at George Mason University, Virginia, USA and specialized in the field of International Commerce and Policy. He did his PhD from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China specializing in Chinese foreign policy focusing on the Belt and Road Initiative and energy issues. Currently Dr. Hali is an Assistant Professor at the National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, Pakistan with the department of Government and Public Policy.)