Keynote Speech by the Supreme Leader at the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Annual Meeting of Boao Forum for Asia (full text)
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 21st
Join hands to meet challenges and cooperate to create the future.
— — Keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2022 annual meeting of Boao Forum for Asia
(Beijing, April 21, 2022)
Chairman People’s Republic of China (PRC), Supreme Leader
Dear Heads of State and Government,
Dear heads of international organizations,
Dear directors of Boao Forum for Asia,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Ladies and gentlemen, friends,
It’s a great pleasure to meet old and new friends in the "cloud" again and attend the 2022 annual meeting of Boao Forum for Asia. First of all, on behalf of the government of China and the people of China, and in my own name, I would like to extend my sincere welcome to the guests attending the annual meeting! Warm congratulations on the convening of the annual meeting!
At present, the change of the world, the change of the times and the change of history are unfolding in an unprecedented way, which poses challenges to mankind that must be taken seriously. Human beings have not yet walked out of the haze of the epidemic in the century, and are facing new traditional security risks; The global economic recovery is still fragile and weak, and the contradiction of increasing development gap is superimposed; Climate change and other governance deficits have not been filled, and new topics such as digital governance are before us. In this context, the theme of the annual forum is "Epidemic and the World: Promoting Global Development and Building a Shared Future", which is of great significance.
"If you are safe, you will not change your mind." Human history tells us that the more difficult it is, the more we must strengthen our confidence. Contradictions are not terrible. It is contradictions that promote the progress of human society. No difficulties and twists and turns can stop the wheel of historical progress. In the face of many challenges, we must never lose confidence and hesitate to retreat, but we must strengthen our confidence and forge ahead bravely.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends!
Rushing out of the fog to the light, the most powerful force is to work together, and the most effective method is to work together. Over the past two years, the international community has made strenuous efforts to meet the challenge of COVID-19 epidemic and promote the recovery and development of the world economy. Difficulties and challenges further tell us that mankind is a community of shared destiny. All countries should conform to the trend of the times of peace, development, cooperation and win-win, move in the right direction of building a community of human destiny, and work together to meet the challenges and create the future through cooperation.
— — We should jointly protect human life and health. People’s life safety and physical health are prerequisites for human development and progress. It still needs hard work for mankind to completely defeat the COVID-19 epidemic. Countries should support each other, strengthen the coordination of epidemic prevention measures, improve global public health governance, and form a strong international synergy to deal with the epidemic. It is necessary to adhere to the attributes of vaccines as global public goods and ensure the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries. China has provided more than 2.1 billion doses of vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations. Whether providing vaccines to foreign countries or producing vaccines overseas, China always keeps its word and does what it says. China will continue to provide 600 million doses of vaccines to Africa and 150 million doses to ASEAN, making active efforts to bridge the "immunization gap".
— — We should jointly promote economic recovery. The COVID-19 epidemic has had a great impact on the global poverty reduction achievements in the past 10 years. The uneven recovery has aggravated global inequality and the North-South gap has continued to widen. We must persist in building an open world economy, grasp the general trend of economic globalization, strengthen macro-policy coordination, use science and technology to enhance kinetic energy, maintain the stability of global industrial chain supply chain, prevent some countries’ policy adjustments from having serious negative spillover effects, and promote global balanced, coordinated and inclusive development. We must persist in taking the people as the center, give priority to promoting development and ensuring people’s livelihood, and put whether it is beneficial to people’s livelihood and well-being in the first place when implementing policies, taking measures and carrying out actions. We should pay attention to the urgent needs of developing countries, promote pragmatic cooperation in key areas such as poverty reduction, food security, development financing and industrialization, and strive to solve the problem of insufficient development imbalance. Last year, I put forward a global development initiative, which was echoed and supported by international organizations such as the United Nations and nearly 100 countries. We are working with the international community to steadily push forward the implementation of the initiative.
— — We should jointly safeguard world peace and tranquility. "Governing the country is often rich, while chaotic countries are often poor." Security is the premise of development, and human beings are an inseparable security community. Facts have proved once again that the cold war mentality will only undermine the global peace framework, hegemonism and power politics will only endanger world peace, and group confrontation will only aggravate the security challenges in the 21st century. In order to promote world security and common prosperity, China would like to put forward a global security initiative here: we should adhere to the common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept and jointly safeguard world peace and security; Adhere to respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, not interfere in other countries’ internal affairs, and respect the development path and social system independently chosen by the people of all countries; Adhere to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, abandon the Cold War mentality, oppose unilateralism, and refrain from group politics and camp confrontation; Adhere to the legitimate security concerns of all countries, uphold the principle of indivisibility of security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and oppose building domestic security on the basis of insecurity in other countries; Adhere to the peaceful settlement of differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation, support all efforts that are conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis, refrain from double standards, and oppose the abuse of unilateral sanctions and "long-arm jurisdiction"; Adhere to the overall maintenance of traditional and non-traditional areas of security, and jointly deal with regional disputes and global issues such as terrorism, climate change, network security and biosafety.
— — We should jointly meet the challenges of global governance. All countries in the world are on a big ship with a common destiny. If they want to cross the stormy waves and sail for a bright future, they must help each other in the same boat. It is unacceptable to try to throw anyone into the sea. Today, the international community has become a complicated, exquisite and organic machine. Dismantling a component will make the whole machine run with serious difficulties, and the people who are demolished will be damaged, and so will the people who are demolished. In today’s world, any unilateralism and extreme egoism are simply not feasible. Any act of decoupling, cutting off supply and exerting extreme pressure is simply not feasible. Any "small circle" and ideological line-drawing to provoke confrontation are also simply not feasible. We should practice the concept of global governance, promote the common values of all mankind, and advocate exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations. We must adhere to true multilateralism and firmly safeguard the international system with the United Nations at the core and the international order based on international law. In particular, big countries should set an example, take the lead in stressing equality, cooperation, honesty and the rule of law, and show the appearance of big countries.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends!
The people of Asia have experienced hot wars and cold wars, and they have experienced many vicissitudes and hardships. They know that peace is precious and development is hard-won. In the past few decades, the Asian region has remained generally stable, and the economy has continued to grow rapidly, which has achieved the "Asian miracle." Asia is better than the world. We will continue to develop and build Asia well, show its resilience, wisdom and strength, and build an anchor for world peace and stability, a source of growth and a new highland for cooperation.
First, firmly safeguard peace in Asia. Regional peace and stability did not fall from the sky, nor was it a charity from any country, but was the result of the joint efforts of regional countries. Today, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and the "Bandung Spirit" initiated by Asia have more practical significance. We should uphold the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence, pursue a good-neighborly and friendly policy, and firmly hold our destiny in our own hands.
Second, actively promote Asian cooperation. Asian country proverbs say, "Climb together when encountering mountains, cross together when encountering ditches" and "Sugarcane grows in the same hole, and citronella grows in clusters". Win-win cooperation is the only way for Asia to develop. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement came into effect, and China-Laos Railway was completed and opened to traffic, which effectively improved the level of regional hard connectivity and soft connectivity. We should take this opportunity to promote the formation of a more open big market in Asia and take new steps to promote win-win cooperation in Asia.
Third, jointly promote Asian unity. Replacing zero-sum games with dialogue and cooperation, replacing closed exclusivity with openness and tolerance, and replacing egoism with exchanges and mutual learning, this is the heart and tolerance that Asia should have. We should consolidate ASEAN’s central position in the regional structure and maintain a regional order that takes into account the demands and interests of all parties. All countries, big or small, strong or weak, both within and outside the region, should add color to Asia without adding chaos, and they should all take the road of peaceful development, seek win-win cooperation and create a United and progressive Asian family.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends!
More than two months ago, China presented the simple, safe and wonderful Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games to the world, bringing warmth and hope to people all over the world. In the second half of the year, we will hold the The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China(CPC) to draw a blueprint for the future development of China.
The fundamentals of China’s strong economic resilience, sufficient potential, wide room for manoeuvre and long-term improvement will not change, which will provide strong momentum for the stabilization and recovery of the world economy and provide broader market opportunities for countries. China will fully implement the new development concept, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, and strive to promote high-quality development. No matter what changes take place in the world, China’s confidence and will in reform and opening up will not waver. China will open wider to the outside world at a high level, thoroughly implement the negative list of foreign investment access, expand the scope of encouraging foreign investment, optimize foreign investment promotion services, and set up a comprehensive pilot project to expand and open the service industry. China will solidly promote the construction of the Pilot Free Trade Zone and Hainan Free Trade Port, meet the international high-standard economic and trade rules, and promote institutional opening. China will fully implement the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, promote the negotiation and signing of high-standard free trade agreements with more countries and regions, and actively promote its accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement. China will adhere to the goal of high standards, sustainability and benefiting people’s livelihood, and actively promote the construction of the Belt and Road with high quality. China will unswervingly adhere to the path of peaceful development and always be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of the international order.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends!
The ancients in China said that if you travel every day, you are not afraid of thousands of miles; Do it often, not afraid of thousands of things. As long as we work together with one heart and one mind, we will surely gather the great strength of win-win cooperation, overcome various challenges on the road ahead and usher in a brighter and better future for mankind.
Thank you all.