On 24 February, Ambassador Zheng Zeguang attended a seminar at Great Britain China Centre and delivered a speech on how to understand correctly China and the China-UK relationship.
Ambassador Zheng pointed out that four days ago, the 24th Winter Olympics was successfully completed in Beijing. For all those who had followed this major sports event, the memories are still fresh of the splendour of the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the touching moments during the competitions. Under the Olympic rings, some 3,000 athletes from 91 countries and regions made their utmost efforts, challenged their limits and achieved their very best. Two world records and 17 Winter Olympic records were set. Beijing 2022 was a splendid chapter in the Olympic quest for “faster, higher, stronger - together”. In his speech at the closing ceremony, IOC President Mr. Bach expressed thanks and congratulations to the Chinese people in the Chinese language. He said the Olympic Villages were outstanding, the venues–magnificent, the organisation–extraordinary, and the unifying power of the Olympic Games was strong.
Ambassador Zheng stressed that China has lived up to its commitment of hosting a streamlined, safe and splendid Winter Olympics, sent a strong message of solidarity, cooperation and friendship to the world, and vividly embodied the concept of building a community of shared future.
Ambassador Zheng said if some friends asked him how to understand China’s domestic and foreign policies, he would say, the success of the Beijing Winter Olympics epitomizes China’s development and embodies China’s values.
In the past two years countries around the world suffered unprecedented Covid-19. China has been trying to strike a balance between epidemic response and economic and social development and coordinate these two goals. The results have been remarkable. Over 1.2 billion people across the country have been inoculated, and prevention and control measures have been targeted and appropriate. These ensure effective safeguards for the life and health of over 1.4 billion Chinese people and lay the groundwork for the safe hosting of the Winter Olympics. Last year, China’s GDP exceeded 110 trillion RMB yuan, achieving an increase of 8.1% year-on-year. This relatively high growth is accompanied by relatively low inflation, with CPI increasing by only 0.9% year-on-year.
Today, China has entered a new stage of development. China has realized the first centenary goal, namely, building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The country is now striving towards the second centenary goal, that is, to build a great modern socialist country in a comprehensive way. China is committed to pursuing high-quality development. The country will continue to implement the new development concept by building a new paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other. “We will continue to deepen all-round reforms, open up wider at a high level, promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road cooperation, and foster a market-based and law-based, international environment,” added the Ambassador.
China will keep narrowing the gap between regions, between the urban and rural areas, and between different income groups, and take concrete steps to promote common prosperity. This is “leveling-up” on a much larger scale in China. China stays committed to green and low-carbon development. The country will live up to its pledges on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality and take an active part in international cooperation on green and low-carbon transition, biodiversity preservation and climate response.
China upholds the spirit of a community with a shared future for mankind, pursues peaceful development and encourages all countries to seek peaceful development. The goal is to work together with all countries in the world to foster a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, and build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity. China will continue to stand on the right side of history.
Ambassador Zheng pointed out that against the backdrop of profound changes unseen in a century and the lingering pandemic, countries of the world face a common question of how to build a better world after the pandemic. China believes that the world must unite under the banner of multilateralism and work together to meet the challenges and build a better future.
Countries of the world should work together to bridge the inoculation gap and beat the pandemic. As of today, China has provided over 2.1 billion doses of vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organisations. China will provide a further 1 billion doses to African countries and 150 million doses to ASEAN countries. These are China’s concrete actions in delivering the pledge of building of a community of health for all.
Countries of the world should enhance coordination on macro policies and promote the steady recovery of the global economy. This calls for knocking down rather than building walls, opening rather than closing doors and integrating rather than decoupling with one another. There should be concerted efforts from the international community in addressing the risks and challenges of the day, such as the problems with global industrial and supply chain, the shortage in power supply and hybrid inflation, in order to unleash the vitality in the world economy.
Countries of the world should dedicate themselves to closing the gap between the rich and poor nations by regenerating the cause of global development. In this spirit, China will continue to implement the Global Development Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping, so as to help developing countries achieve sustainability while accelerating growth, leave no country behind and inject new driving forces into the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Countries of the world should say no to the Cold-War mentality, stick to dialogue and reject confrontation, uphold inclusiveness, and repudiate exclusion. Mankind has common values, namely, peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom. Championing these common values is the first step towards realizing peaceful coexistence and win-win results.
Ambassador Zheng noted that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the ambassadorial diplomatic relations between China and the UK. In half a century, the China-UK relationship achieved historic progress despite ups and downs. He used three key words to describe the progress made over the past 50 years. First, pioneering. The UK was the first major Western country to recognize New China, the first to carry out trade with New China, and more recently, the first to apply to join in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. China has set up the world’s second largest offshore RMB clearing centre in London and contributed to London’s growth into the biggest offshore RMB trading centre. That makes China the major trading partner of the UK and makes the UK the second largest destination in Europe for Chinese investment.
Second, extensive. China-UK cooperation covers a wide range of areas, from trade and investment to financial services, energy, science and technology, health care, culture, education, sports, and tourism. The two countries also work closely on international affairs, including climate response, nature conservation and important regional hot spots, as well as within multilateral frameworks such as the UN and the G20.
Third, win-win. China-UK cooperation has never been a favour from one side to the other. Rather, it is in the interests of the peoples of both countries and in line with the trend of history. For example, Chinese products are good value for money and play an important role in supporting the pandemic response, meeting consumer demand, and mitigating the price rise here in the UK. In the other direction, famous brands from the UK are welcome in China and meet the diverse needs of the huge consumer market in China. They are increasingly becoming consumer favourites. Another example is cooperation on education, particularly student exchange, which greatly boosted the development of the education sector and the scientific, technological and innovative strength in both countries, and deepened mutual understanding and friendship between the young generation of the two countries.
Ambassador Zheng emphasized the past 50 years clearly show that for China-UK relations to fare well, mutual understanding is the precondition, mutual trust is the foundation, and proper management of the differences is the key. Given the different national conditions, the two countries should always bear in mind that China and the UK should pursue common development on the basis of mutual respect and work for win-win results by seeking common grounds.
Standing at the new historical juncture, China and the UK should proceed from the fundamental interests of the peoples of both countries and the people of the world, keep to the right direction of dialogue and cooperation, resist disruptions and promote the continued development of the bilateral ties.
First, the two countries should have a right understanding of each other’s development. China always values peace, good neighbourliness, and harmony. China’s development poses no threat to any country. On the contrary, it creates opportunities for common development. People from all walks of life in the UK should look at China objectively and resist the misconception that China is a "systemic competitor" or a “threat”.
Second, the two countries should maintain communication at the top level and all the other levels. It is important to maintain high-level exchanges and engagement, and make good use of the dialogue mechanisms, such as the Strategic Dialogue, Economic and Financial Dialogue, High-level Security Dialogue, and High-Level People-to-People Exchange. Both sides should work together to create a favourable environment for these dialogues to take place and produce positive results, build up mutual trust, and inject new impetus into the development of the China-UK relations.
Third, the two countries should expand practical cooperation in all areas. The two sides should leverage their respective strength to deepen the cooperation in traditional areas, such as trade, investment, traditional finance, and infrastructure, expand practical partnership in new areas, including health care, FinTech, clean energy, digital economy and green development, and explore ways to work together in third markets. This will bring more benefits to the peoples of both countries and beyond. It is also important to enhance coordination and cooperation on international and regional hot spots, work together to address global challenges such as Covid-19, climate change, and biodiversity preservation and make greater contribution to world peace and common development.
Fourth, the two countries should handle and manage differences properly. Long-term and steady cooperation between countries depends on whether they can respect each other’s sovereignty, security, and development interests. China and the UK have different views on certain issues. Only by following the spirit of equality and mutual respect can China and the UK prevent damage and setbacks in our relationship.
Fifth, the two countries should enhance people-to-people exchanges. Friendship between Chinese and British people is the source for the development of China-UK relations and must be always protected. Those who spread anti-China rumours and incite anti-China sentiments are acting against the tide of history and must not be allowed to succeed! When the pandemic is over, the two sides should encourage more people-to-people exchanges, facilitate mutual visits, and build better bridges and platforms for dialogue and cooperation. This includes deepening the friendly exchanges in the areas of education, culture, sports and tourism. The foundation for China-UK relations is as strong as the public support and the friendship between the peoples.
Ambassador Zheng expressed his hope that people from all walks of life in the UK will have a deeper understanding of China, continue to promote friendship and cooperation between the two countries, and make new contribution to the healthy and steady development of the China-UK relationship.
