Recently, Chinese Ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang attended a dinner hosted by the British business and financial communities in London and delivered a speech entitled Carry on Dialogue and Cooperation instead of Division and Confrontation. He introduced China's domestic and foreign policies and took questions from the attendees. The key points of Ambassador Zheng's speech are as follows.

Ambassador Zheng pointed out that the world is still struggling to cope with the lingering Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine crisis and the sluggish economic recovery. The international community has  a vital choice to make. “Do we want division or solidarity? Do we go for confrontation or engage in cooperation? China’s position is clear cut. We champion peace and oppose war, we stand for cooperation and reject confrontation, we want openness and refuse exclusion, and we are in favour of win-win cooperation and against zero-sum game. We believe that a “new Cold War” should never be a choice for the international community under any circumstances,” said the Ambassador.

Combating Covid-19 is still an urgent task for all countries in the world and international cooperation should not be disrupted. In China, some provinces and cities are responding to a new round of outbreak of the omicron variant. Shanghai and Jilin are the hardest hit. China’s overall plan remains to achieve the goal of “dynamic zero-Covid”. To this end, China is making all-out efforts to curb the momentum of the latest outbreak. China is fully confident in achieving this goal. This confidence comes from the strength of political leadership, the power of organisation and mobilisation, and the ability to act at the grassroot level in country. It also comes from the success of Covid response in the past two years. As of today, the infection and fatality rates in China are still among the world’s lowest. Some experts predict that if China had chosen to “lie flat” as some countries have done, China would have had over 300 million infections and over 2 million deaths. China is the largest provider of vaccines and other epidemic prevention assistance to other countries. China will continue to support the developing countries in their efforts to fight the virus by providing vaccines and conducting joint research, so as to bridge the “inoculation gap” and live up to our pledge of building a community of health for all mankind.

China has also made coordinated efforts to promote economic and social development. The results are self-evident. In the past two years, China has registered an average annual economic growth of 5.1%, taking the lead in the world. In 2021, China had economic growth of 8.1% and consumer price only increased by 0.9%. Its GDP increment in 2021 was 3000 billion USD. The “Two Sessions” held earlier in March this year set China’s targets for economic and social development in 2022, including about 5.5% GDP growth rate and over 11 million new urban jobs. China will follow the general principle of seeking progress while keeping performance stable, continue to regard better life for the people as the priority, work vigorously to create new jobs, open up the market at a higher level, and promote green and low-carbon development. The strong resilience, huge potential and the fundamentals that sustain long-term growth remain unchanged. China are confident that through hard work, we will hit this year’s development target, help keep the global industrial and supply chains stable, and provide more positive energy in a turbulent world.

Ambassador Zheng noted that, despite being an Asia-Pacific country, China has a strong interest in European security and stability. China finds it deeply regrettable that the situation in Ukraine has come to where it is today and has been working hard in its own way to promote peace talks. In a meeting with President Charles Michel of the European Council and President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission on April 1, President Xi Jinping made four points on how to settle the Ukraine crisis under the current circumstances.

First, promoting peace talks. Peace talks are the only viable way to prevent escalation of tensions. The international community should create favourable conditions and environment for the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and make room for political settlement, rather than add fuel to the fire, heighten the tensions or shift the blame onto others. 

Second, preventing a humanitarian crisis on a bigger scale. China has put forward a six-point initiative on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. China has also provided multiple batches of emergency humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and sent supplies to some European countries that are receiving large numbers of refugees. 

Third, fostering lasting peace in Europe and the Eurasian continent. The root cause of the Ukraine crisis is the tensions around the issue of regional security that have slowly built up in Europe over the years. China supports Europe, Russia, the US and NATO in tackling the tensions head on, abandoning the Cold-War mentality, and using dialogue to build a balanced, effective and sustainable security framework in Europe. 

Fourth, preventing the regional conflict from magnifying. The world should not be held hostage by the Ukraine issue. The global economy should not be politicized, instrumentalized or weaponized as this could trigger serious crises in global finance, trade, energy, technology, food and industrial and supply chains, and wipe out the fruits of decades of international economic cooperation. It is the ordinary people around the world who would end up paying a heavy price for all that. Currently, many countries are already facing serious problems such as high inflation, energy shortages, supply chain disruptions and slowing economic growth, and this situation cannot be allowed to develop.

Ambassador Zheng pointed out that some people in Britain have compared the Ukraine issue with the Taiwan issue, which is completely wrong. The issue of Ukraine is an international dispute between two sovereign nations, while the issue of Taiwan is purely an internal affair of China, which is completely different in nature. There is only one China in the world, Taiwan is an inseparable part of China's territory, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing the whole of China. This is the one-China principle, which has long been the universal consensus of the international community. The one-China principle must be effectively observed as an important prerequisite and political foundation for the establishment and development of diplomatic relations between China and other countries in the world. Resolving the Taiwan issue and achieving the complete reunification of China is the common wish and firm will of all Chinese people and is a historical trend that no one can stop. China will do its utmost and with the greatest sincerity to promote the peaceful reunification of the motherland but will never allow anyone to split Taiwan from China in any way.

Ambassador Zheng continued to say that in recent years, the China-US relationship has encountered serious difficulties and nothing much has changed yet. The reason for such a situation is that the Biden administration has not redressed the previous administration’s erroneous policy towards China. On China’s part, China has always hope to cooperate and manage disputes with the US on the basis of mutual respect, mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence, to ensure overall stability of the bilateral relations. During his video call with President Biden on 18 March, President Xi Jinping stressed that the two countries need to respect each other, coexist in peace and avoid confrontation, and that the two sides should increase communication and dialogue at all levels and in all fields. As permanent members of the UN Security Council and the world’s two leading economies, China and the US must keep their bilateral relations on the right track and at the same time shoulder their share of international responsibilities and work for world peace and tranquility. President Biden reiterated that the US does not seek a new Cold War with China; it does not aim to change China’s system; the revitalization of its alliances is not targeted at China; the US does not support “Taiwan independence”; and it has no intention to seek a conflict with China. China hopes that the US side will match its words with deeds.

Ambassador Zheng said that the European Union as the largest union of developed countries and an important economy in the world has always been a force of vital significance globally. The Chinese side has always supported Europe’s independent position and its unity and prosperity and has been committed to “four China-EU partnerships”, namely peace, growth, reform, and civilization. Recently, after a virtual summit with French President Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, President Xi met with President Charles Michel of the European Council and President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission via video link. Premier Li Keqiang co-chaired with President Michel and President von der Leyen the 23rd China-EU Summit. Leaders of the two sides exchanged views in depth on China-EU relations and the Ukraine situation. These meetings are constructive and will help promote cooperation between the two side in various fields. “Going forward, we need to follow through on the common understandings reached between the leaders of the two sides, carry on dialogues and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit, and inject stability into a turbulent world,” said the Ambassador.

Ambassador Zheng emphasized that the China-UK relationship is important on its own. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of ambassadorial diplomatic relations between China and the UK. Over the past half a century, despite ups and downs, this relationship has on the whole moved forward. This goes to show that China-UK cooperation is beneficial to both countries and the world. Given their different national conditions, both sides should seek common development on the basis of mutual respect, and pursue win-win cooperation despite differences. Going forward, the two countries should make efforts in the following five aspects.

First, have a right understanding of each other. China regards the UK as a partner that can talk to and work with. China hopes the UK could have an objective understanding of China, and reject the wrong perception that China is a “systemic competitor” or a threat. “I often say to my British friends, think about what you want from the relations with China. If it is to change China’s political system, forget it; if it is mutually-beneficial cooperation, then we can discuss and make concerted and vigorous efforts,” said the Ambassador.

Second, maintain communication at the top and all the other levels. The two sides should make full use of the existing dialogue mechanisms, including the Strategic Dialogue, the Economic and Financial Dialogue, the High-level Security Dialogue and the High-level People-to-People Exchange. These dialogues will provide new impetus for the development of the two countries. China and the UK will hold the new round of Economic and Financial Dialogue in summer this year.

Third, create new highlights in cooperation. China and the UK should continue to advance cooperation in traditional areas of trade, investment and infrastructure. At the same time, there are new areas where the two can work together, such as health care, FinTech, digital economy, clean energy, low-carbon technology and green development. The two side can also work on developing third markets. China hopes the British side will adhere to the concept of free trade and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises in the UK.

Fourth, deal with differences appropriately. In the eyes of the 1.4 billion Chinese people, the affairs related to Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tibet in nature have nothing to do with human rights, democracy or religious beliefs. Rather, they are China’s internal affairs that bear on the country’s sovereignty, security and development interests. These issues should be handled in line with the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs and equality and mutual benefit. It is important for both sides to avoid unnecessary disruptions to their cooperation.

Fifth, shoulder the responsibilities as major countries. As permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and the UK should shoulder greater responsibilities for world peace and development. This means the two sides should enhance cooperation on global issues, including climate change, biological diversity protection, pandemic response and supporting developing countries. This also means the two sides should step up communication on international and regional issues, including the situation in Ukraine.

Ambassador Zheng noted that not long ago, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Boris Johnson reached an important consensus on promoting the development of China-UK relations during their phone call. Both sides should follow the direction indicated by the two leaders, adhere to mutual respect, openness, and inclusiveness, strengthen exchanges and dialogues, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, and continuously promote new development of China-UK relations for the benefit of the two peoples and the people of the world.