Photo:Global Times

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday expounded China's rising confidence and global role in international affairs, criticized the US and some of its allies for their outdated Cold War mentality, and emphasized the importance of upholding multilateralism and abandoning zero-sum game mentality in dealing with challenges faced by all countries.

Wang delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 9th World Peace Forum organized by Tsinghua University and Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs on Saturday. 

As the world faces rising uncertainty and unilateralism, the theme of the forum this year is "International Security Cooperation in the Post-Pandemic Era: Upholding and Practicing Multilateralism." The role of China and the Communist Party of China (CPC) was highlighted during the forum.

"The CPC will never seek hegemony and will never engage in expansionism. For a century, the CPC has always adhered to fairness and justice, and has been unremittingly promoting the freedom and liberation of human being," Wang stressed. The CPC just celebrated its 100th anniversary on July 1.

The CPC has always believed that all countries, no matter big or small, should be equal and it has opposed bullying the weak. The party adheres to peaceful development and safeguards world peace and stability and will make greater contributions to the cause of human progress and world peace and security, Wang said.

Wang also criticized the US on the Taiwan question. He said "the US is trying to take risks on the Taiwan question. This is extremely wrong and dangerous. Achieving complete reunification of China is a historical trend and any person or force cannot stop it."

When it comes to Hong Kong, Wang mentioned that the chaos in Hong Kong is "due to some political forces' collusion with external forces. The central government cannot sit by and do nothing. Improving the electoral system [in Hong Kong] is entirely justified and rational, and the 'one country, two systems' will surely be stable and far-reaching."

"Today's China is no longer the same country 100 years ago," Wang said.

While China has contributed to fighting unilateralism and promoting peace and stability, the US has played a quite different role worldwide.

In the face of the COVID-19 fight, the US pursued vaccine nationalism while China has made great contributions by providing vaccines to other countries.

So far, China has provided more than 480 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines across the world, covering nearly 100 countries, Wang said. 

As for the Korean Peninsula issue, Wang urged Washington to reflect on the continuous pressure it has been exerting on North Korea over the past few decades and to resolve the issue with sincerity. 

Sung Kim, US special envoy for North Korea, had talks with Noh Kyu-duk, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, on June 21. 

Kim has offered to meet officials from Pyongyang "anywhere, anytime" but he also said that the US will continue to enforce UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear weapons program and urged other countries to do the same.

Wang also called on the US to not just "pass the buck to others and walk away. As a friendly neighbor, China has always adhered to the Afghan peaceful reconciliation process led by Afghan people themselves."

On the Iranian nuclear issue, Wang said the US' unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and exerting its maximum pressure on Iran are the root causes of the current Iranian nuclear crisis.

As another example of harming world peace and stability, Wang also cited the US' Indo-Pacific Strategy as an example, calling it a "regression of history that should be swept into the dustbin."

"Dreaming the old dream of Cold War hegemony will not help win a promising future, let alone building a better world," Wang said.