The Hindu : International : Development is bedrock of security, says China

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 10, 2005

International

International

Development is bedrock of security, says China

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: China has emphasised the principle of "safeguarding the centrality of the Security Council to the collective security system" under the auspices of the United Nations.

The elimination of poverty and "an urgent priority" of facilitating the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals "should become the focus of U.N. reforms and the September summit."

In a position paper released in Beijing on Wednesday, China said: "Development is the common pursuit of people from all countries and [the] bedrock for a collective security mechanism and the progress of human civilisation." China is the first of the five veto-empowered states to issue such a paper. It maintained that "poverty, diseases, environmental degradation are also grave challenges to the international community."

Overarching principle

Sketching out an overarching principle for reforms, the paper noted that Secretary-General Kofi Annan's initiative for collective action against threats and challenges "is consistent with China's proposal for a new security concept that features mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination".

On the other major issues identified by China, the paper said: "We should steer globalisation towards balanced development and strengthen developing countries' position for equal participation and decision-making in international affairs."

China expressed itself "in favour of the Secretary General's recommendations of a timetable for increasing Official Development Assistance to 0.7 per cent of national GDP [of developed countries].

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