China Committed To Global Governance

Posted: 2017-02-10

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal,  Chinese President Xi Jinping states his committement to Global Governance

Ahead of his first official state visit to the U.S., Chinese President Xi Jinping provided written answers to questions submitted by The Wall Street Journal. Here is the full transcript:

1. Under your leadership, China has been active in promoting new economic and security arrangements. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, in particular, has been a notable achievement. Is China trying to rearrange the architecture of global governance, away from the U.S. and toward China?

XI: The global governance system is built and shared by the world, not monopolized by a single country. China certainly has no intention to do so. China is involved in building the current international system, and has always done its part to uphold the international order and system with the U.N. as its core and the purposes and principles of the U.N. charter as its foundation.

Many visionary people hold that as the global landscape evolves and major transnational and global challenges facing mankind increase, it is necessary to adjust and reform the global governance system and mechanism. Such reform is not about dismantling the existing system and creating a new one to replace it. Rather, it aims to improve the global governance system in an innovative way. We in China have a saying, “When all means are exhausted, changes are necessary; once changes are made, things will improve.” Whether for a country or the entire world, adaptation to keep pace with the times is necessary in order to maintain its vigor. To build a more equitable, just and effective architecture of global governance meets the common aspiration of all countries. China and the U.S. share broad interests in this respect and should work together to improve the global governance system. This will not only leverage our respective strengths to enhance cooperation, but also enable our two countries to jointly respond to major challenges facing mankind.

China owes much of its progress in development over the past decades to international cooperation; we thus feel duty-bound to make greater contribution to international development endeavors. Many other developing countries have also expressed similar strong wishes to China. The Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIIB) is established mainly as a response to the need of Asian countries for infrastructure development and their aspirations for further cooperation. According to the projection of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, from 2010 to 2020, the annual shortfall in funding for Asian infrastructural development is around US$800 billion. The AIIB serves as a new option to meet this shortfall, and it is therefore welcomed by both Asian countries and the wider international community. But as the funding shortage is huge, it is clear that the AIIB alone cannot possibly meet such demand. As an open and inclusive multilateral development agency, the AIIB will complement other multilateral development banks. In addition to Asian countries, countries outside Asia such as Germany, France and the U.K. have also joined the AIIB. China welcomes the U.S. to join the AIIB. This has been our position from the very outset.

I don’t believe any country is capable of rearranging the architecture of global governance toward itself. Obviously, such practice goes against the trend of the times. The improvement of global governance architecture should be decided by all countries. As the U.N. summit commemorating the 70th anniversary draws nearer, China stands ready to work with all the other U.N. member states to build a new type of international relationship featuring win-win cooperation, improve the architecture of global governance, and build a community of shared future for mankind.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/full-transcript-interview-with-chinese-president-xi-jinping-1442894700

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