While the transatlantic alliance gathered in Brussels for the NATO summit, the Foreign Ministers of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China met in Guilin, China.
The Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov from the Russian Federation and Wang Yi from the People’s Republic of China held a two-day long meeting covering a wide range of issues.
The meeting, described by international media widely as a “demonstration of unity”, ended with a Joint Statement published on March 23, 2021.
United World International documents the Joint Statement of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation below in unofficial translation.
Joint Statement by the Foreign Ministers of China and Russia on Certain Aspects of Global Governance in Modern Conditions
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has served as a catalyst for a change in the world order and provoked even greater imbalances in the global governance system. Economic growth processes are being affected, and numerous new challenges and threats are emerging. The world has entered a period of high turbulence and rapid change. In this context, we call on the international community to put aside any differences and strengthen mutual understanding and build up cooperation in the interests of global security and geopolitical stability, to contribute to the establishment of a fairer, more democratic and rational multipolar world order.
- All human rights are universal, indivisible and interrelated. Sustainable development is the basis for improving the standard of living and quality of life of the population of each state, and thus contributes to respect for all human rights. The development and implementation of human rights and fundamental freedoms are interdependent. Relying on this, and taking into account their national specifics, all states should protect and implement human rights in the political and socioeconomic spheres, and in such fields as culture and the environment; they should promote a comprehensive development of the individual and improve the wellbeing of their peoples. The promotion and protection of human rights is a common task for the international community, which means its members should pay equal attention to a systematic implementation of all categories of human rights. It is time to stop attaching a political agenda to the topic of human rights and abandon the practice of using it as a pretext for interfering in the internal affairs of other states and applying double standards. We all need to build a dialogue based on the principles of equality and mutual respect, for the benefit of all peoples and countries.
- Democracy is one of the achievements of humanity. One of its underlying principles is the legislatively stipulated people’s rule, which means every citizen has the right to participate in governing their own country, while using the power granted to them for legitimate purposes. At the same time, there is no single standard for a democratic model. The legitimate right of sovereign states to independently determine their own trajectory of development needs to be respected. Interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states under the pretext of “promoting democracy” is unacceptable.
- International law is an important condition for the further development of humanity. All states, without exception, should make efforts to maintain the inviolability of the international relations system, in which the United Nations plays a central role, and of the world order formed in accordance with international law. We hereby reaffirm our commitment to the 2016 Declaration of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the Promotion of International Law and reiterate the underlying importance of the UN Charter, its goals and principles, which play an important role in the maintenance of international peace and security, as well as in the development of international law. The international community should cooperatively work out approaches to addressing global issues on the basis of universally recognized norms and principles of international law, and they should be implemented by all participants. We call on the major global powers, primarily the permanent members of the UN Security Council, to strengthen mutual trust and to be in the forefront of defending international law as well as the world order based on it. In the context of the escalating global political turbulence, there is a need to hold a summit of the permanent members of the UN Security Council in order to establish a direct dialogue between them on ways to resolve common problems facing humanity, in the interests of maintaining global stability.
- In promoting multilateral cooperation, the international community must adhere to principles such as openness and equality, and a non-ideological approach. Countries must jointly respond to challenges and threats of a global nature; jointly uphold the authority of multilateral platforms and improve their efficacy; help optimize the system of global governance; jointly protect peace and strategic stability; promote the development of human civilization and ensure equal access to its assets. At the same time, the main instrument that should be used in international affairs is a dialogue aimed at rapprochement of all countries, not disunion; at cooperation, not confrontation.