On the morning of October 15, Chinese Communist Party's General Secretary Hu Jintao made a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Party's 17th National Congress.
The next day, Guo Chongli, Curator of the Foreign Affairs Ministry's Archives and former ambassador to Kenya, recapped the speech by reviewing three major highlights in Hu's statement of China's foreign policy during an interview with China.org.cn.
Guo said Hu's report depicted a clear and overall statement of China's foreign policy as well as diplomatic objectives and strategy, of which, three points are worthy of special concern.
First, the concept of a "harmonious world" has been stressed.
Hu put forward the concept at the summit meeting to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations in 2005. And this is the first time that the concept has been included in the Party's report. It is a basic and important part of China's foreign policy and an extension of a "harmonious society" concept in international affairs.
Second, the importance of environmental protection has got an unprecedented emphasis.
Guo explained that development should be balanced with environment conservation. Addressing environmental protection in the report shows that China has attached great importance to environmental issues in regard to international relations.
Third, the win-win spirit has been addressed in China's foreign policy.
This has been mentioned twice in Hu's speech. First it appears when Hu said that China will promote democracy, cooperation and a win-win spirit in international relations; and second when Hu said that China will work together with other countries to continue promoting economic globalization toward a balanced, win-win direction. Premier Wen Jiabao had also put forward the win-win concept in his government work report earlier this year. Wen said the achievements of China's economic reforms and development should be shared by all the peoples as well as all countries to achieve a win-win situation.
(China.org.cn October 17, 2007)
