Johannesburg, August 22, Xinhua News Agency
Deepen unity and cooperation to address risks and challenges
Building a Better World Together
——Speech at the Closing Ceremony of the 2023 BRICS Business Forum
the People's Republic of China President Xi Jinping
Dear President Ramaphosa,
Dear friends from the business community,
Ladies and gentlemen, friends:
Congratulations on the successful hosting of the BRICS Business Forum in South Africa!
Ten years ago, I and other leaders of the BRICS countries witnessed the birth of the BRICS Business Council in South Africa. Over the past 10 years, the business community of BRICS countries has not forgotten their original aspirations, seized opportunities, deepened cooperation, and made positive contributions to the economic and social development of BRICS countries, as well as injecting positive energy into global economic growth.
Currently, changes in the world, times, and history are unfolding in unprecedented ways, and human society has reached a critical juncture. Is it to persist in cooperation and integration, or to move towards division and confrontation? Is it to work together to maintain peace and stability, or to slide into the abyss of the "new cold war"? Is it moving towards prosperity through openness and inclusiveness, or is it falling into depression through hegemonic bullying? Is it to enhance mutual trust through communication and learning, or to let arrogance and prejudice deceive conscience? The direction of the pendulum of history depends on our choices.
In the past few decades, humanity has achieved remarkable results in economic development and social progress by learning from the lessons of two world wars and the Cold War, following the historical trend of economic globalization, and opening up a path of open development and win-win cooperation. The world today is a community with a shared future of both prosperity and loss. What people of all countries hope for is not a "new cold war" or a "small circle", but a world of lasting peace and universal security, a world of common prosperity, openness, inclusiveness, cleanliness, and beauty. This is the logic of historical progress and the trend of the times.
Ten years ago, I proposed the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind, promoting countries to build our shared planet into a harmonious big family. Faced with the test of wind, waves, and even turbulent waves, countries should uphold the correct worldview, historical view, and overall perspective, and transform the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind into action and vision into reality.
——We need to promote common development and prosperity. Emerging market countries and developing countries have mostly emerged from the historical quagmire of colonialism. We have gone through countless hardships, made enormous sacrifices, gained national independence, and continuously explored development paths that are in line with our own national conditions. All we do is ultimately to enable the people to live a happy life. However, some countries are unwilling to lose their hegemonic position and indiscriminately surround and suppress emerging market and developing countries. Whoever develops well must be restrained; Whoever catches up will trip up. I have said many times that blowing out someone else's lamp does not make oneself brighter.
Every country has the right to development, and people of all countries have the freedom to pursue a happy life. I propose the Global Development Initiative to promote the international community to take the path of common development and revitalize the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With the support of various countries, global development initiatives are increasingly deepening and implementing, and cooperation projects in various fields are flourishing. China is willing to work with other countries to accelerate initiative cooperation, strengthen global development momentum, comprehensively and deeply promote WTO reform, address common challenges, and enhance the well-being of people in all countries.
——We must strive to achieve universal security. In recent years, the world has been very unstable, with many countries and regions experiencing wars and people being displaced. The international community urgently hopes to eliminate the root causes of conflicts and wars and find the fundamental strategy for long-term world stability. The fact shows that continuously expanding military alliances, expanding one's own sphere of influence, and squeezing the security space of other countries will inevitably cause security difficulties, leading to insecurity for all countries. Only by adhering to the new security concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable can we pave the way for universal security.
Last year, I proposed a global security initiative that has received support from over 100 countries and international organizations. China is willing to work with all parties to promote the global security initiative to take root, adhere to dialogue without confrontation, partnership without alliance, win-win rather than zero sum, and work together to build a security community.
——We must adhere to cultural exchanges and mutual learning. A single flower cannot dress up a beautiful spring, a hundred flowers blooming together can make the world full of spring. Colorful and colorful is the essence of human civilization. It is precisely because different countries have different histories, cultures, and systems that it is necessary to exchange and learn from each other, learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses, and make progress together. Deliberately promoting the binary opposition between "democracy and authoritarianism" and "freedom and authoritarianism" can only lead to world fragmentation and clash of civilizations.
I propose the Global Civilization Initiative, which emphasizes promoting the diversity of world civilizations, promoting the common values of all humanity, and strengthening cultural exchanges and cooperation. The Chinese side welcomes active participation in initiative cooperation among various countries, promoting a hundred schools of thought and a hundred flowers blooming among different civilizations, breaking down communication barriers, and continuing the flame of human civilization.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends!
In today's era, the collective rise of emerging market countries and developing countries represented by the BRICS countries is fundamentally changing the world map. Emerging market countries and developing countries have contributed up to 80% of world economic growth in the past 20 years, and the global share of GDP has increased from 24% to over 40% in the past 40 years. "The green mountains cannot cover it, after all, it flows eastward." No matter how much resistance there is, the positive, stable, and benevolent force of the BRICS countries will flourish. We will continue to deepen the BRICS strategic partnership, expand the "BRICS+" model, actively promote the expansion process, deepen solidarity and cooperation with other emerging market countries and developing countries, promote world multipolarity and democratization of international relations, and promote the development of the international order towards a more just and reasonable direction. Today, the BRICS countries, together with more than 50 other countries, are gathering in South Africa not to draw sides or engage in factional confrontation, but to create a grand pattern of peaceful development. I am pleased to see that more than 20 countries are knocking on the door of the BRICS, and China sincerely welcomes everyone to join the BRICS cooperation mechanism!
Ladies and gentlemen, friends!
China firmly adheres to an independent and peaceful foreign policy, and is committed to promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. As a developing country and a member of the global South, we have always breathed and shared a common destiny with other developing countries, firmly safeguarding the common interests of developing countries, and promoting the increase of representation and voice of emerging market countries and developing countries in global affairs. China does not have the genes to seek hegemony or the impulse to engage in power struggles. It firmly stands on the correct side of history and adheres to the principle of "the path of the great road is for the benefit of the world.".
At present, the Chinese people are comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese path to modernization under the leadership of the CPC. The main characteristics of Chinese path to modernization are the huge population, common prosperity of all people, coordination of material civilization and spiritual civilization, harmonious coexistence of man and nature, and peaceful development. Chinese path to modernization has created a new form of human civilization, showing a new prospect of modernization. I hope that developing countries can explore new paths to achieve modernization based on their own national conditions, drawing on the achievements of human civilization.
High quality development is the primary task for China to comprehensively build a modern country. We are committed to implementing the new development concept and building a new development pattern. Over the past 10 years, China's average annual contribution to global economic growth has exceeded 30%. Since the beginning of this year, the Chinese economy has maintained a positive trend of recovery. China has the institutional advantages of a socialist market economy, the demand advantages of a super large-scale market, the supply advantages of a complete industrial system, and the talent advantages of a large number of high-quality workers and entrepreneurs. The Chinese economy has strong resilience, great potential, and abundant vitality. The long-term positive fundamentals will not change, and the ship of the Chinese economy will continue to move forward through wind and waves.
China will always be an important opportunity for world development. We open the door and welcome anyone to cooperate with us. As a super large-scale economy, China will firmly promote high-level opening up, expand market access, reduce the negative list of foreign investment access, and enhance the level of openness in the modern service industry. We will continue to optimize the business environment, implement national treatment for foreign-funded enterprises, create a market-oriented, legal, and international first-class business environment, and build a global network of high standard free trade zones. We will continue to promote the construction of ecological civilization, accelerate the construction of a beautiful China, actively and steadily promote carbon peak and carbon neutrality, and promote comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. Looking ahead to the future, as China's population of over 1.4 billion moves towards modernization, China will undoubtedly make greater contributions to the world economy and provide greater space for the business community of various countries.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends!
It is only because of its difficulty that it is great; However, its difficulty is even more glorious. As long as we unite and strengthen cooperation, we will not be afraid of any risks and challenges on the road to progress, and we will definitely drive the giant ship of human development towards a brighter future!
Thank you all.
