China Urges Women Issue Incorporated into Overall Strategy

China urged Monday the international community to incorporate women's issue into its overall strategy for peace and development, calling women a "great force for human progress."

Wu Yi, China's state councillor, told a special session of the U.N. General Assembly on women that "without the participation of women, there can be no development and lasting peace will be difficult to come by."

She was among the delegates from more than 180 countries to the special U.N.session being held on June 5 to 9 under the theme of Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century.

Wu arrived here Sunday, heading a delegation which for the first time includes officials from Hong Kong and Macao since they returned respectively to China's sovereignty in 1997 and 1999.

The Chinese official put forward a four-point proposal which calls for efforts to stop war and armed conflict, eliminate women's poverty, ensure women's full participation in the economic globalization process and promote the role of the U.N. system.

"Women are the most vulnerable and biggest victims in war and armed conflicts. Only when wars and armed conflicts are rooted out can women's cause move forward," she said.

She called on all countries to strictly abide by the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter and the basic principles of international law, work to resolve international disputes by peaceful means and firmly uphold the leading role of the U.N. for international peace and security.

Wu Yi believed that the significance of poverty elimination to the development of women should be fully recognized and priority should be given to promoting economic and social development and eliminating poverty among women in the effort to raise their status.

"Developed countries and relevant international institutions should faithfully fulfill their obligations in this regard," she said without elaboration.

The Chinese official urged for serious efforts to study the negative impact of economic globalization on women's development as well as effective measures to prevent women, particularly those in developing countries, from being marginalized in the process.

"Economic globalization both affords opportunities and presents severe challenges to the cause of women," she added. Wu Yi asked the U.N. to play a more effective role in guiding and coordinating international progress of the work on women." The U.N.should encourage regional efforts to establish and strengthen coordinating mechanisms in relation to women's issues so as to enhance regional cooperation and promote the process of women's cause in all regions," she said.



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