China's envoy to UN urges EU to push all countries to strengthen unity

UNITED NATIONS, June 16 (Xinhua) -- China expects the European Union (EU) to "resist the revival of the idea of confrontation by camps and blocs," and promote world unity, a Chinese envoy to the United Nations said Thursday.

"We expect the EU to play an active and constructive role in international affairs by resisting the revival of the idea of confrontation by camps and blocs, and pushing all countries to strengthen unity and achieve common progress under the banner of multilateralism," China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Dai Bing, told the Security Council briefing on UN and EU cooperation.

As an active advocate of multilateralism, the EU should take the lead in upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, observing international law and universally recognized basic norms of international relations, respecting the sovereignty and political independence of all countries and committing to non-interference in other countries' internal affairs, he said.

"We expect the EU to take seriously and respect the legitimate security concerns of all countries, and make great efforts to promote the peaceful settlement of disputes and to build a balanced, effective, and sustainable global and regional security mechanism," he added.

Noting that global food, energy and financial security risks continue to ratchet up, the Chinese envoy urged EU countries to devote more attention to developing countries.

"We expect the EU to be more attentive to the voice of developing countries, maintain and increase its assistance, together with that of its members, to developing countries, maintain and increase the scale of donations to UN humanitarian and development agencies, and take up the due moral responsibility for helping developing countries out of their predicament."

On the Ukraine crisis, Dai said that the protracted and enlarged conflict in Eastern Europe would only result in greater security risks and spillover effects.

He hoped the EU would strengthen its strategic autonomy, continue to perform as a mediator, push the parties concerned toward a ceasefire and take adequate measures to deal with Ukraine's humanitarian needs.

The envoy said China welcomes the EU's efforts to maintain regional security and stability, sees the EU as "an important force for multipolarization" and "expects and supports the EU to make greater contributions to addressing various global challenges, and welcomes the EU to inject more stability into the turbulent and changing world," he concluded.