China will remain defender of world peace: foreign minister

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China will never seek hegemony, expansion or sphere of influence, or engage in arms race, but remain a defender of world peace, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Tuesday.

Qin made the remarks when delivering a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Lanting Forum on the Global Security Initiative: China's Proposal for Solving Security Challenges, during which China officially released "The Global Security Initiative Concept Paper."

The Global Security Initiative (GSI) upholds the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, pursues the long-term objective of building a security community and advocates a new path to security featuring dialogue over confrontation, partnership over alliance and win-win over zero-sum, Qin said.

The GSI embodies the core tenets in the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, and has been warmly received by the international community upon its introduction. Over 80 countries and regional organizations have expressed their appreciation and support, Qin said.

"The Global Security Initiative Concept Paper" expounds the core ideas and principles of the GSI, identifies the priorities, platforms and mechanisms of cooperation and demonstrates China's sense of responsibility for safeguarding world peace and firm resolve to defend global security, Qin said.

He added that the 20 priorities of cooperation laid out in the concept paper could be summarized as upholding the UN's central role in security governance, promoting coordination and sound interactions among major countries, facilitating peaceful settlement of hotspot issues through dialogue, tackling traditional and non-traditional security challenges, and strengthening the system and capacity for global security governance.

"The GSI is rooted in the fine traditional Chinese culture that values peace above everything else, and is inspired by China's independent foreign policy of peace and its practices," he added.

"China has never started a conflict or war, or taken a single inch of foreign land. To this day, China remains the only country that has put the commitment to peaceful development in its Constitution," Qin said, stressing that no matter how much it develops, China will never seek hegemony, expansion or sphere of influence, or engage in arms race, but remain a defender of world peace.

Qin added that security is a right for all countries. "It is not a prerogative of some, still less should it be decided by any individual country. The GSI intends to serve the interests of all and protect tranquility for all. Its advances need the unity and cooperation of the international community."

On the full escalation of the Ukraine crisis, Qin said China will continue to promote peace talks, contribute its ideas for a political settlement of the crisis, and join the international community to promote dialogue and consultation, address the concerns of all parties and seek common security.

"In the meantime, we urge certain countries to immediately stop fueling the fire, stop shifting blame to China, and stop touting 'Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow,'" he said.