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75 years on, China becomes key global player committed to implementing United Nations agenda

The relationship between China and the United Nations (UN) began in 1945 as China was one of the founding member states of the body. China was also the first country to sign the Charter of the United Nations. In 1971, 22 years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the UN restored all of China’s rights in the body by a vote in the General Assembly, including rights as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Nearly half a century later, Beijing has become a vital force in maintaining international order. In the United Nations’ regular budget for the 2018-2019 biennium, China accounted for eight percent of the budget, with an allocation of nearly 213 million U.S. dollars. China has now surpassed Japan to become the second-largest contributor to the body. China has also been the second-largest funder of the UN peacekeeping program, accounting for 15.22 percent of about seven billion U.S. dollars in 2019. China has also sent the most troops for peacekeeping among the five permanent members of the Security Council.

Besides peacekeeping, China highly aligns the implementation of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda with its Five-Year Plan. As the largest developing country in the world, China has established the largest education, social security, and medical system on earth.

China is the first developing country to achieve the poverty reduction goal in the UN Millennium Development Goals. Since its economic reform and opening up, China has lifted more than 800 million poor people out of poverty, contributing more than 70 percent to the world’s poverty reduction. China’s maternal mortality ratio also dropped from 80 per 100,000 live births in 1991 to 18.3 in 2018. A study published in the renowned Lancet shows that almost all counties in China had achieved the annual 5.5 percent decline rate of maternal mortality ratio, a target set in the UN Millennium Development Goal.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global health crisis, and may also grow into the fuse of turmoil and conflict among all countries.

In April this year, China pledged to donate 50 million U.S. dollars to support the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) in this fight against the invisible enemy. Also in May, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment in China, when available, will be made a global public good, and be China’s contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.

Zun of Peace is a gift from China to the United Nations to commemorate the global body’s 70th anniversary. For several millennia, peace has been the essence of Chinese national tradition.

No matter how much the international environment changes, China’s determination to support multilateralism will not change. Its belief in supporting the United Nations in playing its due role in international affairs will not change and its original intention to maintain world peace and promote common development will not change.

I believe China has committed to the Paris Protocol as it wants to decouple economic growth from growth in CO2 emissions, then it stabilizes CO2 emissions, and then starts to reduce them. What China has contributed to when it comes to making renewable energy cheaper is incredible.

China is a tremendously important actor in the UN and in shaping the future of the globe.

Morocco: An actor in the promotion of international peace and security

In sharing common values, the Kingdom of Morocco and the United Nations have always been close partners in the field of peace and security. Given its strategic geographic positioning and its active role within Euro-Mediterranean and Arab-African spaces, Morocco is one of the few African countries which have participated in peace keeping operations on four different continents (Asia-Africa, America, and Europe) since the 1960s.

Morocco has always been committed to the peaceful settlement of disputes. In this regard, Morocco has relentlessly used mediation and preventive diplomacy to ease tensions and promote reconciliation between the different actors and the emergence of peaceful solutions to various disputes or conflicts.

Morocco has actively contributed to peace and security throughout the world, the development of international law and the promotion and respect of human rights. Morocco also participates, with great dedication, to the UN’s efforts aimed at reinforcing international cooperation and South-South solidarity.

Stemming from its traditional commitment to the strengthening of multilateralism, Morocco supports the reform process of the UN as well as the enhancement of the organization’s role and work. This also includes the revitalization of its organs so that it can adapt to new geostrategic realities and global challenges of the 21^st Century.

Morocco’s third mandate in the Security Council reflects its unwavering commitment to multilateralism as a fundamental framework for the preservation of peace and security.  This is an opportunity for Morocco to reaffirm its commitment to the irreversible culmination of efforts by the United Nations to address the growing challenges and adapt to major mutations, with which it is confronted.

This 75th session will be an opportunity for Morocco to reaffirm its faith in multilateralism, to renew its confidence in the universal organization, and to plead for more international solidarity and cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The Kingdom’s commitment to multilateralism has been a constant in its foreign policy during the reigns of the late His Majesty King Mohammed V and the late His Majesty King Hassan II.

Likewise, and since his accession to the throne, His Majesty Mohammed VI has set out an ambitious multilateral vision for Morocco centered on the principles of solidarity and cooperation as vectors of Moroccan multilateral diplomatic action with particular attention to Africa.

This 75th session will also be an opportunity for Morocco to reaffirm its commitment to defend the causes and interests of Africa within the UN body.

Regarding the current health crisis, Morocco once again reiterated its determination and willingness to support African States in the different phases of pandemic management, following the initiative launched by His Majesty the King, aiming to create an operational framework for working with African countries in the fight against the pandemic.

Regarding peacekeeping operations and mediation, Morocco, as the 12^th provider country for United Nations peacekeepers, will present its achievements in sixty years of participation in United Nations peacekeeping, including all of its contingents in the field despite the pandemic. The promotion of inter-Libyan dialogue within the framework of the Bouznika talks will also be highlighted within the framework of mediation activities carried out by the Kingdom.

As for the promotion of intercultural and interreligious dialogue and the fight against hate speech, Morocco, as a country promoting dialogue between religions and cultures, will endeavor to promote the need to fight further against hate speech. The adoption by consensus of the first resolution on the fight against hate speech by the General Assembly at the initiative of the Kingdom in July 2019 envisages the organization of a high-level conference on the role of religious leaders for meeting the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides, during the high-level meeting to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, scheduled for October 2, 2020, Morocco will renew its firm commitment to non-proliferation and disarmament efforts. Moreover, it will reaffirm its scrupulous respect for its international commitments through the transparent and fair application of the instruments to which it has subscribed, its choice of multilateralism and the UN benchmark, as the appropriate framework for the development of new instruments and international strategies in non-proliferation and disarmament.

Editor’s Note: Hanane Thamik is a Ph.D. scholar at the School of Information Management at Wuhan University. She was chosen as the Ambassador of Wuhan City to the world by Changjiang Weekly Magazine. The article reflects the author’s opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.