Yang Jiechi’s keynote speech at the 55th Munich Security Conference:

Yang Jiechi is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China and Director of the
Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs.

Munich Security Conference was first founded and held in 1963 at the time when the tensions of 2nd
world war were yet to be subsided and the cold war was at its full height. Initially, it was started mainly
to bring together German and NATO alliances for the common commitment of national defense and
to defend the United policy of western countries. It was also known as the “Trans-Atlantic family
meeting” at that period. But, later it was grown big enough to bring together the representations from
all the countries and it has become a platform where everyone shares their respective country’s
experiences and opinion, to find a common ground of cooperation for the prevalence of world peace
and development.

This year’s Munich Security Conference has given much importance in promoting international
cooperation and multilateralism, which was a timely step amidst the context of growing tensions of
protectionism and Unilateralism.

Yang Jiechi also shared his optimistic remarks on the importance of multilateralism amid heightened
tensions of regional instability and uncertainties around the world.

He once again threw lights on the important role played by the United Nations in maintaining
multilateralism and international cooperations as framed and formulated in its Charter.

He expounded on a vision of an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace,
and universal security and common prosperity.

Which he pointed out with some principles that China holds, and most of them are vague in a practical
sense with the usual trade ties or bilateral relations with neighboring countries.

They have included the principle of sovereign equality as an important norm which governs their
relations with other nations, which is all about respecting the respective nations’ development path
and not to interfere in the internal matters of other nations. But in fact, if we look back to the rapid
progress and development of Chinese economy, they haven’t put the principles into practice and they
have achieved this much development at the cost of depleting other nation's sovereignty rights. Most
of the time by exploiting the natural resources of neighboring nations.

Second, he focused on the dialogue and consultation as an important way or an approach to resolve
the differences and disputes against the use of arms and ammunition or power politics. But in
contradict to their principle of dialogue and consultation, time, again and again, they throw threats of
using military forces against Taiwan to unify it into the motherland.

Tibet issue has become one of the core issues of so-called Chinese domestic issue and the human
rights violations taking place inside Tibet had caught a constant criticism against the Chinese
government, but they haven’t resumed the dialogue yet and avoid itself from coming up with a win-
win solution proposed by our leader His Holiness Dalai Lama. So will they stick to what they speak on
this kind of occasions?
Third, they have proposed the principle of rule of law, where he has given emphasis on the
importance of safeguarding the UN charter. But how good the Chinese government is in
guarding the guidelines of UN Charter can’t be questioned, we have witnessed their
aggressiveness at claiming territories in the name of protecting their national territory and
sovereignty. Either it’s on South China Sea dispute or disputed areas of some Indian border
regions.
With Hong Kong, the Chinese government is trying their best to destroy the deepening of
democratization on the Island and imposing and imparting communism in Hong Kongers daily
livelihood.

Yang Jiechi also talked about the importance of universal security through mutual support, through
cooperation against the common challenges of climate change, cybersecurity, and major natural
disasters. He pointed out that local and global security should be challenged and protected through
common efforts.

According to him, China follows the principle of building a fair and peaceful partnership with
neighboring countries based on the principles of mutual benefit, mutual respect for each other’s
territorial integrity and sovereignty, and inclusive, etc

But in fact, they are very much leaning on their long past traditional customs and experiences. As the
Tibetan saying goes, “Chinese are ruined by their suspiciousness and Tibetans are ruined by their
hopefulness”.

Therefore, CCP still didn’t feel safe and secure with its current military and economic strength, they
are still suspicious of being influenced by foreign forces.

Because of which they are increasing the area of their influence by expanding the area of economic
exchange and paving their way forward to leave the least developed countries in their debt trap policy.

He also emphasized on the Chinese active participation in international actions against terrorist
organizations to overcome the challenges of security and sustainability in the region. But in contrast,
China once again used its veto power of the United Nations Security Council to blog UN resolution on
designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist for the fourth time. Therefore, it’s clear that the
Chinese government never feels ashamed of going against their own governing principles as long as it
serves their national interest for the time being.

Their aggressive claims over the South China Sea dispute is another example of how the Chinese
government ignores the international norms when it comes to their national interest in expanding the
area of their influence in the region.

China aims to play a pivotal role in the international platform in providing a public good, by
contributing to the global cooperation for the common development with its Belt and Road initiatives.
But how can the Chinese economic sustainability last long? Most of their current industrial raw
materials and mineral resources are being exploited from the long-oppressed minority regions of Tibet
and Xinjiang. The environmental sustainability and stability of these regions will have a long-term
impact on the neighboring nations. Therefore, how long will the Chinese economy booming last long
at the cost of the environment depletion of these regions is a question to be asked for the betterment
of the future of these regions.

Submitted by Sonam Tsering

JSGP 20174108