Amb. Rahamtalla M. Osman’s Speech at CCG-UN China symposium
November 02 , 2021
On Nov. 2nd, 2021, the United Nations in China and the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) co-hosted a symposium to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of the People’s Republic of China in the UN at CCG’s Beijing headquarters.
A special address was made by H.E. Rahamtalla Mohammed Osman, Ambassador of the African Union to China.
Full text of his remarks is as below:
Your Excellency Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China,
Your Excellency Dr. WANG Huiyao, CCG President and Counsellor to the State Council,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
I wish to thank the United Nations Association of China and the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs for having invited the African UnionPermanent Mission to participate in this seminar of celebration of the 50thanniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of China in the United Nations as well as for allowing me to share my reviews of the China’s journey back to the United Nations and its contribution to its causes.
As the largest developing country and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China always embraced the principles and ideals of the United Nations by contributing to humanity’s cause of peace, stability and development and promoting with concrete actions a community with a shared future for mankind.
You would recall your Excellencies that, in 1971, African countries provided the crucial majority which ensured the joining of China to the United Nations and also allowing it to take its lawful seat on the United Nations Security Council as one of the five permanent members. Since then, an unbreakable bond between China and Africa was forged. This bond was testified by the leadership of China in supporting African countries in their fight for national independence and liberation, against colonialism, apartheid and segregationist regimes which laid a solid foundation for long-term friendship and cooperation with African countries.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen
China, as a founding member of the United Nations and the first country to sign the United Nations Charter, has made tangible contributions to the United Nations, especially in global governance, peacekeeping and poverty reduction and development.
Over the years, China sturdy supported multilateralism and the work to improve global governance in international development cooperation, including safeguard of the international system with the United Nations at its core as China continued to adherence to the universal values of humanity – peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom.
In recent years, in particular, China has taken an active role in United Nations peacekeeping operations based. For instance, in December 2018, China’s share of the United Nations peacekeeping budget for 2019-2021 was raised from 10.24% to 15.22 %, making it the second largest contributor only after the United States of America. China has dispatched more than 40,000 peacekeepers to over 30 missions, contributing more peacekeepers than any other permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
The China’s active role in peacekeeping has a special meaning to Africasince most of the United Nations peacekeeping missions currently deployed throughout the world are in Africa.
The continued support to Africa at various levels, including the contribution to the peacekeeping missions and the operationalization of the African Standby Force (ASF) as well as the work towards a better representation of Africa in the international system, in the United Nations Security Council, as part of a new global governance system, continue to be a priority of China in the recent engagement in the United Nations, with special emphasis on enhancing African capacities.
These developments have also facilitated the strengthening of the partnership between the African Union and the United Nations, based on the principles of mutual respect and African ownership. In fact, the African Union and the United Nations are actively implementing joint frameworks on peace and security and on sustainable development, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and African Union Agenda 2063. Africa, China and the United Nations are also cooperating on a number of specific situations before the United Nations Security Council.
Moreover, China plays a great role in the reform of the United Nations Security Council, in particular the call for the increasing representation and role of developing countries in the Council in order to enhance itsauthority and efficiency and enable it to better fulfil the responsibilities of maintaining international peace and security conferred on it by the United Nations Charter.
Excellences,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Ending poverty by 2030 is at the heart of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More recently, China achieved the goal of eliminating absolute poverty 10 years ahead in its plan to realize the goals established under the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 99 million rural poor living below the current poverty line were raised from poverty. These achievements have written a new chapter in the world history as China’s contribution to the poverty reduction represents more than 70 percent of the global poverty reduction effort, and has significantly reduced the world’s impoverished population.
The willingness of China to share the proceeds of its development path with the rest of the developing world towards their economic and social development and people’s wellbeing are a great contribution to global agenda on poverty eradication. As such, an understanding of China’s experience of poverty reduction will provide a reference for other countries to fight against poverty, particularly those in South Asia and Africa, which have around 85% of the world’s poor.
As regards to Africa, the government and people of China have shown the world that they are still true partners of Africa through support to the continent’s commitment to its own path of growth and development. In particular, the commitments made to help Africa in the implementation of the Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 will steadily reinforce the African capacities to fight against poverty and towards the continent development.
China is in frontline in the promotion of south-south cooperation, in particular the China-Africa cooperation through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), covering a range of areas such as industrialization, agricultural modernization, infrastructure, finance, green development, trade and investment facilitation, poverty reduction, public health, cultural and people-to-people 3exchanges, and peace and security testify that south south cooperation can respond to development needs of our continent.
Equally, in the face of COVID-19, China has actively responded to the United Nations-initiated Global Humanitarian Response Plan: a cash donation of 50 million U.S. dollars to the World Health Organization, assistance in kind to over 150 countries and international organizations, and medical exports to more than 200 countries and regions.
Africa nations have also benefited from the China’s support in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic and in improving their public health systems, fortifying their public health defences and improve the speed of their response and their capacity for disease control, through establishing a cooperation mechanism such as the pair up with African hospitals and acceleration of construction of health infrastructures in the continent.China has further committed to make COVID-19 vaccines available as a global public good and for Africa.
As such, I wish to conclude by reiterating that the African Union will remain China’s strategic and longstanding partner, as we jointly pursue common development goals based on mutual respect, good faith, shared interests and practical results.I sincerely, hopeful that the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of China in the United Nations will provide an opportunity to renew China’s commitment with multilateralism, partnership and cooperation towards world peace, stability and development.
I thank for your kind attention.
