On August 17, the leading Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið carried an article by Ambassador He Rulong entitled "Common Security for Common Development".
The full text is as follows:
On February 26, when I arrived as the newly-appointed Chinese ambassador to Iceland, it was the third day into Ukraine crisis. During discussions with Icelandic friends from all walks of life, we would always touch on the Ukraine issue. Our views may be different, we all shared the same sympathy towards the humanitarian catastrophe Ukraine was facing. Iceland worked as one and tried its utmost to provide assistance to Ukraine at the outbreak of Ukraine crisis. People and businesses donated money generously. The government took in Ukraine refugees, and provided them with employment guidance and their children with educational opportunities. Like Iceland, China is also gravely concerned about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and the harm to its civilians. China has put forward a six-point initiative on alleviating the humanitarian situation and has taken concrete steps to provide three batches of emergency humanitarian aids to Ukraine. The emergency supplies include much-needed items such as quilts and children's milk powder, which will help the most vulnerable go through this difficult time. Meanwhile, China will provide other assistance according to Ukraine's needs when appropriate.
Ukraine crisis has been protracted for a long time, and its spillover effects on global security and stability are increasingly felt by all other countries. Iceland is also faced with hiking oil and food prices. On a global scale, complex factors such as the once-in-a-century pandemic, regional conflicts and major-power competition are intertwined, and world peace and security are faced with severe challenges. In this context, countries around the world need, more than ever, to unite and cooperate with each other for the maintenance of the multilateralism with a view to providing more stability and positive dynamics to the world, Iceland and China included.
At the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference last April, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Security Initiative (GSI), which advocates six commitments including staying committed to a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security with a view to maintaining world peace and security. Many of the ideas in these six commitments are identical with those of Iceland, such as respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, abiding by international laws and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation, and supporting all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of crises. The GSI responds to the urgent need of the international community for maintaining world peace and preventing conflicts and wars, thus having practical significance and value.
Through my interaction with Icelandic friends, I also come across another commonality between our two countries -- development.
One friend told me that, at the beginning of the 20th century, Iceland used to be the poorestcountry in Europe with little contact with the outside world.Thanks to a relatively peaceful environment after World War II, and through the concerted efforts of four generations of people, Iceland has become one of the richest and most open countries in the world today. Before I came here, I had read some books such as Hundadagar by Einar Már Guðmundsson and Himnaríkí og helvíti by Jón Kalman Stefánsson depicting Icelandic life in the old days. They gave me a preliminary impression of poverty and backwardness in Iceland’s past as well as the perseverance of Icelanders. After coming to Iceland, I have developed a more intuitive feeling about its socio-economic development, and was amazed at the incredible progressover the years which has turned Icelanders into one of the happiest nations in the world.
In fact, China has gone through similar transformation from poverty and backwardness to wealth and progress the same way as Iceland did. A few decades ago, there were still hundreds of millions of people living in poverty in China. Through resolute dedication and arduous efforts, and education, the living conditions of the Chinese people and the national economy were transformed and within the spate of just several dozens of years, China has grown rapidly into the world's second-largest economy.
China reached its goal of securing victory against poverty last year, when the centennial of the Communist Party of China was celebrated. All of the 98.99 million rural residents that fell below the poverty line have now been lifted out of poverty. Regional poverty has been eliminated on the whole, and the arduous task of eradicating absolute poverty has been completed, representing yet another miraculous achievement.
The common experience of China and Iceland have shown that a peaceful environment is an absolute prerequisite for progress. In September 2021, President Xi Jinpingintroduced his proposal for Global Development Initiative (GDI) for the first time at the General Debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, and called on the international community to speed up the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for a strong, green and sound global development. Since then, the initiative has received positive and warm responses. More than 100 countries and many international organizations, including the UN, have supported the GDI and nearly 60 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the GDI set up by China on the UN platform. At the High-level Dialogue on Global Development last June, many world leaders spoke highly of the GDI, in the sense of meeting the urgent development needs of all countries, developing countries in particular, and providing a feasible pathway for accelerating the realization of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
The recent visit to the South Pacific by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi covered all the Pacific Island countries having diplomatic ties with China.Its main purpose was to confirm China´s determination to deepening practical cooperation, solidarity and unity in the interests of common and sustainable development together with all these island states.The GDI also provides solutions for the development of conflict-stricken hot spots such as Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and Iraq.
Security is the premise of development, and development is the foundation of security. Both the GSI and GDI remind us that there is no real winner in Ukraine crisis. Final solution can only be found through sustainable security and sustainable development. At the moment, what’s imperative is to stop the crisis and avoid further implications on Ukraine’s neighboring countries, or other European countries further away such as Iceland. Just like Europe, China does not want to see the world plunging into bloc confrontations. Rather, China hopes to joint hands with other countries for economic recovery, peace and tranquility, and for the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
President Xi Jinping once said that, “just as a crisis may bring chaos, it can also spur change. A lot will ride on how we handle the crisis”. Our experience has shown us that in spite of different history and cultural background, the people in Iceland and China share similar views on the importance of peace, security and progress which has established foundation for cooperation between our two countries. China looks forward to working with Iceland in pooling wisdom and strength together for the political settlement of various international and regional hotspot issues in the interest of world security and common sustainable development.
He Rulong
Chinese Ambassador to Iceland
(Twitter Account @HeRulong)