Decades ago, the Chinese leadership together with India and Myanmar, advocated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. It conformed to the trend for national independence and liberation in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and answered the very important question of how to handle state-to-state relations. Today, we have come to a new historical juncture. With the intertwined destinies of countries and the shared and fundamental interests of all peoples in mind, President Xi Jinping put forward the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, providing a new answer to what kind of world to build and how to build it. This is the best way to inherit, advance and enrich the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence under new circumstances. As President Xi Jinping puts it, the baton of history is passed from generation to generation, and the cause of human progress moves forward from one era to another as mankind seek answers to the questions of the times.

From the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to building a community with a shared future for mankind, we have remained consistent in the exploration for new ways of state-to-state relations. Seventy years ago, China and other brotherly developing countries rejected power politics and hegemonism by upholding respect for sovereignty; we transcended the law of the jungle by pursuing equality and mutual benefit; and together we forged the norms of international relations where countries, Eastern or Western, regardless of their size or strength, must respect each other and treat each other as equals. Seventy years on, common challenges, interests and responsibilities have linked the future of all countries more closely together. It has fallen upon us to pursue harmony on the basis of peaceful coexistence, and to build a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core. This is how we can take a historical step forward to helping each other succeed and working together for this one and only planet Earth where our shared future depends.

From the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to building a community with a shared future for mankind, we have remained committed to our responsibility in upholding world peace and development. Seventy years ago, peace-loving people from different parts of the world drew on the lessons of hot wars, defied the shadows of the Cold War, rose in resistance against external aggression, suppression and interference, and stood by peaceful means of dispute resolution. The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence offered them guidance in promoting world peace and development. Seventy years on, the world is faced with critical choices of unity and cooperation versus division and confrontation, mutual benefit versus zero-sum game, and common security versus turbulence and warfare. China has been ready to work with all sides to honor our responsibility for history and for the people to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and shared prosperity, implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, hold high the banner of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and take a historical step forward to building a common homeland for humanity.