Editor's note: Tao Wenzhao is a senior research fellow at the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN. 

It has been 50 years since the restoration of all lawful rights of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the United Nations, an organization established following the victory of the Anti-Fascist War. The two catastrophic world wars in the 20th century made people realize that anarchism in international politics could no longer continue as before, and it was imperative to establish an international organization with authority, broad representation and concrete executive power. The UN came about against this backdrop. As a major member of the Allied powers in the Anti-Fascist War, China played an important part in founding the organization and drafting the UN Charter.

However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the U.S. still used its influence to obstruct China's effort to resume its legal seat in the UN in the background of the Cold War. Yet, as China's international influence expanded, keeping it outside the UN was no longer viable in 1971. In the meantime, China and the U.S. were exploring a way to break the ice in their bilateral ties. As a result, China resumed its lawful seat in the UN and permanent member status of the Security Council, which not only bolstered the organization's representativeness and authority but also provided a great platform for China to engage in international affairs.

Over the past 50 years, China has made significant contributions to the UN's causes.

China has joined other UN members in safeguarding peace. Over the past 31 years, China has become a key force in UN peacekeeping operations, contributing over 40,000 troops to 25 UN peacekeeping missions in more than 20 countries and regions, including Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Sudan, Lebanon, Cyprus, South Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic. China's peacekeepers have made a tremendous contribution to facilitating the peaceful settlement of disputes, safeguarding regional security and stability, promoting economic and social development in host nations, and dealing with outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola, malaria and COVID-19.

Chinese peacekeeping forces always bear in mind China's responsibility as a major country. They fulfill their mission staunchly and courageously, bringing peace and hope to people in war-torn and disease-stricken regions. There have been 16 Chinese soldiers who sacrificed their lives in foreign countries for the noble cause of peace.

When speaking at the General Debate of the 70th session of the UNGA in September 2015, President Xi Jinping pledged to set up a 10-year China-UN Peace and Development Fund totaling $1 billion and to join the newly established UN standby mechanism for peacekeeping capacity. For this, he noted, China will set up a permanent peacekeeping police unit and a peacekeeping standby force of 8,000 troops. Xi also announced that China would donate $100 million worth of military assistance to the African Union to support the establishment of the African Standby Force and the African Capacity for Rapid Response to Crisis in the next five years.

China has made a significant contribution to the UN's cause of poverty alleviation. Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development passed by the UN General Assembly in 2015 makes "ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions" its top Sustainable Development Goal and aims to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. China is an active advocate of this program.

Since the initiation of the reform and opening-up policy, especially after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, eradicating absolute poverty and building a moderately prosperous society in all respects have been the country's top priority. While encouraging cooperation between different regions and implementing a targeted poverty alleviation policy to reinvigorate poverty-stricken areas, China has embarked on a poverty alleviation path with Chinese characteristics.

By the end of 2020, the country had overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and achieved the goal of eradicating absolute poverty as scheduled. In today's world, where 800 million people are still living in extreme poverty, China's poverty reduction practice is a valuable experience for the rest of the world to draw on and offers vast opportunities for global economic growth.

China is also an active participant in projects aimed at protecting the planet. The country has made indispensable efforts in prompting the international society to reach the Paris Agreement on climate change and was among the first to ratify the paper. It has made a solemn pledge to the world to have carbon dioxide emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 and is taking concrete actions to achieve these goals. To further its mission, China announced this September that it will not participate in building new coal-fired power projects abroad.

As one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, China was among the first to ratify and join the Convention on Biological Diversity. The belief that humans are an integral part of nature and should follow the law of nature is deeply rooted in traditional Chinese culture. Since the Convention entered into force in 1993, China has taken a series of productive actions within its vast territorial land and waters in accordance with the Convention, promoting the sustainable development of society and national economy, and making significant contributions to the protection of China's unique ecosystem, species system and genetic resources.

While delivering a keynote speech at the 15th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity recently, President Xi Jinping announced that China would set up a 1.5 billion yuan ($230 million) Kunming Biodiversity Fund, providing a solution to the financial challenges in biodiversity conservation faced by the world, especially by developing countries.

Amid today's globalization, where countries become increasingly intertwined and interdependent, multilateralism must be upheld to promote international political democratization, while unilateralism must be abandoned when we make efforts to safeguard peace, seek development and address challenges faced by humanity. That is to say, international affairs should be dealt with, and the world's future should be decided through multilateral consultations among all members of the international community, rather than by just one or a few countries.

Countries should observe mutual respect and support and pursue win-win cooperation instead of forming cliques, marginalizing non-allies and playing the "my way or the highway" approach.

All countries should abide by the UN Charter, international law, and other rules or treaties made by the international community as a whole. One or a few countries making rules according to their own interests and holding them as global governance norms for other countries to follow is not acceptable.

The UN is a multilateral platform. Sovereign equality, an idea underpinning the UN Charter, dictates that all countries are equal, whether big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor. In today's world, unfairness, injustice and inequality are still widespread. Developing countries are far from fully protecting their legitimate rights, and their voices are often suppressed in international affairs.

The democratization of international politics still has a long way to go. Developing countries must be given more prominence on the world stage and be included in global governance to facilitate this process.

When speaking at the General Debate of the 70th session of the UNGA in September 2015, President Xi earnestly said, "China will continue to stand with other developing countries and unswervingly support the increase of the representation and voice of developing countries, especially those in Africa, in international governance. China's vote in the UN Security Council will always belong to developing countries."

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