Editor's note: Xin Ge is an associate professor at the School of Public Economics and Administration, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

As the world has entered a new period of change and turbulence, China offers several firm and clear propositions to tackle the mounting global challenges at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) conference on September 24.

The General Debate of the 77th session of the UNGA, the first plenary offline meeting at the UN headquarter since the onset of the COVID-19, opened on September 20 in New York, with the theme of "A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges." Warning that the world is witnessing "widening geopolitical divides and protracted uncertainty," the newly elected President of UNGA, Csaba Korosi, urged the member states to forge solutions through "solidary, sustainability, and science" to achieve the transformation necessary for better outcomes.

Echoing Korosi's vision for his presidency, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also particularly stressed "continued solidarity" in addressing global challenges, including climate change, acute food insecurity and resource scarcity, increasing poverty and inequality and humanitarian upheavals engendered by conflicts.

However, the U.S. and some Western countries have gone astray, if not the opposite – they created small clique to continue maximizing their geopolitical interests and attempting to manipulate the multilateral UN platform to marginalize and smear Russia over its confrontation with Ukraine. Not only did they divide the UN and the world into different groups based on the so-called Western-ideology-based democracies and autocracies, they also imposed unilateral sanctions that have already destabilized the global supply chain to pressure other countries to choose sides. In his address on September 21, U.S. President Joe Biden reasserted America's global leadership and vowed to sanction Russia and contain China's rise.

In contrast, China has seized the opportunity to strengthen communication, bridge divergences, and made its great endeavor as the largest developing country. As clearly demonstrated in Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi's speech to the General Debate of the 77th session of the UNGA, amid protracted uncertainties of varied fields the whole world is facing today, China is the one that promotes true multilateralism and provides certainties. Before the speech, the Chinese foreign minister attended various ministerial meetings and exchanged views on advancing bilateral ties and addressing global challenges with world leaders and top diplomats on the sidelines of this multilateral UN occasion. Two key words should be highlighted in the address: peace and development.

Peace

Recently, the U.S. and its major allied have tried to associate the Taiwan question with the Ukraine crisis despite the completely different nature – a reflection of U.S. re-emerging Cold War mentality that regards both Russia and China as its strategic rivals.

China-U.S. tensions over the Taiwan region have been soaring after a visit by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in August. Facing Washington's continuing provocations over the Taiwan question and all-out strategic containment of China, Beijing has the resolve to ensure stable and constructive China-U.S. relations, equally firm is the resolve to safeguard China's core interests and counterstrike with unprecedented measures in case of severe provocations.

On Russia-Ukraine conflict, Wang reiterates China's position by citing President Xi Jinping's emphasis that "sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected, the purposes and principles of the UN Charter must be fully observed, the legitimate security concerns of all countries must be taken seriously, and all efforts that are conducive to the peaceful settlement of the crisis must be supported," sending a clear and authoritative signal of China's stance on the crisis.

Development

While some Western powers are forging divisions among UN member states for geopolitical interests, China has been strengthening its efforts to advance global development and raising solutions to fundamental issues such as poverty, healthcare and climate change.

It is highly noticeable that by pooling strengths from around the world through novel multilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the Global Development Initiative (GDI), China is ramping up international cooperation to achieve the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Since its inception a year ago, the GDI has been warmly welcomed by the international community. This people-centered initiative primarily seeks to expedite the implementation of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Over the past year, over 100 countries and international organizations have extended their support and more than 60 countries joined the Group of Friends of the GDI, and an array of concrete measures have been proposed and implemented, marking the transformation of the GDI from "laying a foundation" to "building a framework" and the stride from "painting the broad strokes" to "refining the details," as summarized by Wang Yi when chairing the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of the GDI on the sideline of the 77th session of the UNGA on September 20.

As Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed, "we live in a world where the logic of cooperation and dialogue is the only path forward." Amid the interwoven changes and turbulence of the world, the UN is also standing at a crossroads. UNGA is a precious opportunity for unity, not a battleground for confrontation. What we need is definitely not unilateralism and hegemony, but authentic multilateralism and cooperation. All nations, especially big powers should take the lead in upholding the international system with the UN at its core, and following the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, to make the international order more fair and equitable.

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