Xi Jinping hails Panchsheel's relevance in ending global conflicts, calls for strengthening the Global South

BEIJING, June 28: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday stressed the relevance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which have gained traction among the Non-Aligned Movement, to ending current conflicts and have sought to expand their influence in the Global South amid their struggle with the West.

Xi Jinping, 71, invoked the five principles of peaceful coexistence, called Panchsheel by India, at a conference here to mark his 70th birthday and also sought to juxtapose them with his new concept of Global Security Initiative envisioning a shared future for humanity.

The Panchsheel indicators were first formally spelled out in the Agreement on Trade and Relations between the Tibet Region of China and India signed on April 29, 1954, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The five principles were part of the legacy of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his Chinese counterpart Zhou Enlai in their unsuccessful quest to find a solution to the contentious border issue.

The five principles of peaceful coexistence responded to the call of time and their establishment was an inevitable historical development. Chinese leaders for the first time in the past specified the five principles in their entirety, namely mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in the internal affairs of everyone, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence, Xi said.

They included the five principles of the China-India and China-Myanmar joint declarations that jointly call for making them fundamental norms for state-to-state relations, Xi said at the conference to which former Sri Lankan President Mahinda was invited. Rajapaksa and several politicians. leaders and officials of various countries closely associated with China over the years.

The five principles of peaceful coexistence were born in Asia but quickly spread to the international scene. In 1955, more than 20 Asian and African countries participated in the Bandung Conference, Xi recalled in his speech.

The Non-Aligned Movement, born in the 1960s, adopted the Five Principles as its guiding principles, he said.

The five principles set a historical benchmark for international relations and the international rule of law, he said, stressing their relevance in ending current conflicts.

They are fully in line with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, the development of international relations of our times and the fundamental interests of all nations, Xi said, seeking to confront them with his new concepts of Global Security Initiative (GSI) which advocates the common security of nations and the vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity.

Xi Jinping, who began his unprecedented third five-year term last year, has pushed several initiatives, including his pet billion-dollar project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), to boost China's global influence.

Under the BRI, Beijing made huge investments in infrastructure projects in smaller countries, prompting allegations of debt diplomacy in subsequent years as many countries struggled to repay loans from China.

Moreover, facing growing strategic competition from the United States and the European Union, China has in recent years competed with India and other developing countries to consolidate its influence in countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, widely referred to as countries of the Global South.

China will establish a Global South research center to better support global South-South cooperation, Xi said.

China will provide 1,000 excellence scholarships on the five principles of peaceful coexistence, 1,00,000 training opportunities to countries in the South over the next five years, and also launch a program for young leaders from the South, he said. -he declares. (PTI)