The opening ceremony of the 2023 Imperial Springs International Forum – an important platform for non-governmental diplomacy and international exchanges in China – gathered more than 130 political, academic and business guests from more than 40 countries in south China’s Guangzhou on Monday.
In his congratulatory letter to the event, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the forum, since its establishment, has played a positive role in promoting international cooperation and enhancing closer people-to-people ties.
Noting the world nowadays faces unprecedented changes, Xi said in the letter that it’s hoped that all the guests will brainstorm their ideas and speak out for the practice of real multilateralism.
This year, the forum is themed “Multilateralism: More Exchanges, Greater Inclusiveness and Cooperation.” While addressing the opening ceremony, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng said China is an advocate and practitioner of multilateralism.
To practice multilateralism, Han said it’s important to achieve peaceful coexistence on the premise of seeking common ground while shelving differences and make common progress on the basis of mutual learning.
Han also noticed the necessity of making global governance fairer and more equitable on the basis of consultation and consensus in practicing multilateralism.
China has more than once opposed hegemonism, denounced power politics and called on parties concerned to adhere to dialogue and consultation, promote political settlement of hotspot issues.
As for the Ukraine crisis, China stressed that dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solutions and urged resuming peace talks. On the Palestine-Israel issue, China called for convening a more authoritative, inclusive and result-oriented peace conference as soon as possible to set a roadmap and timetable for the two-state solution.
Noting China is advancing the noble cause of building a great country and national rejuvenation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization, Han said China is committed to the path of peaceful, high-quality development and high-level opening-up.
China has in recent years proposed the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative and conducted high-quality cooperation with countries worldwide. At the same time, China has in many occasions opposed protectionism and “decoupling,” and support more mutually beneficial cooperation opportunities to inject more impetus into world economic recovery.
As this year marks the 45th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up, Xi has reaffirmed the country’s commitment to promoting high-standard opening-up when he addressed the Global Trade in Services Summit of the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in September.
The country is committed to advancing Chinese modernization on all fronts through high-quality development, thereby providing all countries with new opportunities for openness and cooperation, the president said.