Commentary: Stronger China not to change its non-interference policy

Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-15 14:54:31|Editor: Mengjie
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BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Some Western media have reported that China may deviate from its non-interference policy due to growing overseas interests, which will tarnish China's efforts to shoulder due responsibilities commensurate with its economic status.

Such reports are obviously groundless as the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries has been and will always be a cornerstone of China's foreign policy.

In the new era, China has advocated the principle of mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation as a new model of global governance.

As China suffered from the bitterness of Western powers interfering in its internal affairs in history, it is more unwilling to see other countries experience the same.

Currently, China remains the biggest contributor of peacekeeping forces among the five UN Security Council permanent members in terms of the number of personnel. More than 30,000 Chinese peacekeepers have served overseas since China began participating in peacekeeping missions in 1990.

In April 2015, a Chinese navy frigate helped evacuate foreign nationals stuck in war-torn Yemen, the first time China evacuated foreign nationals from danger zones. In 2013, China sent its first peacekeeping infantry battalion to South Sudan to protect UN personnel and civilians.

The increase of China's involvement in foreign peacekeeping missions corresponds with the growth in the country's national power, and also matches the expectations of the international community for China's greater contribution to global affairs.

"When we have disturbances or unrest in protection of the civilians, they [Chinese peacekeepers] have shown very quick reaction that I appreciate very much," Ellen Magrethe Loej, then UN Special Representative of the Secretary General and head of the UN Mission in South Sudan, told Xinhua in 2016.

Facts speak louder than words. China has helped Africa build up its ability to sustain its own development and create win-win scenarios. In 2015, China announced that it would roll out 10 major plans to boost cooperation with Africa in areas ranging from industrialization to infrastructure services, with 60 billion U.S. dollars of funding support.

China has made tangible contributions to the betterment of living and working conditions in Africa without attaching any political strings.

Compared with China's assistance to Africa, the continuous turmoil in the Middle East has proved that interference in others' internal affairs brings disasters not only to the region, but also to the West itself.

In recent years, China's non-interference policy has helped relax international tensions and build stability around the world. China has played a positive role in solving problems including the Iran nuclear issue and the Israel-Palestine conflict.

China holds that only when relations among countries, big and small, are based on respect for equality, non-interference and sovereignty, will there be peace and harmony in the world.

This was reaffirmed in June, when China and Panama established formal diplomatic relations, and the two sides stressed the development of friendly relations will be based on the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality, mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence.

It is advisable that the West discard their Cold War mentality of zero sum and hegemonism. Defamation will not eclipse China's honesty and sincerity to carry out win-win cooperation with others.

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