ACTIVITIES OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL IN CHINA, 9-13 OCTOBER 2004
Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Beijing on Saturday evening, 9 October, for a visit that coincided with the celebration of the fifty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the UN's presence in that country.
On Sunday, the Secretary-General met with Prof. Yongxiang Lu, the President of the ChineseAcademy of Sciences. Professor Lu described the work of the Academy, including in the areas of agriculture and medicine. The Secretary-General was impressed by the Academy's role in scientific affairs, he said, particularly in light of China' scientific approach to development. He welcomed the Academy's cooperation with the InterAcademy Council, which was established in May 2000 to mobilize the best scientists worldwide to provide advice to the United Nations and other international institutions. The Secretary-General reminded the professor that he had challenged the InterAcademy Council to tackle the food supply problem in Africa. With him in this meeting was his Special Adviser Maurice Strong, who is actively involved in the Council's work.
The Secretary-General then sat down with Khalid Malik, the United Nations Development Programme's Resident Representative in China, for a review of the United Nations' work in the country. Mr. Malik described the Chinese Government's increasing interest in the Millennium Development Goals.
On Monday morning, 11 October, the Secretary-General met with Qian Qichen, a member of his High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenge and Change, which is due to present its report in December 2004 following a year’s deliberation. Mr. Qian talked of the Panel’s deliberation on Security Council reform, preventive action, including intervention, and the composition of the Human Rights Commission. The Secretary-General said he looked forward to meeting with the Panel when members returned to New York in November for their last meeting.
The Secretary-General then met with the heads of United Nations agencies, funds and programmes that work in China for a review of their activities. They reported on China’s coming to grips with HIV/AIDS, adapting to its rapid economic growth, its fiscal reform, demographic policy, human rights issues and other matters. The Secretary-General urged them to work together, as well as in partnership with China, which is taking a scientific approach to development and is seeking partners.
The Secretary-General then met with Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing for an extensive discussion of international issues that continued through a working lunch.
The Foreign Minister said that China believes that the world needs a strong United Nations to deal with the challenges and threats of the future and hopes that next year, the United Nations’ sixtieth anniversary, Member States would recommit themselves to multilateralism and to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. They spoke about United Nations reform in detail, the six-nation process dealing with North Korea, the tenth anniversary of the Women’s Conference next year and the International Year of Cities in 2010. The Foreign Minister raised the issue of Taiwan. They discussed the United Nations role in Iraq, the recent election in Afghanistan, the Iranian nuclear issue, Sudan’s Darfur crisis, Myanmar and other regional issues.
Before lunch, the Foreign Minister and the Secretary-General took a few questions from the press. Asked about the international conference on Iraq, the Secretary-General said he “thought it is going to be an important meeting”, as it would bring together Iraq, its neighbours and other members of the international community. He declined to comment on whether the Iraqi resistance would be invited. “I think the underlying message of that conference”, he said, “is that stability of Iraq is in the interest of every country and that the international community should come together and do whatever it can, working with the neighbours and Iraq, to stabilize Iraq”.
In response to a question about China’s contribution of peacekeepers to the United Nations mission in Haiti, he replied, referring to Chinese soldiers, “They have specialists’ knowledge and they are extremely well-trained and it is in those logistic areas where we need help.”
The Secretary-General then went to TsinghuaUniversity, a centre of academic excellence in Beijing, to give an address and have an exchange with the students.
Here in China, he said to the students, “no visitor can help feeling the excitement of a great country developing at breakneck speed, and every day opening up new vistas of knowledge and opportunity to its citizens.”
He called on China to help the world reach the targets set in the Millennium Development Goals, saying that if it didn’t, there would be “terrible consequences for humanity”.
“Your population is so large, and your economy is growing so rapidly”, he said, “that your impact on all global statistics is enormous”.
He also called on China to help weaker nations. “As China’s geopolitical weight grows”, he said, “so does its share of responsibility for world security”. He said he looks forward to the report of his High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenge and Change “to help us to rebuild and improve our global security system” so that “all can feel confident that others will respect the rules.” (See press release SG/SM/9528.)
The students, who are among China’s best and brightest, then asked the Secretary-General about urbanization, the United Nations’ role in fighting terrorism, HIV/AIDS, the protection of children and the rule of law, among other issues.
After that, the Secretary-General travelled to United Nations House, where he addressed several hundred assembled staff and took questions from several of them. He then mingled with the staff members, speaking to many individually.
At the same venue, he participated in a celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the United Nations’ presence in China, attended by senior Chinese officials as well as United Nations staff. Again the Secretary-General spoke, followed by State Counselor Tang Jiaxuang, who also took part in the event. Six individuals who had been instrumental in helping the United Nations get established in China were given citations and two others who had benefited from United Nations assistance also spoke. One, a mother of two from Mongolia, in traditional dress, described her possessions: “16 cattle, 65 sheep and 120 mu of grassland for forage”. Thanks to United Nations microfinance loans and technical support to the women in her village, her family’s income had increased 1000 yuan since 1999.
The Secretary-General, accompanied by his wife Nane, then toured information booths that explained the United Nations’ work in the country. A journalist asked the Secretary-General how he would characterize the AIDS situation in China today. “I think lots of progress has been made”, he said, “and from what I see, the Government is committed, and the Government at the highest level has declared its support and determination to fight the disease.” He concluded, “So there’s been lots of progress in the last year or two and I am very, very pleased about that.”
The Secretary-General’s last event of the day was a meeting with more than 30 business leaders, who shared their experience with corporate social responsibility and gave their strong support to the United Nations’ Global Compact. One of the leaders said, “this is the time when Chinese and UN concepts of development are closer than ever before.” (See press release SG/SM/9530.)
On Tuesday, the Secretary-General drove an hour outside Beijing to visit a peacekeeping training centre at Langfang. The 14,000-square-metre compound was completed in 2003 for the purpose of training civilian police for United Nations peacekeeping missions. Ninety officers were currently undergoing training at the facility, preparing to be sent to Haiti. At the time of the Secretary-General’s visit, China was contributing police to six United Nations peacekeeping missions.
He was greeted on arrival by the Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Public Security, Yang Huan Ning, who said that China had an interest in sending more peacekeepers, should it be asked. He also said that China would be willing to use its capacity at Langfang to train police from other Asian nations for United Nations peacekeeping.
The Secretary-General expressed his gratitude. He then toured the facility and watched a demonstration by the trainees of peacekeeping drills, including crowd control procedures, martial arts and other skills. The Secretary-General then addressed them, saying that the Security Council had authorized employment of an additional 30,000 peacekeepers. “You are really joining a force which is expanding”, he said, “which is in great need, which is doing wonderful work around the world”. He said the United Nations welcomed the Chinese peacekeepers for the mission in Haiti. “There is great need for your talent, your help and your contribution”, he told them, “and I am sure you will do well in Haiti.”
The Secretary-General then visited the eco-village at Liuminying, featuring environmentally-friendly farming, animal husbandry and biogas production. Liuminying is the first such village in China, becoming a model in the late 1980’s, and now the largest. Its founder was awarded the United Nations Environmental Programme’s Global 500 Award in 1987.
Addressing the villagers and environmental experts gathered there, the Secretary-General said, “You are helping China achieve its own vision of xiao kang, the balanced, well-rounded society”, finding ways to balance economic growth and the environment. “The good news is that balanced development is possible”, he added, “and need not wait for tomorrow’s scientific breakthroughs”. He looked forward to a walking tour, he said, for “a glimpse, perhaps, of a sustainable future”. (See press release SG/SM/9532.)
From there, he returned to Beijing, where he was joined by his wife Nane for a visit to an AIDS voluntary counselling and confidential testing centre. They met privately with an AIDS patient who was in counselling, and then met with seven other infected individuals. On exiting, the Secretary-General told the press that he had met with “courageous people who are not only living with the condition but are also determined to share their experience with others”. He added that it would be helpful “if we could encourage people we know to come and get tested”.
Nane Annan added that “it is so important to reach out to all levels of society to raise awareness about AIDS because that is the way we can stop it at the early stage.”
In a separate programme that morning, Mrs. Annan had visited a UNICEF-supported water, sanitation and hygiene project at MajuanPrimary School, 40 miles north east of Beijing. She toured the school’s new toilet facilities for girls and boys, viewed a water quality testing demonstration by the children and talked to them about the hygiene messages they are learning in school and taking home.
Later in the day, she was joined by well-known Chinese actress Jiang Wenli at a community-based HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment centre in GuanCounty, 35 miles south of Beijing. After touring the centre’s counselling, testing and treatment facilities, they met a group of farmers living with HIV/AIDS who are receiving free anti-retroviral treatment. “By reaching out and caring for others and breaking the silence that surrounds the epidemic”, she said to the centre directors and supporters, “you are helping people to cope with the disease and helping to prevent its spread”.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Secretary-General met with the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, with whom he discussed efforts to stabilize Iraq and the lessons of that war. The President said he felt the United Nations’ role in the world had to be strengthened. They also discussed the Millennium Development Goals, United Nations reform, the worsening situation between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the six-party talks on North Korea, Iran’s nuclear programme and Taiwan.
The Secretary-General left Beijing on Wednesday, 13 October, and travelled to Dublin, Ireland, for an official visit where he would meet with the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and other senior officials in the coming days.