Relationship-building

    China and the United Nations went through a precarious period in their work relations. China was a founding member of the United Nations, but after new China was founded in 1949, the United States and other Western countries exercised a policy of isolation with respect to the PRC, depriving it of its legitimate right to a seat in the UN due to different ideological systems and the general environment of the Cold War. Through unremitting efforts over 20 years, China regained its legitimate rights in the United Nations at the 26th General Assembly in October 1971. Since then, it has actively conducted multilateral diplomatic activities centered round the United Nations.

    China is supportive of UN reform, as expressed by Jiang Zemin at the 2000 Millennium Summit. In June 2005 the Chinese government published its views on possible reforms, emphasizing the missions of promoting multilateralism, enhancing the authority and efficiency of the United Nations and boosting its capacity to answer new threats and challenges posed by the modern world. That the canon and principles of the original UN Charter should be maintained is a given, but it should also meet as much as it can the demands and concerns of all its member countries, particularly its numerous developing members. On the issue of the Security Council reform – the core of the UN reform, China also believes that the council's authority and efficiency to answer global threats should be enhanced, and that priority should be given to enlarging the representation of developing countries on the principle of balancing regional voices and those of different cultures and civilizations.

    In September 2005, President Hu Jintao made four reform proposals at the UN 60th Anniversary Summit: perseverance with multilateralism to realize common security; perseverance with cooperation for mutual benefit to realize common prosperity; adherence to the spirit of tolerance to build a harmonious world; and continuance of an active and steady policy to promote the UN reform.

    As a permanent member of the Security Council, China has always pushed for the UN's leading role in resolving important issues concerning world peace and security. It is active in peacekeeping missions that are in compliance with the UN Charter and anti-piracy actions under the framework of the Security Council resolutions. In December 1988, China joined the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, and sent its first group of military observers to the UN Truce Supervision Organization in 1990. In April 1992, it dispatched its first peacekeeping force of 400 men to Cambodia. In December 2001, China set up a peacekeeping affairs office under the Ministry of National Defense to take charge of coordination and management of Chinese military participation in UN peacekeeping operations.

    Since 1990 China has sent more than 10,000 troops to 18 peacekeeping operations of the United Nations – the largest in number among the Security Council permanent member countries. In December 2008, authorized by the UN Security Council, the Chinese Navy dispatched a fleet on escort mission in the Aden Gulf and waters off the Somali coast. On November 6, 2009, the Ministry of National Defense called an international cooperation and coordination meeting on the escort mission in the Aden Gulf. Participants included Russia, Japan, India, EU Navy, Multi-national Navy Forces, NATO and other countries and international organizations that were carrying independent or joint escort operations.

    As China gets increasingly involved in UN missions, the United Nations is realizing China's growing importance in international affairs. When visiting the peacekeeping training center under the Chinese Ministry of Public Security in October 2004, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan remarked that China's involvement would add a new and important force to UN peacekeeping missions. In May 2006, he said during a speech at Peking University that China's relations with the United Nations were significant to the future of the organization. When meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao in July 2009, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the UN hoped to strengthen its cooperation with China and work with it to resolve the issues and challenges of the current international financial crisis, climate change and food security, and various regional conflicts, in order to propel the fulfillment of its millennium development goals.

    China's actions on climate change have won the recognition of the international community as well. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, once predicted that by the time Chinese President Hu Jintao spoke at the UN Climate Change Summit, China would have become the "world's leader" in coping with climate change.