On April 19, The Hill Times published a byline article China's Diplomacy Adds More Stability and Positive Energy to the World by the Chinese Ambassador to Canada, H. E. CONG Peiwu. Here is the full text:

Recently, a series of Chinese diplomatic actions have caught the world's attention. From March 20th to 22nd, President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Russia, and actively promoted peace talks over the Ukraine Crisis, which fully demonstrates the responsibilities of a major country, and provides much-needed stability to a world rocked by changes and turmoil with certainty of China's foreign policy. Moreover, China is witnessing a surge of diplomatic highlights, as many foreign leaders have visited China consecutively these days.

The world is far from being peaceful and is at the crossroads. The above-mentioned actions are another proof of China's firm and clear choice. As President Xi Jinping pointed out, China will hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit, always stand on the right side of history, and to add more stability and positive energy to world peace and development.

China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development. Over the past seven decades, China has never provoked a war. China is the only country in the world that has incorporated peaceful development into the constitution, and is the only one of the five nuclear powers that has pledged "no first use" of nuclear weapons. President Xi Jinping has proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and the Global Security Initiative (GSI), providing Chinese solutions and Chinese wisdom to solve the two major challenges of peace and development facing humanity. At present, more than 100 countries and a number of international organizations, including the United Nations, have supported the GDI, and nearly 70 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the GDI. Recently, China has released the Global Security Initiative Concept Paper, which offers more systematic thinking and more feasible measures to address global security challenges. From March 6th to 10th, Saudi Arabia and Iran held talks in Beijing. China, Saudi Arabia and Iran reached an agreement and issued a joint statement, in which Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore diplomatic relations. 

China will stay committed to international fairness and justice. China always determines its position and formulates its policy based on the merits of issues, maintains the basic norms of international relations, and promotes international fairness and justice. One year after the Ukraine crisis unfolded, we issued China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis. It offers 12 propositions, including respecting the sovereignty of all countries, abandoning the Cold War mentality, ceasing hostilities, and resuming peace talks. The core stance is to promote talks for peace. Between peace and war, we choose peace. During President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia, the Russian side said that it had carefully studied China's position paper, was open to peace talks and welcomed China's constructive role in this regard, and reiterated its commitment to restarting peace talks as soon as possible. Between dialogue and sanctions, we choose dialogue. Between lowering the temperature and fanning the flames, we choose the former. 

China will continue to uphold true multilateralism. International affairs should be dealt with through equal-footed dialogue and consultation instead of coercion. Dividing the world into ''democratic'' and ''non-democratic'' camps willfully in the name of democracy runs contrary to the essence of democracy. A few countries, though emphasizing ''the rules-based international order'', turned a deaf ear to questions about what the rules are, who makes the rules and how they relate to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. The Chinese side has always stayed committed to the international system with the UN at its core, the international order underpinned by international law, and the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. The Chinese side supports true multilateralism and opposes fake and pseudo-multilateralism.

Just as an old Chinese saying goes, if you do not plough the field in spring, you will harvest nothing in autumn. In a world with intertwined changes, China will ensure a high degree of continuity and stability of the foreign policy. President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) not long ago, advocating the respect for the diversity of civilizations, the common values of humanity, the importance of inheritance and innovation of civilizations, and robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation, which once again demonstrates China's commitment to promoting exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations and advancing human civilization process, injecting strong impetus into advancing humanity’s modernization process and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Let us work together to sow the seeds of peace and development, and reap a future of stability and prosperity.