President, UN chief focus on vaccine, growth in talks

Equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and the spurring of global growth were underscored by President Xi Jinping and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a video meeting on Monday.

Both leaders referred to the ravaging pandemic, which has had a huge impact on the growth and public livelihood of all countries, particularly developing economies.

Xi highlighted the need to effectively address two major tasks at the same time－unity in the international COVID-19 response and revitalization of the global economy.

He called for efforts to increase assistance to developing countries in COVID-19 response and to distribute vaccines in a fair and reasonable manner throughout the world, thus making the vaccines a global public good.

Guterres said the UN highly appreciates China's key role in promoting the vaccines as a global public good, as well as its role in eradicating poverty, tackling global climate change and securing biodiversity.

The UN chief recently called on G20 members to ensure equitable vaccine distribution worldwide. He warned on Sunday that "vaccine nationalism and hoarding are putting us all at risk".

On Monday, the Foreign Ministry echoed Guterres' call, urging major vaccine developing and producing countries, particularly developed countries, to "tangibly shoulder their responsibility" and take action to make vaccines more affordable and accessible.

China has been honoring President Xi's pledge to make the vaccines a global public good, and it "has provided over 1.5 billion doses to more than 100 countries and international organizations", ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing.

Speaking with Guterres about global growth, Xi said Beijing is willing to better coordinate with the UN and further roll out the Global Development Initiative, a major proposal that Xi made a month ago at the general debate of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly.

The initiative, which has received support from many countries, calls for fostering a global community of development with a shared future.

Guterres said the initiative proposed by Xi is of great significance in promoting global equality and balanced, sustainable development, adding that the UN fully supports it and is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in this regard.

Xi also said China is willing to help tackle developing countries' bottleneck in their growth, implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and advance global development to a new stage featuring balance, coordination and inclusion.

On climate change, Xi said countries should further honor their duty in curtailing carbon emissions and help developing countries to achieve economic transformation.

When offering his congratulations on the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the People's Republic of China's lawful seat in the UN, Guterres hailed the nation's lasting support for multilateralism and UN missions, saying that unilateralism is totally unacceptable.

Xi said history has proved that it is not possible for hegemony to dominate the world, and no country should ignore the world's only system, order and set of rules.

Regional hot spot issues must be addressed based on the tenets and principles of the UN Charter, the willingness of the countries involved, and political settlement, Xi said.

Xu Yicong, a researcher at the China Foundation for International Studies and a former ambassador to Cuba, said China has always honored its duty as a UN member state and "has always been standing up to boost the grouping's authority, influence and status".

"It could be said that the UN's role and influence in global affairs would not have been so large these days without China's role and contribution," he said.

"In the coming 50 years, the UN and China surely could work in the same boat to weather the storms together, and their future is promising," he added.