(by Chinese Embassy in India)

Your Excellency Mr. Natwar Singh, Minister of External Affairs of India,
Your Excellency Mr. K. R. Narayanan, Former President of India,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished guests and
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am most happy to be with you all this evening to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the initiation of Panchsheel, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. We warmly welcome distinguished ministers and all other respected friends at this reception tonight.

This month 50 years ago, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai paid official visits to India and Myanmar respectively. A joint statement was issued by the Chinese Premier and Indian Prime Minister Nehru in New Delhi on June 28th in which the two leaders promulgated for the first time the Panchsheel, five principles guiding the Sino-Indian relations, namely mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. These principles were reiterated in the joint statement by Premier Zhou and Myanmar Prime Minister U Nu in Yangon the following day on June 29th, 1954 and these were precisely the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence now familiar to all of us. The proposal of the Principles had important impact on the then international relations. It was under the guidance of these Principles that China and India took merely 4 months to solve the sensitive and complicated issues regarding the relationship between the Tibet Region of China and India. It was also under the guidance of these Principles that the relations between China and other Asian countries have enjoyed sound development. Over the past 50 years, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence have stood the test of history and gained broad recognition and adherence of the international community, thus becoming the basic norms governing state-to-state relations.   

The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence still possess immense vitality in the backdrop of the current profoundly transforming international scenario, and still command extensive acceptance by the international community in the present world of interdependence, plurality and diversity. That is because the Principles embody the quintessence of the UN Charter, reflect the democratic spirit of mutual equality in contemporary international relations, and entail pragmatic significance in pushing forward the establishment of new inter-state relations as well as a fair and just new international order. As proved by the 50 years' practice since their initiation, any state-to-state issue can be properly addressed, if only the Principles are commonly observed and peaceful negotiation is adopted by all the countries. This, undoubtedly, is of special significance for the present world in eventful times.

Ambassador Hua Junduo (right) with Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh (center) and former President of India K. R. Narayanan (left)

China is the performer and executor as well as the initiator of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. The basic contents of these Principles have been written into the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, and become the basic norms guiding China's independent foreign policy of peace. China has always been developing friendly and cooperative relations with all the other countries throughout the world, in accordance with these Principles. Along with India and Myanmar as well as all the other countries in the world, we wish to constantly enrich and evolve the spirit of the Five Principles in order to make greater contribution to the cause of world peace and development.

The joint celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Panchsheel by China and India provides a good opportunity for the deepening of the development of our relations with other countries as well as Sino-Indian friendship. I firmly believe, as long as we adhere to these Five Principles and live on friendly terms with each other for mutual benefits and common gains, China and India could not only establish long-term constructive and cooperative partnership, but also play a much more active role in the region and the world at large.

Thank you all.