Timor-Leste PM: China offers important solutions for world peace

Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao of Timor-Leste hailed China's contribution to presenting solutions for global challenges and world peace, during his speech at Zhejiang Gongshang University in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province, on Friday.

"China has been playing an increasingly crucial role in supporting multilateralism and in promoting international cooperation and sustainable development. China offers a vision and presents solutions to effectively address current challenges and create a world of peace," said Gusmao, who arrived in Hangzhou to attend the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games.

The prime minister said the Global Security Initiative and Global Development Initiative proposed by China are in perfect alignment with what Timor-Leste stands for: "the world needs peace, not war; it needs development, not poverty; it needs openness, not closure; it needs cooperation, not confrontation; it needs unity, not division; and it needs justice, not intimidation."

"The obsession with hegemonies, be they political, military or economic, is in my humble opinion the cause of this global disorder," said Gusmao, who pointed out that "the much-touted New World Order was but a slogan, as more wars and conflicts emerged, perhaps even more than before."

"Perhaps what we need is to establish an order based on a vision of human solidarity and shared prosperity. This is the change that is required, for Asia and for the world," Gusmao noted. "We need an international order that helps fragile states build resilience and stability."

Gusmao said Timor-Leste established the g7+, an intergovernmental organization consisting of about 20 countries from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific, which works to make the voices of these countries heard on the international stage.

Gusmao also added that the Belt and Road Initiative builds avenues that contribute to global development and peace, especially in the most neglected parts of the world.

"This new proposal for the international system, this spirit of cooperation and dialogue, brings prosperity to all, interlinking the world in an infrastructure of hope," he said, adding that Timor-Leste needs this hope.

He said fragile countries need global development initiatives that lead to the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which was adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015.