Chinese FM calls for rejection of unilateralism bypassing UN Security Council

UNITED NATIONS - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday called on the international community to reject all kinds of unilateral actions that circumvent the United Nations (UN) Security Council.

Asked at a press encounter on China's proposal to help the Security Council better carry out its mission, Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said the council remains at the core of the international collective security mechanism and bears the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security through more than 80 years of changes and challenges.

"At the same time, we need to admit that in recent years, on major hot-spot issues, the Security Council has at times been absent. So in order to reinvigorate the UN, we need to first reinvigorate the Security Council," Wang told reporters after he presided over a high-level meeting of the Security Council on upholding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and strengthening the UN-centered international system.

To reach that objective, all members of the Security Council need to take maintaining peace as their mission, abide by the UN Charter, uphold justice, and refrain from acting on their own selfish interests or creating bloc confrontation, said Wang.

It is important to enhance the voice of developing countries and small and medium-sized countries through reform, particularly by addressing the historical injustice faced by Africa, he said.

The international community should work together to reject all kinds of unilateral actions that bypass the Security Council so that unilateral bullying will find no market and will have no legitimacy, he said.