Chinese President Xi Jinping lauds relevance of Panchsheel to end world conflicts

Beijing, June 28

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday highlighted the relevance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which gained traction with the Non-Aligned Movement, to end the present-day conflicts and sought to expand influence in the Global South amid its tussle with the West.

Xi, 71, invoked the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, termed as Panchsheel by India, at a conference here to mark its 70th anniversary and also sought to juxtapose them with his new concept of global security initiative envisaging a shared future for mankind.

The Panchsheel pointers were first formally enunciated in the Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India signed on April 29, 1954, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. The five principles formed part of the legacy of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his Chinese counterpart Zhou Enlai in their unsuccessful quest to find a solution to the vexed boundary issue.

“The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence answered the call of the times, and its initiation was an inevitable historic development. The Chinese leadership in the past specified the Five Principles in their entirety for the first time, namely, ‘mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity’, ‘mutual non-aggression’, ‘mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs’, ‘equality and mutual benefit’, and ‘peaceful coexistence’,” Xi said.