Oceans' problems need holistic approach: envoy

The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations has called on the international community to tackle global ocean governance challenges as a whole.

"Sustainable development requires advocating international cooperation," said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, in his opening remarks at the Promoting the Sustainable Development: A Perspective from the Modern Law of the Sea webinar on Friday.

President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Development Initiative at the UN General Assembly last September, he said, "offering China's wisdom and solutions to promote the international community's focus on development, create synergies and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda".

The GDI is "in line with the trend of the times, and meets the needs of all parties", Zhang said. It has been supported by more than 100 countries and international organizations like the UN, and 60 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the GDI.

Maritime connectivity and cooperation in various fields are important drivers for economic and social development, as well as a focus point for GDI implementation.

"China will work with all parties to jointly address maritime challenges, share the fruits of maritime development, and promote a more robust, greener and healthier global development," he said. "Sustainable development requires building political consensus."

Last month, President Xi chaired the High-level Dialogue on Global Development, where he joined leaders of relevant emerging markets and developing countries to discuss global development issues. They reached important consensus and issued a list containing 32 deliverables.

"China will work with its partners to actively implement these important outcomes, including setting up a Global Alliance for Poverty Reduction and Development and promoting to establish the Global Clean Energy Cooperation Partnership, as well as promoting the Blue Partnership to support the sustainable use of marine resources and capacity building in developing countries," Zhang said.

'Blue energy'

All these efforts, he said, "will inject 'blue energy' into the post-pandemic economic recovery and contribute to the promotion of global common development".

"Sustainable development requires strengthening the rule of law for the oceans," Zhang said.

The modern law of the sea is an open and inclusive system consisting of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, other sea-related international legal instruments and customary international law.

"They provide important legal norms for global ocean governance, and also enriched the legal framework for sustainable development. China is ready to work with all parties to safeguard the maritime order based on international law and maintain maritime peace, security and sustainable development," he said.

"We need to view the status and role of UNCLOS in an objective and historical perspective, and accurately interpret and apply UNCLOS in good faith.

"We hope that the international community will advance the process of marine-related legislation in an orderly manner to provide new opportunities for sustainable development of the oceans," Zhang said.

"We look forward to the peaceful settlement of disputes by all parties in accordance with international law, the proper settlement of differences through negotiations, and the strengthening of cooperation in pursuit of win-win results."