和平共处五项原则的创立是时代的呼唤、历史的选择。第二次世界大战结束后，民族独立和解放运动风起云涌，世界殖民体系土崩瓦解。同时，冷战阴云笼罩世界，“强权即公理”甚嚣尘上。刚刚获得独立的新生国家渴望维护国家主权、发展民族经济。新中国坚持独立自主，积极谋求同世界各国和平共处，努力改善外部环境尤其是周边环境。在此背景下，中国领导人首次完整提出互相尊重主权和领土完整、互不侵犯、互不干涉内政、平等互利、和平共处五项原则，并将其纳入中印、中缅联合声明，共同倡导将五项原则确立为指导国家间关系的基本准则。

The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence answered the call of the times, and its initiation was an inevitable historic development. In the wake of the Second World War, national independence and liberation movements swept across the globe, and the colonial system around the world crumbled and collapsed. At the same time, the world was overshadowed by the dark clouds of the Cold War and menaced by the rampant clamors that “Might is right.” Newly independent countries aspired to safeguard their sovereignty and grow their national economy. New China followed the principle of independence, actively sought peaceful coexistence with all countries, and endeavored to improve its external environment, especially in its neighborhood. Against this backdrop, the Chinese leadership 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. They included the Five Principles in the China-India and China-Myanmar joint statements, which jointly called for making them basic norms for state-to-state relations.

习近平主席指出，国际形势越是变乱交织，越要坚持和维护联合国权威。作为第一个在《联合国宪章》上签字的国家和安理会常任理事国，中国绝不允许世界重回“强权即公理”的丛林法则，将与国际社会一道，共同捍卫二战胜利成果，坚守真正的多边主义，守护来之不易的和平，为人类争取更加光明的未来。

As President Xi Jinping pointed out, the more complex the international landscape is, the greater the need to stay committed to and defend the authority of the UN. As the first country to put its signature on the UN Charter and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China will never allow the world to return to the law of the jungle where might is right. We will work with the international community to jointly defend the outcomes of the victory of WWII, stay committed to true multilateralism, safeguard the hard-won peace and strive for an even brighter future for humanity.

国际法治必须得到坚定维护。美国绕开联合国安理会对一个主权国家大打出手，严重冲击以联合国为核心的国际体系，肆意践踏以联合国宪章宗旨和原则为基础的国际关系基本准则。事实证明，抛开联合国和国际法谈什么“以规则为基础的国际秩序”，不过是为“强权即公理”和丛林法则涂脂抹粉、乔装打扮。只有切实维护联合国核心作用、遵守国际关系基本准则，才能避免以强凌弱、以大欺小的现象频繁发生。

The international rule of law must be firmly defended. The US waged the war against a sovereign state without the mandate of the UN Security Council, undermining the UN-centered international system and blatantly trampling on the basic norms of international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. Facts have proven that the “rules-based international order”, which bypasses the UN and international law, is just another way of sugarcoating the “might-is-right” approach and the law of the jungle. Only by keeping the UN firmly at the center of the international system and upholding the basic norms governing international relations can we end the frequent occurrence of the strong bullying the weak and the big bullying the small.