A Chinese envoy Monday called on the international community to work together in unity to revitalize the cause of global social development, particularly amid the current period of uncertainty and challenges.
At a plenary meeting of the 63rd session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD63) at the United Nations, Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, pointed out that global social development has been significantly affected by current instability.
As this year marks the 80th anniversary of the United Nations and the 30th anniversary of the World Summit for Social Development, Geng noted that these milestones serve as a reminder for the international community to restore efforts in promoting global social development.
"The international community should take this opportunity to reaffirm its commitments and strengthen unity and cooperation by building consensus and enhancing efforts to revitalize the global social development cause," said Geng.
China has called for prioritizing development, enhancing public services, and leveraging emerging technologies like AI to drive global social progress, according to Geng.
"Upholding the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, China supports developing countries in pursuing social progress through Belt and Road cooperation and the Global Development Initiative. It has also established a group of friends for AI capacity building, which aims to promote global AI governance and reduce the development gap in AI across nations," said Geng.
The Chinese diplomat also emphasized the significance of multilateralism in advancing global social progress, as it serves as the key foundation for unity and cooperation among nations.
China calls for revitalizing global social development efforts
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said on Tuesday that it will adopt a new package of measures to further enhance cross-border use of the Chinese yuan in 2026, in efforts to promote high-standard opening-up of the country's financial market.
According to the 2026 Work Conference of the People's Bank of China held on Monday and Tuesday, the measures to be taken will include leveraging bilateral currency swap arrangements, improving Chinese yuan settlement infrastructure, and facilitating Chinese yuan use in trade and investment.
The PBOC also pledged to refine mechanisms under initiatives such as the Bond Connect and the Swap Connect (an interest rate swap market access scheme), while encouraging more qualified overseas entities to issue panda bonds (yuan-denominated debts sold by overseas issuers) in China's domestic market.
The central bank said it will also work to expand interoperability among fast payment systems and promote QR code interoperability with partner countries.
"We will continue optimizing the Cross-Border Wealth Management Connect, put into service the Guangdong-Macao Elderly Pension Connect, and expand and upgrade the relevant services and systems such as the Cross-Border Payment Connect, the Hengqin Multi-Functional free trade account system, and the bank account opening witness program. These efforts aim to broaden pilot programs for high-standard opening-up in cross-border trade and investment and further facilitate cross-border use of the Chinese yuan," said Zhang Kui, head of the PBOC's Guangdong branch, in an interview with China Central Television.
Hengqin is an island in Zhuhai, a prefecture-level city and Special Economic Zone in south China's Guangdong Province. The Chinese government unveiled a plan in September 2021 to promote the Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone in Hengqin as a new platform to boost Macao's targeted economic diversification.
The central bank said it will implement the one-off personal credit repair policy in a prudent manner and improve payment services for elderly citizens and foreign nationals visiting China.
Steps will also be taken to strengthen oversight of virtual currencies, crack down on related illegal activities, and steadily advance development of the digital yuan, according to the central bank.
Measures to be taken to further facilitate cross-border use of yuan in 2026: China's central bank
