Bonn, 5 December 2011

Your Excellency President Hamid Karzai,
The Honorable Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul,
The Honorable Foreign Minister Guibo Westerwelle,
Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to join you at the International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn. This conference, the first such conference chaired by Afghanistan on its own, is of great significance to Afghanistan and the whole international community. I want to express appreciation to Germany for its thoughtful arrangements for the conference. I wish the conference success.

Ten years ago, Afghanistan launched its peace and reconstruction process. Since then, with the strong support of the international community, the Afghan government and people have made unremitting efforts and achieved encouraging progress in various fields. Although there are still challenges on the way ahead, we have full confidence in the future of Afghanistan.

Dear Colleagues,

The Afghan people have suffered too much from the scourge of war. It is the bounden responsibility of the international community to support Afghanistan in achieving peace and development at an early date. To this end, I wish to make the following five-point proposal:

First, the international community should firmly support an "Afghan-led and Afghan-owned" process of peace and reconstruction, respect Afghanistan's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, respect the right of the Afghan government and people to determine their own destiny, and help the country enhance sovereignty, ownership and development capacity.

Second, the international community should firmly support Afghanistan in capacity building so that it can take over the responsibility of safeguarding national peace and stability as early as possible.

Third, the international community should firmly support Afghanistan in advancing national reconciliation through its own efforts and help create a favorable environment for reconciliation.

Fourth, the international community should firmly support Afghanistan in developing the economy. During the transition period and beyond 2014, the international community should continue to honor its commitments and provide support and assistance with no strings attached to bolster Afghanistan's capacity for sustainable development.

Fifth, the international community should firmly support Afghanistan in developing external relations on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, especially enhancing good-neighborly relations and mutual political trust with other countries in the region. The international community should fully respect and accommodate the legitimate concerns of countries in the region. We should support the United Nations in continuing to play a leading role in coordinating international assistance to Afghanistan. The role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other existing international organizations and cooperation mechanisms should be brought into full play.

Peace and stability of Afghanistan is crucial to peace and stability of the region and beyond. The future of Afghanistan depends on the Afghan people, but Afghanistan needs strong support from the international community in order to achieve success. The international community should continue to meet its responsibilities and honor its commitments to Afghanistan with concrete actions.

Dear Colleagues,

As a friendly neighbor of Afghanistan and a responsible member of the international community, China has played an active part in supporting and promoting Afghanistan's reconstruction process and provided sincere assistance to Afghanistan. Over the past ten years, China has undertaken hospital, school, irrigation and other projects that have contributed to the well-being of the Afghan people. This year, the Chinese government has decided to provide an additional 150 million yuan of free assistance. We will continue to take concrete steps to help Afghanistan with its peace and reconstruction process. We will support the development of resources, transport, energy, infrastructure and other sectors in Afghanistan.

The Chinese people cherish friendly sentiments toward the Afghan people and sincerely hope that peace, stability, independence and development will come to Afghanistan at an early date. We will work with the international community and make our due contribution to the achievement of this goal.