Keynote at Peking University

Good afternoon dear students,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a big pleasure for me and privilege to be with you today. Thank you to the Beijing Forum and Peking University for bringing us together.

And let me also congratulate the university on your 120th anniversary!

Anniversaries are moments of celebration, and rightly so. You have a lot to celebrate. Since 1898, Peking University has firmly established itself among the very best universities in the world.

But anniversaries are also moments of introspection, of reflection, of taking stock, and of looking ahead.

That’s where I would like to start with you today: by reflecting on these past decades; by tracing how we arrived at this present moment; and by exploring what it teaches us about where we need to go.

My starting point may surprise you, but I certainly believe it’s true: the world today is better in many ways than it has ever been, and certainly better than it was in 1898.

It’s a fact.

Almost everywhere on this planet, a person born in 2018 will be less likely to grow up in extreme poverty; less likely to remain illiterate; less likely to die of disease or be killed in a war than at any time in human history.

And that person is also less likely to encounter something a person born in 1898 would grow up to consider almost natural features of life: oppression and intolerance; racism and war.

The view of the world at that time – that one nation is superior to another; that violence is the basis for governance; that the strong always exploit the weak – that view of the world was dominant.

A person born in 1898 would have known little possibility of advancing from the circumstance of their birth. And it would have been even more difficult if she was born a woman.

In her teenage years, the world would be plunged into the first world war; by the time she reached her forties, another war, even more terrible than the first, which would bring the death of over 80 million people.

But then something happened, something fundamentally changed.

It started in 1945, in San Francisco. As the Second World War came to an end, the nations of the world came together to find a new way of cooperating and living together; to forge a path that did not invariably lead them into the abyss of war.

“We the Peoples”, they declared, and the United Nations was born, and with it a new vision of humanity.

The UN became the world’s neutral table, around which all countries could come together - rich or poor, big or small, each with one vote.

A new idea took hold, not only based on the principle of national self-determination, but also on the rule of law and the universal value of human rights, on the inherent dignity of every single person on this planet.

Of course, there were many places in which the reality made a mockery of the ideal, where tyrants still ruled; where colonial regimes refused to give way to the forces of freedom. But they soon found themselves on the defensive.

And of course, the Cold War, and with it the terrible nuclear threat, cast a long shadow for many years. But not only did we avoid open confrontation between the superpowers - and with it a third world war -, war itself came to be considered “illegal”, an idea that would have sounded simply absurd for earlier generations.

And with these political changes came sweeping economic changes.

The forces of global integration powered by technology unleashed entrepreneurial talents in places that previously were on the periphery of the world economy.

The development gains achieved since 1945 have been absolutely extraordinary.

China - in so many ways at the centre and the engine of that change - China alone lifted more than 700 million people out of poverty.

And it started to happen all across the world.

You see it in the data: In 1979, the number of countries growing at more than 3% a year was about 30.

By 2005, the number of countries growing at over 3% was 125.

So the number of countries integrating and successfully trading in the global economy quadrupled in those years.

Even now, after the financial crisis of 2008, that number is still about 85. And the Belt and Road Initiative - connecting Asia, Europe and Africa - has the potential to help countries become even more integrated through deeper trade links across markets.

All of this happened over the course of just a few decades. And all that progress is real. It has been broad, and it has been deep, and it all happened in what – by the standards of human history – was nothing more than a blink of an eye.

And now an entire generation - your generation - has grown up in a world that by most measures has become steadily healthier and wealthier and less violent and more tolerant during the course of your lifetimes.

So why I am telling you all this? I’m not trying to give you the impression that everything is fine; nor to imply that things naturally, inevitably get better.

Instead, the reason why I briefly recapped our recent past is to emphasise three points; points that we must keep in mind, today more than ever:

Point 1: That progress is possible. Not abstract or inevitable progress, but real progress, achieved by our own determination and actions.

Point 2: That progress is rooted in ideas and that ideas matter. That every person lives in dignity in a community where rights are respected and protected - those aren’t abstract concepts; they are very real preconditions for successful societies.

And point 3: That progress depends on international cooperation and global solidarity. It’s no accident of history that the peace and prosperity we have achieved since 1945 coincided with the establishment of multilateral institutions like the United Nations. There is a very direct connection here.

But despite of all this progress, all three points are being challenged today more than ever.
̶ Optimism is challenged by cynicism.
̶ Universal principles and the rule of law are derided as “nice-to-haves” or simply ignored.
̶ And multilateralism is challenged by nationalist and isolationist politics of fear and resentment.

All of which is to say: we stand at a crossroads today – a moment in history at which two very different visions compete with each other. One optimistic, focused on everyone’s success; the other pessimistic, focused only on one’s own advantage. Two different stories, two different narratives about who we are. So, how should we respond?

Should we really understand the last decades as nothing more than a detour from the unavoidable cycle of history – where might makes right, and politics is a zero-sum game, and countries compete more than cooperate? Is that what we should think?

I don’t think so. I am and I remain an optimist.

But neither do I think we can dismiss the counter-narrative quite so easily.
We can’t and we shouldn’t.

Because it brings into view our blindspots. Or, put differently: it exposes the dark side of what I so far presented to you as a story of great progress. And it is critical in understanding what we should do next.

Take globalization and technology: yes, it has opened up new opportunities, it has driven incredible economic growth - including in China - but it has also disrupted entire industries. Jobs have been automated away; traditional qualifications count for less. Meanwhile, multinational companies can now evade the regulation of any one country, with capital moving freely and in nanoseconds from one tax haven to the next.

The result has been an explosion of economic inequality within and between countries.

Today, eight men (not a single woman) own as much wealth as the poorest half of humanity, that’s over 3.6 billion people. Most of that poorest half survive on less than one dollar a day. But because information is easily available, thanks to technology, all of these poor people know very well how the top 1% lives. Can you blame them if they feel sidelined and abandoned by the system? The gap between the haves and the have nots has grown to unstainable levels.

And it is fuelling the erosion of trust: trust in national institutions; trust among states; trust in the global rules-based order.

And now we face a set of broader paradoxes:
̶ The world is more connected, yet societies are becoming more fragmented.
̶ Challenges are growing outward, while many people are turning inward.
̶ Multilateralism is under fire precisely at the moment when we need it most to address global challenges such as climate change.

But defending and saving multilateralism is not about striving to restore the status quo ante, to go back to the way things were. Because if yesterday’s tools are inadequate to tackle today’s problems, they will outright fail to fix tomorrow’s challenges.

The brilliance of the men and women who came together in 1945 to create the United Nations was not that they sought a return to past ideas; but nor was it that they sought a radical, utopian departure.

They were what one could call “realist idealists” in the best sense of the word. Realist because they recognized the constraints of their time. And idealist, because they had the courage to formulate a bold vision to break these very same constraints.

The question is: with all the changes the world has undergone since - and in light of the new challenges we face - what should the “realist idealist” of today do?

To me, the answer is pretty self-evident, and it lies in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

It was agreed three years ago by all 193 Member States of the UN, it is the most ambitious development plan in history, it is our global roadmap for creating a better world.

Covering everything from ending poverty (Goal 1) and achieving gender equality (Goal 5) to equitable economic growth (Goal 8) and the rule of law (Goal 16), no one can say its objective is not sufficiently idealistic or visionary: a world free of poverty; a fairer world; and a world that respects the limits of nature.

But neither is it unrealistic: with 17 Goals and 169 targets, it gives us specific, tangible steps we need to follow to actually get there.

China is a leading champion in promoting Sustainable Development - at the national level by integrating the SDGs into its 13th Five-Year-Plan; at the regional level by launching the Belt and Road Initiative; and early on at the global level, as the G20 adopted its Action Plan on the 2030 Agenda under China’s Presidency.

This Agenda operationalizes the vision President Xi Jinping outlined when he visited Geneva last year, namely - and I quote - to “build a community of shared future for mankind; to achieve shared and win-win development.”

That’s just a rewording of what the SDGs stand for.

There are three imperatives at the core of the 2030 Agenda capture this well:

First imperative: the SDGs leave no one behind.

The logic is simple and powerful: if the threats are existential, if power is dispersed and challenges are global and interlinked, then we really are all in this together, and no one wins unless everyone wins.

That means that the benchmark for success is first of all the fate of those at the bottom; those most vulnerable; those excluded or cut off from the waves of progress.

Second imperative: these SDGs are indivisible and universal. They recognize that if the challenges that we face are inextricably connected and mutually reinforcing, our responses must be just as integrated and comprehensive.

We cannot hope to avert climate change – by very far the biggest challenge we face - without reducing inequality, without making our economies produce and consume sustainably, without preventing conflict. It’s all connected: progress towards one goal drives progress in the others; but failure in one dooms them all. And that’s also why the Belt and Road Initiative for example can advance not just trade relations and infrastructure investments, but can catalyse a global push towards sustainability.

And the third imperative: the SDGs are everybody’s responsibility. I mentioned earlier how yesterday’s tools won’t work to fix tomorrow’s challenges. And that’s largely because yesterday’s tools are tailored above all for states and governments. But today’s international relations are about much more than states and governments.

Think about who has power on the world stage today: governments of course, but not only. Civil society and NGOs; private companies and philanthropists; city mayors and citizens - all of these can and will be influential in shaping policy. The SDGs account for this by implicating everyone: everyone can and must play a part in making them a reality.

Every single one of you in your daily lives, and your governments. It includes you - the students of Peking University.

There is no question that we’re handing you a messy world. And we’re placing a huge responsibility on your shoulders.

Think about it: you are the first generation that can end extreme poverty completely, but you are also the absolute last generation that can curb climate change. It is a pretty heavy responsibility, and you need to prepare for it.

Here, I am betting on you, on your commitment, your creativity and your courage. To take charge and to take ownership. To be part of the solution, not to sit on the sidelines.

Kofi Annan, my former boss, mentor and friend, who has been here several times and who spoke at your university only a few years back, used to dismiss the idea that you are the “leaders of tomorrow”. Because you really are the “change makers of today”. And right he was. You don’t have to wait, and you don’t have the luxury to wait, until you’ve climbed the career ladder to make a difference.

Dear students,

I understand that some of you are interested in working for the United Nations, something I was very happy to hear about. It is a challenging career, that’s true, but to me it’s also the most rewarding work I could imagine.

There are many pathways that lead to the UN: you can get a first impression of our work through an internship; every year, you can apply for the Young Professional Program like my colleague Daria who’s with me today; or you can do what I did in 1979, namely start as a JPO with the support of my government, and in your case with your government, or you can apply for jobs through the normal process, which can be convoluted and lengthy, but nonetheless.

But whichever route you pursue, there are some qualities and skills that will serve you well, and not just at the UN but certainly at the UN:

̶ For one thing, open-mindedness, empathy and a desire to go the field: Personally, I learnt as much, if not more, working “in the field” in Mexico, Haiti, Iran and elsewhere as I did on the floors of UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva.

̶ Another quality is this: curiosity and a truly interdisciplinary outlook. As a UN civil servant, you may or may not become a technical expert in any one field - but in any case, the diversity of tasks you will confront will require you to connect the dots across disciplines, to break down silos and to work in a collaborative way. It will require you to immerse yourself in cultures other than your own, and that always begins with language.

Now considering that you are all, I imagine, already fluent in Chinese and English at least, you have a head start here. Add to that the fact that you are students at one of the world’s best universities and citizens of a country that is a strong and invaluable partner of the United Nations. China, for those who are Chinese, will overtake Japan next year to be the 2nd largest contributor to the UN’s Regular Budget. But it is still underrepresented, with only 88 Chinese nationals currently serving in the UN Secretariat [we have desirable ranges between 169 and 229 according to size of budget and size of country etc]. So, for those of you who are Chinese, there are quite some opportunities for you there.

But whatever you end up doing - and let me close on this note - always remember this: your actions have consequences. Your efforts make a difference.

And don’t worry if they seem small to you.

I think we can all draw courage by reminding yourselves of something Confucius taught us centuries ago: “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

Thank you very much.