IX. Women Taking Part in Extensive International Exchanges and Cooperation Activities
China attaches great importance to international exchanges and cooperation in the field of women. We strongly support women and women's organizations represented by the All-China Women's Federation to actively make friends, build friendships, learn from each other, and promote common development with women around the world. Chinese women's "circle of friends" are constantly growing. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, in the process of promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, the Chinese women's cause has achieved a historic leap in leading the development of women worldwide, contributing Chinese plans and strength to women's movement across the globe.
Actively participating in and hosting international conferences and promoting global women's development. When New China was first founded, China actively supported women's organizations to participate in the Women's International Democratic Federation, and held the All-Asian Women's Conference, ushering in a new chapter in women's diplomacy. In 1975, 1980 and 1985, the Chinese delegation attended the First, Second and Third World Conference on Women, participated in drafting documents, and sent out Chinese voices. In 1995, China hosted the Fourth UN World Conference on Women, and proposed a basic national policy of the equality between men and women, making an important contribution to formulating the Beijing Declaration and Program of Action, which played an instrumental role in global gender equality. In 2015, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations and the 20th anniversary of the World Conference on Women in Beijing, China and the UN Women jointly organized the Global Summit of Women, which was attended by more than 140 heads of state and government, as well as representatives of UN agencies and international organizations. Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over the summit and delivered an important speech, profoundly expounding the Chinese proposition of promoting the equality between men and women and women's all-round development. The summit has achieved fruitful results and injected new vitality into the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, introducing a new milestone for the development of women's cause around the world.
Seriously fulfilling international obligations and reflecting the responsibility of a major country. China actively signs and ratifies the UN's international instruments in the field of gender equality and fully promotes gender equality and women's development progress. In 1980, it signed into law the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, earnestly fulfilled its obligations under the Convention, submitted a report on honoring responsibilities on time, received review and implemented the concluding observations of the committee. As a member of the UN Commission on the Status of Women and host of the Fourth World Conference on Women, China has successively promulgated and implemented the Outline of Chinese Women's Development, actively implemented the strategic objectives of 12 major areas of concern of the Beijing Declaration and the Program of Action, and regularly submitted national reports on duty fulfillment. It has also carefully implemented the UN Millennium Development Goals and accomplished tasks such as reducing extreme poverty and hunger, eliminating gender disparities in education, and reducing maternal mortality. China has seriously implemented the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, prioritized the empowerment of women and girls in country programs, honored ministerial and departmental responsibilities, and made positive progress on a number of development goals.
Conducting dialogue and exchanges and promoting mutual learning and sharing. China attaches great importance to supporting foreign exchanges in the field of women. It has maintained friendly exchanges with 145 countries, 429 women's organizations, institutions and relevant UN organizations and special agencies. China's rapid development has opened up broad space for international exchanges between women and women's organizations. The dialogue and exchanges between Chinese women and women from all over the world are deepening and become more harmonious, friendship is strengthening, and cooperation is constantly increasing. Entering the new era, all-round, wide-ranging and multi-level opening up has provided new opportunities for international exchanges in the field of women. In the overall national diplomacy, the dialogue and exchanges between Chinese and foreign women led by the All-China Women's Federation are further deepening. Under the framework of the national exchange mechanism, a women's humanity exchange mechanism has been established, while organizing "Women's Cultural Week" and exchange activities enables women from different social systems, cultural backgrounds and countries with different levels of development to conduct deep and profound communication with each other and introduce China and Chinese women to the world. At the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Group of Twenty (G20), and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), China has hosted many women's conferences, supported the institutionalization of G20 Women's Conference, and promoted the development of SCO Women's Forum towards the direction of institutionalization. Further efforts have been made to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with neighboring countries, women and women's organizations in developing countries, and enhance mutual trust and friendship.
Conducting pragmatic cooperation to promote common development. China has continuously increased multi-dimensional and all-round international exchanges and cooperation, and actively promoted the development of women's health, education, economy, poverty alleviation and the environment. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, women's development aid projects have been continuously implemented to support and help women in developing countries to reduce poverty, increase employment, and improve people's livelihood. China donated to UN Women for four consecutive years to support the UN in promoting gender equality and women's development. It has implemented the commitment to assisting women in developing countries, helping developing countries implement 100 "Happy Campus Projects" and 100 "Mother and Child Health Projects" from 2015 to 2020, inviting 30,000 women to train in China, and training 100,000 professional and technical women in their home countries. China also established Chinese and Foreign Women's Training (Communication) Centers in 13 countries, provided small-scale relief and assistance to countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, helping local women improve production and living conditions and strengthen capacity building. Since 2015, the All-China Women's Federation has trained more than 2,000 women in leading roles for 98 countries.
The role of women in foreign affairs is increasingly evident. Women and women's organizations are actively involved in international affairs. Since 1982, Chinese representatives have been elected to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women on nine occasions. China is one of the major funders of UN peacekeeping operations and the largest contributor of peacekeeping troops among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and nearly 1,000 women participated in UN peacekeeping missions. China's peacekeeping battalion in South Sudan has a female warrior class. Mao Ping, the first female commander dispatched for an overseas peacekeeping mission, was awarded the "Outstanding Women Award" by the Lebanese government. A number of female diplomats are active in the field of national diplomacy. As of October 2018, there were 2,065 female diplomats in China, who accounted for 33.1% of the total number of diplomats, including 14 female ambassadors, 21 female consuls and 326 female counselors above the division level. Women have fully demonstrated their charms and contribute their wisdom and strength in foreign affairs.