尽管已经卸任联合国秘书长之职近10年，但当科菲·安南出现的时候，他依然被认为是一位“不需要介绍”的人物。作为世界上最大的国际组织联合国的前掌门人以及2001年诺贝尔和平奖获得者，绝大多数时候，安南留给世人的印象都与宏大、严肃的国际议题联系在一起。但私底下的安南是一个颇有幽默感的人，这一点可以从他日前与北京大学师生座谈时的开场白中看出来——安南调侃自己说，他曾被路人认作是好莱坞著名黑人影星摩根·弗里曼，并煞有介事地为这位路人“粉丝”签下“科菲·弗里曼”的名字。

4月21日、22日，作为科菲·安南基金会的主席，安南到访北京大学，被聘为北大“大学堂”顶尖学者讲学计划学者(Peking University Global Fellowship)，与北大学者和学生座谈，并发表了以“构建更加和谐的世界秩序”为题的演讲。即便已不再亲自斡旋于风云际会的国际舞台，但安南有关国际秩序、中国和青年议题的见解，依然吸引了“挤满一屋子”的学者和青年学子侧耳聆听。

“世界正变得更危险吗？”在4月21日与北大师生座谈时，安南提出了这个他自己也认为“很难回答”的问题。在随后的座谈和演讲中，他试图表达他的理解。安南认为，有的人产生“世界正变得更危险”的观感，可能是因为“世界变了”，现在世界上发生的所有不好的事情，都会很快被媒体刊播出来，让人们产生了世界好像正在变得更不安全的感觉。但事实上，已经有几十年没有出现大国间的战争了，世界正变得更加有序，与我们的先辈相比，我们在暴力和战乱中丧生的可能性更小。

安南说：“尽管有这些进步，我们仍然生活在一个不确定的时代。国际秩序的熟悉轮廓正在变化。”这些转变包括，西方世界2007年到2008年的金融危机，与阿富汗、伊拉克长期而代价巨大的战争，与乌克兰危机混杂在一起，给人们带来了深深的危机感。与此同时，古老文明如中国和印度，则正在重获历史上曾经有过或者应有的在国际事务中的地位。如果基于购买力平价来评估，中国已是世界上最大的经济体；亚洲作为一个整体，是世界上最富有、增长最快的大陆。安南认为，这些结构性变化将会产生深远的地缘政治后果，“越来越显而易见的是，要应对这些国际秩序中的的变化，国际合作与以往相比显得更为必要”。

谈及中国，安南认为，得益于国内经济改革和对外开放政策，中国已经重新确立了其在全球事务中的核心地位。中国可以从维护基于规则的国际秩序中获得很多，同时中国也在积极参与重新塑造适应新情况的国际新秩序。

安南说，中国为实现联合国的“千年发展目标”贡献巨大，“这主要是通过中国国内经济增长和减贫以及中国对世界其他地区经济增长的影响而实现的。”安南表示，他注意到了中国倡导建议的一些新的金融机构，如亚洲基础设施投资银行和金砖银行等。他说，这些机构的出现让他感到“不意外”，这些新机构的出现，无疑可以满足一些在相关方面的需求，可以作为现有的全球性组织的补充。另外，中国开放“亚投行”，让西方国家和其他国家也加入进来，这是一种非常积极的现象。他说：“多年来我一直倡导改革，既包括联合国机构的改革，也包括世界货币基金组、世界银行等国际机构的改革。世界正在发生变化，这些机构也需要作出改革。”

　在安南看来，要建立“更加和谐的社会秩序”，根基有三：和平与安全、可持续和兼容性的发展、人权与法治。而年轻人将是推动未来世界发展的主要力量。安南对台下的中国青年学子说：“即便年轻，你们依然有许多事情可以做。虽然这并不意味着你们马上要去拯救地球，或者去解决一些宏大的议题。”他举例说，他知道许多中国年轻人正在贫困地区教孩子们英文等课程，类似这样的小成就累计起来，就会变成很大的贡献。“你们不会因为太过年轻而无法成为领导者——我一直这么认为”。 

Address by Kofi Annan 

Peking University, Beijing

22 April 2015

Harmony is a universal aspiration. The English word comes from the Greek harmonia, meaning concord. 

In China too, I am told there is an expression - "Harmony is the beautiful way” – that dates back to the Analects of Confucius. 

In Africa also, we have a proverb – “in harmony, everything succeeds”. 

From these references, we can see that the search for harmony is an eternal human quest, but it has often been frustrated by man’s thirst for wealth and power.  

The Charter of the United Nations provides that the organisation shall be a centre for harmonising the actions of nations.  As Secretary-General, I felt that my role was to try to maintain or bring harmony among states, and indeed within countries that had fallen into violent conflict. 

So I have gained some experience in the difficult art of creating harmony among states and communities. 

From that experience, I have arrived at the conviction that harmony is grounded on three, mutually-supporting pillars:

• Peace and security;
• Sustainable and inclusive development;
• Human rights and the rule of law.

I will say a little more about each of these pillars of harmony and why I believe that they are the foundation of successful societies even though I recognize that every society has its own unique characteristics. 

First, peace and security, without which there can be no harmony.

In historical terms, the world has seldom been as peaceful. 

We have not had a war between major powers in decades. The world is ever more orderly.  Life expectancy is rising around the world. By and large, we are far less likely to die violently than our ancestors. 

Despite this progress, we live in uncertain times. The familiar contours of the international order are shifting. 

In the western world, the financial debacle of 2007-2008 created a sense of crisis, which allied to the lengthy and costly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the conflict in Ukraine have led to calls for disengagement and retrenchment. 

At the same time, ancient civilisations like China and India are reclaiming their historic place in world affairs. 

Today, China is the world’s biggest economy based on purchasing power parity. Asia as a whole is the world’s richest and fastest-growing continent. It is also home to more than half of the world’s population. 

These tectonic shifts in wealth and demographics will have profound geopolitical consequences. 

Yet it is increasingly obvious that, more than ever, international co-operation is necessary if we are to manage these changes in the world order. 

Let us recognize that these changes have brought challenges for the Asia region as well.

Asia faces numerous threats to its own peace and security: the resurgence of nationalism; ethnic and religious tensions; territorial disputes, including between states with nuclear weapons; and competition for military pre-eminence. 

This time of change is fraught with risks that must be carefully managed. That will require wisdom and moderation on all sides. 

The second pillar of a harmonious world is sustainable and inclusive development.

The world has created more wealth in the last two centuries than ever before in the history of mankind, improving the lives of billions of people in the process. 

But it is becoming increasingly obvious that economic development can have huge social and environmental costs that must be addressed.  

This is a global challenge, but China is at the heart of it, having achieved extraordinary economic growth over the last thirty five years. 

Never before in human history has a country grown so fast and lifted so many of its people out of poverty.

China has also helped the rest of the developing world through its demand for raw materials and its international investments, much of which has been directed towards my own continent of Africa.

Indeed, China has contributed enormously to the achievement of the MDGs, mainly through its domestic growth and poverty reduction, but also through its impact on the rest of the world’s growth.

But that spectacular economic achievement has come at a cost, namely income inequality, which is now one of the highest in the world , and pollution, with major consequences on the environment and public health ;

China is now taking measures to address both problems. This is vital because to be sustainable, economic growth will have to benefit everyone and be protective of the environment.

I come now to the third pillar - the respect for human rights and the rule of law.

International relations have often been a tense contest between international law and power politics. Yet all countries have recognised that a global rules-based system is vital for harmony.

Indeed one of the problems of the last few decades is that so many powers have selectively applied and respected international law. 

Regarding human rights, there is a common misunderstanding in many developing countries that, somehow, these are Western luxuries that must be sacrificed for development.

Yet history, and even current events, teaches us that this is a false dichotomy. 

In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. 

We see that societies that do not respect their citizens’ human rights, or where some categories of citizens are seen as above the law, are less harmonious and, in the long run, more fragile.

There is an African proverb that teaches us that wisdom is like a baobab tree – no one person can embrace it, so a country as great and ancient as China has no lessons to receive from me. 

However, I would like to share with you some final thoughts and recommendations for your consideration. 

First, as Secretary General and afterwards, I have pressed for reform of the international system; this would serve all nations.  Together with my fellow Elders, I have put forward proposals that aim to make the Security Council and the international financial institutions more democratic and representative.  

I also see value added with the new financial institutions that China is initiating, and from which Africa could benefit. They should complement existing global organisations.

Inadequate infrastructure and energy are two of the biggest challenges to development in Africa. I urge existing and new institutions to work with the countries in Africa in effectively addressing these constraints. 

Second, I would argue that as the world’s most populous nation with its huge economy and global trade and investment networks, China’s national interest has changed. 

China therefore has a vital interest in a prosperous and peaceful world based on common rules on international trade, investment and market-based exchange rates.

This has many implications for China’s domestic and foreign policies. 

In achieving that vital national interest, China may be called upon to play, in concert with other nations, a more active role in addressing threats to international peace and security, upholding international law and addressing such global challenges as climate change. China’s recent announcement on carbon emissions is a welcome step in that direction.

The fate of the world might be decided by the decisions that are taken, or not, at the climate change conference in Paris at the end of the year. 

Chinese policy will be one of the keys to the success or failure of this great global effort to address one of the most important issues of our time. 

It will be an opportunity for China to play a leading role in making the world safer for all our children.

Finally, and of course not abandoning the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of States, China can help bring harmony to troubled countries where it maintains a strong strategic and commercial relationship.

When a friend’s house is on fire, one must help to put out the flames.  

We are living through a period of historic change in world affairs. Power and wealth are no longer the prerogative of one region.  Global institutions must adapt to these shifts. 

The twenty first  century might very well prove to be the Asian century but this should not mean the end of the rules-based, open international system that has served China and most of the world so well over recent decades.  

Thanks to domestic economic reforms and openness to the world, China has already reasserted its centrality in global affairs. 

So China has everything to gain by up-holding a rules-based international order while also working to re-shape that order to fit the new realities.

That harmonious world order should be founded on the three pillars that I have just described.  I firmly believe that there can be no lasting harmony without peace and security, sustainable and inclusive development and the respect for human rights and the rule of law. 

Thank you.