The visit came at a significant moment as this year marks the 120th founding anniversary of the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC). During his speech at a ceremony to mark the RCSC’s anniversary in Beijing on May 8, Krähenbühl underscored the historic partnership and shared values between the ICRC and RCSC, expressing the ICRC’s commitment to strengthening dialogue with China and cooperation with the RCSC to prepare for and respond to international crises.
As China was one of the first signatories to the Geneva Conventions, this year’s 75th anniversary of their adoption holds special significance. In his meetings, Krähenbühl reiterated the ICRC’s commitment to work with China in mobilizing attention around the need to better respect the Geneva Conventions, recognizing the importance of China’s voice in support of International Humanitarian Law.
In his meeting with China’s Vice Foreign Minister, Ma Zhaoxu, Krähenbühl underlined the importance of improved capacity to preventing and responding to humanitarian crises and explored avenues for enhanced collaboration with China to address the humanitarian challenges in conflict areas.
During the visit, he met key ICRC partners in China including the leadership of the Red Cross Society of China under President Chen Zhu, the Vice Chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency, Zhao Fengtao, and the new secretary general of the Boao Forum for Asia, Zhang Jun. Krähenbühl visited the Academy of Military Sciences (AMS) and then delivered a special lecture on ‘Armed conflict and peace – a humanitarian perspective’ at the International College of Defense Studies, National Defense University.
The visit was a fresh opportunity to learn and understand the Chinese perspective on international cooperation, development, armed conflicts, and peace. The ICRC looks forward to building further momentum and operational cooperation with China through financial and material support to help communities affected by armed conflicts globally.
About the ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial, and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.
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