[Following is the text of the toast by United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, delivered yesterday (Sept. 4th) by his Special Representative, Under-Secretary-General Ismat Kittani, at a reception hosted by the Prime Minister of China, Li Peng. TS]

Source: World Tibet Network News, Sunday, September 10, 1995

Thank you for your welcome. Your warm words, Mr. Prime Minister, strike a particular chord in my heart.The people of China were among the first to decide that there would be a United Nations. In the 50 years since then, there have been many changes. Your country has been transformed. The United Nations has sought to innovate and adapt itself to a restless world.

China has infused international life with the energy of its vast and dynamic population. History has seen in China a courageous explorer. China has made many voyages across the frontiers of knowledge. Science is in its debt. Its skill has given the world print and paper.It has narrowed distances between men while broadening the reach of their minds.

Here, as we approach a new millennium, lies our challenge. The United Nations can no longer work simply to avoid war. It must be an activist institution in the quest for a holistic peace. Cease-fires are necessary not only between armies but between the minds and hearts of people. We need a cease-fire between people and nature. Between resources and greed. Between rights and obligations. Between the present and the future.

For three years this is what we have tried to do. We have given social and developmental problems a political primacy. World leaders including yourself have addressed issues not bound by geography or time. The environment. Pandemics. Population. Social Development. And now, in this great and hospitable city, matters affecting women.

This was not meant to be at the expense of political concerns. The Security Council met for the first time at summit level in January 1992. It affirmed a course for international behaviour that had the sanction of its globally representative membership. In accordance with the request of the Security Council, I have pursued a series of ideas and options in two documents submitted to it: "An Agenda for Peace" and a Supplement. As I had stated then, we must grasp the moment for the sake of the future.

This imperative places special challenges before the great Powers. The Charter of the United Nations has premised action by the Security Council upon consensus among them. The levels of their economic development are both example and encouragement to other nations.

What is clear also is that great Powers share common concerns which affect virtually every other nation as well. Solutions demand collective resolve and united action. But for that an example must be set. Working together, and with the United Nations, great Powers can set such an example. They can help define the means. They can speed the quest for solutions.

These demands of our times call for continuous inter-play between Member States of the United Nations and between them and the Organization itself. China's role in this exercise is enormous, on a level with its history, its population and the pace of its social and economic development. The spirit of scholarship and perseverance distinguished Chinese civilization. It continues to be felt today.

And you personify that, Mr. Prime Minister. The support the United Nations, and I, have received from you has been most generous. We are grateful. And we know we can continue to count on it.

Distinguished friends, I invite you to raise your glasses in a toast to the health and well-being of Prime Minster Li Peng; to the hospitable people of China who have made us so much at home; to the continued and sustained cooperation between the United Nations and the People's Republic of China.