Yin noted that the conference was the beginning of the rise of developing countries in the post-World War II era and had changed the world political structure and international relationships to a large degree.

For the first time in history, the international conference was initiated and participated in totally by newly independent countries. Previously, all international conferences were initiated, guided and mostly participated in by Western powers, with little input from developing nations. The Bandung Conference ended the era when dominant Western powers totally controlled world affairs, according to Yin.

The conference also led to the influential Non-Aligned Movement worldwide. Leaders of some initiating and participating countries at that time, such as Indonesian President Ahmed Sukarno, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Egyptian Prime Minister Gamal Abdel Nasser, Myanmar Prime Minister U Nu and Cambodian leader Norodom Sihanouk, were all influential in the movement. Meanwhile, most of the 29 participating countries of the conference later became the backbone of the Non-Aligned Movement.

"To a certain extent, the Bandung Conference was the beginning of the rise of the Third World, independent from the two Western and Eastern political blocs, as a world major political force. It broke the two-polar structure featuring confrontation between the United States and former Soviet Union and was the prelude of the process of world multi-polarization," Yin noted, adding that the principles of peace and independence initiated at the conference heralded the principles of peace, neutrality and non-alliance of the Non-Aligned Movement.

According to Yin, the 10 Principles of Bandung adopted by the conference enrich and develop the United Nations Charter and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, consolidating the legal basis of new international relationships. The principles stress respect for all nations' sovereignty and territorial integrity, no intervention in the internal affairs of another country, equality of all races for all nations large and small, respect for justice and international obligations, peaceful arrangement of international disputes, promotion of mutual interests and cooperation and respect for justice and international obligations. They provide sound legal and moral criteria for effective relations among nations.

Scholars agree that the Bandung Conference set off the new upsurge for Asian, African and Latin American people to combat colonialism and maintain national independence and sovereignty, accelerating the disintegration of the colonial system worldwide.

The conference held in the 1950s, not long after World War II, came about at a time when there were still a number of countries under colonial control. It therefore held up those new countries that had won independence from colonialism through their own struggles as examples for those peoples who were resolved to be independent from world powers. After the conference, the world witnessed an upsurge of colonies and dependencies struggling for freedom through independence. While only 30 colonies gained independence in a span of 300 years from the emergence of colonialism to the 1950s, during the 40 years from the conference date to the late 1990s, over 100 colonies gained independence.

"From this sense, the Bandung Conference made an indelible historical contribution to the total fall of colonialism and the rise of the Third World nations," Yin noted.

Promoting New World Order

According to Yin, the 10 Principles of Bandung lay a legal basis for new international relationships.

Everything the old legal principles stood for before the 1950s, most notably establishing world colonial and capitalist powers, with the emphasis on lining their own pockets, the 10 Principles of Bandung are against. Though the old principles also advocated the theme of sovereignty, equality and peace, the world powers insisted these principles only applied for "civilized nations," not for so-called "non-civilized nations." This, in fact, had excluded weaker countries and nationalities from protection of international legal principles, exposing them to foreign intervention and invasion. The 10 Principles of Bandung were found not only suitable for all nations, serving as criteria for conduct for the entire international community, they also provided the legal guarantee of protecting legitimate rights and interests for all countries, especially smaller ones.

Experts say that the nature of the old international legal principles means world powers and developing countries are unequal, ranking position only according to strength. The 10 Principles of Bandung clearly proclaim "recognition of the equality of all races and of the equality of all nations large and small." According to this, all countries, strong or weak, large or small, rich or poor, are equal and have equal rights and position in international affairs.

Yin insisted these old legal principles were gangster logic that gave a green light for colonists to conduct invasions and seize territories of other countries legally. These concepts were discarded in the 10 Principles of Bandung in favor of "sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations," which clearly suggest that the world should refrain from "acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country." This is the legal guarantee for all countries, especially weak countries, to combat invasion and expansion to protect their independence and sovereignty.

The old legal principles also provided reasons for big powers to fight each other. Napoleonic wars, World War I and World War II were all caused by unbalanced strengths among world big powers and these old legal principles' failure to restrain those powers. The 10 Principles of Bandung provide the legal basis to eliminate wars and conflicts and to maintain world peace. "This is the common request of the international community and has become a major factor to restrain wars," Yin noted.

(Source: bjreview.com.cn)