The Five Principles of Peace were first written by Premier Zhou Enlai of China on December 31, 1953.
The Principles are:
1. Mutual respect for each nation’s territorial integrity and sovereignty
2. Mutual non-aggression
3. Mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs
4. Equality and mutual benefit
5. Peaceful co-existence
These words were written at a time when people everywhere were weary of decades of world war, civil war, invasion and occupation. Major cities around the world lay in ruins, re-building from conflict; millions of refugees sought new homes. Hunger, poverty and sickness cut down the young. The flower of an entire generation had been sacrificed, and more war loomed. Billions of people sought encouragement.
They asked — could there be an end to the violence and destruction?
Zhou Enlai’s simple answer was — there are some fundamentals that we can agree upon, among the nations of the world. He acknowledged — we have profound differences in ideology, economics, social policy, in our religious, cultural and racial identities. He drafted the Five Principles, and found a ready audience.
