Wealth & Money Quote by Li Peng

"All countries... are equal members of the international community" is the kind of egalitarian phrasing that reads like a moral principle while functioning as a geopolitical instrument. Coming from Li Peng, a top Chinese state official during the late Cold War and the post-1989 backlash, the line works less as idealism than as positioning: China casting itself as the spokesman for sovereignty against a world order still dominated by Western institutions, Western media, and Western conditions.

The intent is strategic reassurance. For smaller states, it offers dignity: you matter, your voice counts, you needn’t accept lectures. For larger powers, it’s a preemptive rebuke: don’t treat influence as a license to set rules unilaterally. The subtext is that “equality” doesn’t mean shared values; it means non-interference. Human rights, democratization, and “international norms” get reframed as optional add-ons or, more pointedly, as tools of pressure wielded by the strong.

Context sharpens the edge. In the aftermath of Tiananmen, China faced sanctions and diplomatic isolation; insisting on equal standing is also a demand for legitimacy on China’s terms. It’s a counternarrative to condemnation: you may be powerful, but you’re not entitled to judge. The phrase “has always maintained” is its quiet power play, rewriting continuity into policy and making a contested stance sound like settled doctrine.

Rhetorically, the parallel pairs (big/small, rich/poor, strong/weak) create a rhythm that feels like common sense, which is precisely how it smuggles in its real claim: the inviolability of state authority, even when the world is watching.