Chinese President Xi Jinping has presented a "Zun of Peace" as a gift to the United Nations to mark the world body's 70th anniversary.
President Xi says the gift represents China's "high regard" and support for the UN at the unveiling ceremony at the U.N. Headquarters in New York.
"The Zun of Peace is modeled after Zun, a bronze ritual object used in ancient China. Zun means reverence in Chinese and this bronze ritual object is highly important in traditional Chinese culture. This gift represents China's high regard and support for the United Nations and the best wishes of over 1.3 billion Chinese people to the organization."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon expressed thanks for the gift and praised China for its recent contributions to the fight against worldwide poverty.
"I would also like to thank China and Chinese people for the vital role it played in enabling the world to cut poverty in half, thereby meeting the millennium development goals."
President Xi pledged on behalf of China two billion US dollars to aid UN efforts to end extreme poverty worldwide by the year 2030.
