The crisis in Ukraine continues unabated even as new conflict has flared up in West Asia. Traditional and non-traditional security threats are interlocked and global deficits in peace, development, security and governance are growing. What has happened to the world? How should we respond? These are profound questions that have been raised by the world, by history and by the times, and challenge mankind to search for answers.
An opportunity for China and India
As Asian civilisations that have been living side by side for thousands of years, China and India share common thoughts on the future and destiny of mankind. The Chinese people have cherished the vision of “a world of fairness and justice for the common good” since ancient times. Ancient Indian literature also records the motto of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”.
In the 1950s, China and India jointly initiated the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, which has turned into basic norms governing international relations. As two largest developing countries and emerging market economies, each with a population of over one billion, China and India are both at a crucial stage of development and revitalisation. They have the responsibility, the ability and the opportunity to once again illuminate the path forward for mankind with Oriental wisdom. The answer China’s President Xi Jinping gives out is to build a global community of a shared future. A white paper China recently released titled “A Global Community of Shared Future: China’s Proposals and Actions”, systematically lays out the theoretical base, practice and development of that over the past decade. It advocates forging greater synergy to achieve lasting peace, developing a conducive environment for common security, instilling greater confidence in common development, providing sustainable driving forces for mutual learning among civilisations, and taking more actions to protect the ecology.
The vision of a global community of shared future has been included in United Nations General Assembly Resolutions for six consecutive years and incorporated in the resolutions and declarations of multilateral mechanisms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and BRICS. It has won the international community’s understanding and support, especially among developing countries, and has a clear path forward.
Vision points
These are: Keep to the correct direction of economic globalisation. Jointly build an open world economy that reflects the demands and represents the interests of developing countries. Unilateralism, protectionism, decoupling, and the zero-sum game of the “winner-takes-all” should be rejected.
Follow the right path of peaceful development. The world needs peace, just like people need air and sunshine. The trend today is the pursuit of peace, development, cooperation, and win-win results. The old path of colonialism and hegemonism leads to a dead end and those who follow it will pay a heavy price. Only by working together to pursue peace, safeguard peace, and share peace, can countries achieve their development goals and make greater contributions to the world.
Foster a new type of international relations. By building a global community of a shared future, emerging countries and established powers can avoid falling into the Thucydides trap and build common ground and achieve common development for different civilisations and countries with different social systems. Countries should uphold the principles of mutual respect, equity and justice, and mutually beneficial cooperation so as to build broader and deeper global partnerships based on equality, openness, and cooperation.
Practice true multilateralism. Building cliques in the name of multilateralism is no more than bloc politics. Seeking supremacy in the name of multilateralism is still unilateral thinking. “Selective multilateralism” is practising double standards. The world should be fair and free from domineering practices. There is only one system for the world, which is the international system with the United Nations at its core. There is only one order for the world, which is the international order based on international law. There is only one set of rules for the world, which is the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
Promote the common values of peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom of humanity. There is no single model of democracy that is universally applicable, far less a superior one. Promoting the common values of humanity is about seeking common ground while reserving differences, harmony without uniformity, and fully respecting the diversity of civilisations and the right of all countries to independently choose their social systems and development paths.
China’s contributions
Over the past decade, China has contributed its strength to building a global community of a shared future with firm conviction and solid actions. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become a popular global public good and a cooperation platform provided by China to the world. The Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative point to the direction of human progress across three dimensions and have evolved into a crucial cornerstone for building a global community of a shared future, providing comprehensive solutions to the challenges confronting humanity.
With a third of the global population, China and India are natural partners in building a global community of a shared future. China and India could jointly work hand in hand with global development, security and civilisation initiatives to demonstrate the common will and resolution of the Global South countries to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity.
Ma Jia is Chargé d’Affaires ad interim (a.i.) of the Chinese Embassy in India
