CHINESE-STYLE MAJOR-COUNTRY DIPLOMACY BREAKS NEW GROUND IN GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
Breaks New Ground in Global Governance
The new concepts, philosophies, and strategies that Chinese President Xi Jinping has raised on Chinese-style major-country diplomacy have achieved steady progress in the country’s statecraft.
THE world is changing and evolving, and so is China. Each fuels the other’s interactions and interplays. Steadfastly pursuing the path of peaceful development, China is a major motive force for promoting world peace and prosperity. In recent years, the new concepts, philosophies, and strategies that Chinese President Xi Jinping has raised on Chinese-style major-country diplomacy have achieved steady progress in the country’s statecraft. All contribute significantly towards establishing a new model of international relations, one which, centered on win- win cooperation, will make the global governance system more just, fair, and reasonable, and ultimately build a community of common destiny for all humankind.
Reform and Improve the Global Governance System
Driven by the Industrial Revolution, Western countries came to the fore in recent centuries and built a West-oriented structure of international relations. The supporting global governance system, encompassing politics, economy, science and technology, and culture, took shape during this process. Certain developing countries that successively obtained independence after WWII became main constituents of international relations. The adjustments to the system they impelled were manifested in the formation of the United Nations and its core organs, notably the Security Council. Over the past seven decades, this organization has undoubtedly played a key role in safeguarding world peace and promoting global economy.
However, certain aspects of it, due to historical factors, are undeniably inequitable, unjust, and hence unreasonable. Meantime, rapid globalization and the growth of emerging economies are dramatically altering the balance of world power. They highlight the rising dichotomy between progress and the established ongoing system of international relations and global governance, underlining the imperative need for its reform and improvement.
The solution lies in whether or not the world should retrogress to the confrontations and conflicts of recent history, or jettison obsolete biases and embark on a track of peaceful development and win-win cooperation. The
world must seriously consider and devise ways of reforming the present global governance system to facilitate a smooth transition of its international relations.
China, under this new circumstance, is committed to peaceful development. The key to China’s success lies in making its own and global opportunities interchangeable. This would achieve mutual benefit and win- win outcomes through benign international interactions, or in other words, returning favors with favors. China and other countries may then cleave to peaceful development rather than advancing in opposite directions. Such peaceful development, however, should not be at the cost of a country’s legitimate rights and interests or core benefits.
Reform usually stems from free thinking. Effective and deep reform of systems and mechanisms can only be achieved through progressive perceptions and philosophies. Reforms to the global governance system are no exception. The financial crisis that broke out in 2008 and the economic crisis that followed in its wake ended the Western monopoly on global economic governance. Social reality abandoned Neoliberalism and the Washington Consensus, upheld by Western countries for decades, to pursue full privatization, marketization, and liberalization. The world has since reflected on and sought reform of the global governance system.
Throughout its diplomatic and domestic advancement, China has developed theories, based on experi- ence, that are beneficial both to itself and the world as a whole. Their key elements constitute the principles of Chinese- style major- country diplomacy. In contributing to the construction of a new model of international relations and reshaping the global governance system, China promotes a new concept based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation. Under its guidance, as it takes the chance to reform the International Monetary Fund, China hopes to promote new ideas on the international financial system that better reflect the changing balance of world power and give emerging economies more say in its operation and rule making.
Combining this new concept with experience gained from globalization and regional integration, China initiated the joint building of the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (Belt and Road Initiative) through consultation with the 60 or more countries along these routes, so accommodating the interests of all. China has moreover taken the lead in establishing new-type international financial institutions, notably the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund, which will provide financial support for the Belt and Road Initiative.
Different from revolution, the target of reforms is orderly adjustments to the existing system. Therefore, the U.S. and other Western countries may rest assured that China has no intention of overturning the current system
and setting up a brand new one. Having benefited from globalization and the existing system of international relations and global governance, China, as it advances, integrates deeper into international relations and participates more in global governance. For example, cognizant of the long road to World Trade Organization membership, China nevertheless went all out to join this global association. Even though the Doha Round seemed to portend the organization’s dissolution, China persisted. It called instead for the streamlining and integration of more than 400 free trade agreements across the world to establish a new trade arrangement that would facilitate free global trade and investment. There can be no retrogression on the road to globalization and enactment of global governance. Mutually beneficial cooperation led by reforms and innovations constitute the sole long-term path to restoring the economies of developed countries and helping emerging economies to overcome difficulties while maintaining their growth momentums. Effecting reforms to the global governance system should take into account the interests of all parties, rather than developing one’s own at the cost of others’. Prosperity is meaningful only when it is achieved on all sides.
Forge an Interdependent Global Partnership
China urges all countries to enhance their awareness of a community of shared interest, responsibilities, and common destiny wherein humankind may forge an interdependent global partnership.
This goal indeed involves the international order. In this era where the new industrial and information revolutions are spreading, relations between China, the emerging power, and the U.S., the incumbent power, along with those between China and the rest of the world are changing dramatically. There has never been such an imminent and urgent demand for the world to set up a community of interest, responsibilities and common destiny for all humankind.
Nevertheless, there remains a big gap, due to historical factors and present realities, between the existing international order and the community of common destiny to which countries aspire. It is disturbing to observe how the current global governance system is patently inca- pable of tackling a good number of global problems, and that it is undermined by geopolitics.
In recent years, President Xi has publicly confirmed on several occasions that China is committed to building, hand-in-hand with other countries, a harmonious and coexistent community of common destiny for all humankind. A relatively free flow of people, capital, and goods in the globalization era closely binds each country’s destiny. In a sense, no product today is produced outside the globalized context. Production and value chains – whether of aircraft, smartphones, or foods served on our tables – are planned and operated from the perspective of global distribution and allocation. That is to say, no single country can merely focus on itself or see the world from an outdated vantage point. Its future progress will otherwise be hampered.
But what is the basis for a community of common destiny – the UN Charter’s avowal that sovereign states, large and small, are equal members of the international community? Or the law of the jungle whereby only the strongest survive? The trend of negating a country’s sovereignty has prevailed in recent years. Certain Western countries, due to their great national strength and military prowess, have displayed willfulness in this respect. Certain great big powers in the West, for instance, alleged that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. They thereupon dispatched troops there, a move that resulted
in regime changes, death, and destruction. Worse still, a few years later these troops were withdrawn, leaving the country in ruins and turmoil. What kind of international order is this? What happened to equity and justice? The “Color Revolutions” led by certain Western countries have also spread throughout the world. People are easily instigated into protesting against anything they’re not satisfied with. Such protests evolve into civil strife that brings regime changes, economic chaos, and ruined lives.
Considerable instances of power politics have occurred over the last decades that are in direct opposition to the philosophy of a community of common destiny. But the reasons for confrontations and injustices throughout the world today are not due to obsolescence of the purposes and principles formulated in the UN Charter. Rather, because democracy in international relations, as embodied in the UN Charter, is not fully exercised.
Sovereign equality is the core of a community of common destiny. It is on this basis that China advocates the forging of a global partnership featuring interdependence, mutual trust, and equality. As a foundation on which to build the community of common destiny, the partnership will act as a network for equal sovereignties to carry out mutually beneficial cooperation and development. At the same time, it is an effective shield that can protect smaller and weaker countries.
Establishing a community of common destiny for all humankind requires shared righteous values and cultural dialogues. The key to sound relations between states lies in the affinity between their peoples, which stems largely from mutual understanding. In his speech at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2015, President Xi raised the idea of holding a “dialogue of Asian civilizations.” In subsequent speeches he has also stressed the perception that it is possible for the various cultures of different countries to coexist in a diversified and multi-polar world.
The thought some powers hold that countries of different values cannot get along does not conform to the reality wherein our world’s cultures and values are becoming more diversified. It violates the very law of development of human civilization. Such a thought is moreover likely to provoke interventionist tendencies to willfully meddle in the internal affairs of other countries, on the pretext of holding the moral high ground. Contrary to this, the community of common destiny highlights a harmonious coexistence where countries respect one another’s values, development modes, and political systems. Meanwhile inter-country governmental communication and cultural exchanges are also encouraged, to make the best of all parties and promote the progress of all humankind.
Develop a New Security Concept
China supports a new security vision that is common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable. It expects all countries to coordinate development and security – improving security through development while safeguarding development through security – so creating a virtuous circle.
Security and development are the crucial elements of a global governance system. The world is not at peace, and a zero-sum Cold War mentality remains. The Middle East, source of huge numbers of escaping refugees, has suffered devastating disorder due to the intervention of certain Western powers and the impact of the so-called Arab Spring. The Ukrainian crisis, which continues to rumble on, is influencing security in Europe, as well as U.S.-Russia and U.S.-Europe relations. Many hot issues remained unresolved after the Cold War ended, and continue to plague the countries and regions involved.
In hopes of understanding and dealing with international relations from the perspective of a community of common destiny for all humankind, we advise abandonment of the old way of thinking – that of ensuring one’s own security at the expense of others. We are as well firmly opposed to the overt zero-sum mentality in today’s Asia. On the pretext of its strategy of rebalancing towards the Asia-Pacific, the U.S. has increased its military investments in this region, particularly in East Asia and the West Pacific. It has at the same time built up military alliances and carried out more frequent large-scale military drills. The U.S. is moreover directly intervening in the South China Sea issue, so exacerbating the East Asian security situation. Motivated by this U.S. stance, some Asian countries, notably Japan and the Philippines, are reinforcing their arms with a view to achieving their specific aims.
At present, East Asia tends to rely on China for economy and to depend on the U.S. for security. Separating development from security is not sustainable, and could lead to insecurity, so hampering development. Resolving global and regional governance over security and progress is a primary concern. Guided by the new security vision, a new security order must be set up in East Asia – even across the entire continent. The sustainable security generated by collaboration and comprehensive policies and strategies will guarantee vigorous development in the region. Big powers are expected to play an appropriate leading role in this respect. Therefore, it is important for China and the U.S. to build a new model of major-country relationship featuring no conflict, no confrontation, mutually respect, and win-win cooperation. On the other hand, the Belt and Road Initiative offers a roadmap and feasible plan for China and related countries to launch mutually beneficial cooperation and construct the community of common destiny.
China urges all countries to enhance their awareness of a community of shared interest, responsibilities, and common destiny wherein humankind may forge an interdependent global partnership.