Xi’s community vision praised by m

Senior foreign officials, scholars and media workers have hailed the vision outlined by President Xi Jinping — building a community of shared future for mankind — calling it a viable solution to the rising challenges that plague growth and development across the globe.

Xi has recently reiterated his call for people around the world to work together toward a shared future, making the world peaceful, tranquil, prosperous, open and beautiful.

“With the future in mind, we need to treat each other with respect and as equals,” Xi said in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference last week.

He has stressed the need to promote dialogue and share responsibility, engage in cooperation for win-win results, uphold inclusiveness and seek harmony without uniformity, as well as treat nature with respect and treasure the planet.

Muhammad Fardos Khan, an official in charge of human resources for the Pakistani government, said Xi’s vision sets “a strategic direction for China’s relationship with the rest of the world”.

Khan, a master’s student in the China studies program at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, said he views the vision as providing “a new approach to developing state-to-state relations — with communication, rather than confrontation, and partnerships, rather than alliances”.

The vision will establish comprehensive cooperation among all countries for peace, development and progress; achieve sustainable security; and abandon the outdated mindset of seeking alliances or confrontations, he said, adding that it will also encourage countries to respect one another, help resolve issues between sovereign states through dialogue and cast away and reject a cold-war mentality.

Xi first proposed the concept of a “community of shared future” in 2013, and he elaborated on the vision of building such a community for mankind in a speech in Geneva, Switzerland, last year.

The vision has been incorporated into resolutions and other documents of the United Nations in recent years.

Seth Va of Cambodia, who is also a China studies master’s student at Zhejiang University, said the community vision means China will build strong relations and cooperate not only with its neighbors in Asia but with European countries and others involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. That’s “putting the concept into practice”, he said.

The Belt and Road Initiative has become a large cooperation platform for countries involved to realize their common development, and “after the Belt and Road is established, the trade and infrastructure networks in the community will be successfully developed”, he said.

“The connection between Asia and Europe will be strengthened, and with a good example of cooperation set by the community, all nations will be able to share in common development,” he said.

Seth Va hailed Xi’s “wise direction and management”, and voiced hopes that the mission of the concept will succeed. “In short, sharing is a great culture for human beings,” he said.

Devkota Pramila, a reporter with the newspaper Naya Patrika National Daily in Nepal and a China studies program student, said China’s policy of becoming friends and partners with neighbors, as well as seeking a friendly, secure and prosperous neighborhood, is influenced and inspired by ancient Chinese culture and thought.

Xi’s community vision is based on the traditional sharing culture of the Chinese people, and Xi has been stressing policies that aim to end development disparities among nations, she said.

The China-led Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have been largely inspired by China’s own development experience with infrastructure in achieving economic growth, as well as from its willingness to share and provide funds for the development of its neighbors, she said.

“When development disparities among countries and within countries are addressed, this will lead not only to the betterment of human lives but also provide a solution to the problem of terrorism and extremism. This will definitely help in building a harmonious and prosperous society,” she said.

With a good example of cooperation set by the community, all nations will be able to share in common development.” Cambodian master’s student at Zhejiang University Contact the writers at zhangyunbi@ chinadaily.com.cn