Beijing Initiative gives blueprint for global communication, not confrontation

“A community with a shared future for mankind” can help build a better world, freeing people from fear, poverty and isolation.

The Beijing Initiative document, released after the recent Communist Party of China in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting, called for fostering and embracing the idea of a shared future in place of self-concerned and dichotomic mentalities.

In face of the complex and profound changes globally, war is not the only challenge threatening people’s aspirations. Aside from challenges such as hunger, North-South development imbalances, severe wealth gaps and a digital divide, terrorism, cyber insecurity, infectious diseases, climate change and other nontraditional security threats are hindering our steps toward a better world.

No country can address the many challenges facing humanity alone and no country can afford to retreat into self-isolation. The old winner-takes-all mentality will eventually barricade the “winner’s” path and impair the future of humanity.

New thinking on common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security will help promote world security governance in decades to come, while a Cold-War mentality, power politics and zero-sum-games should be discarded.

Protectionism, exclusionism and isolationism should give way to multilateral trade, win-win cooperation and macro policy coordination.

It is the right approach to nurture healthy international relations with communication instead of confrontation.

Peace and development underpin and reinforce one another. Peace is the precondition for development, while sustained development holds the key to guarding against chaos and safeguarding peace.

Over 700 million people worldwide are still living in abject poverty. China has lifted more than 700 million people out of poverty since its reform and opening-up, and aims to eradicate absolute rural poverty by 2020. China will not export the Chinese model, but the country’s successful experience can offer new options for other nations.

Differences among civilizations should be driving forces for development instead of the causes of conflict.

In a community with shared future for mankind, cultural barriers should be removed, and many civilizations can flourish and grow in harmony.

With no precedents or past experiences to draw from in building a community with shared future for humanity, courage and responsibility will lead us forward.