This aerial photo taken on Nov. 23, 2022 shows a Fuxing bullet train running on the Yuanjiang bridge of the China-Laos Railway in southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)
Editor’s note:
This year marks the 10th anniversary when the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in March, 2013. Since then, the concept has evolved into a vision with global significance, and been recognized by more and more countries and international organizations. Let’s review some of the key quotes of Xi to gain a better understanding of the concept.
We must strive to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. China's development benefits the world, and China cannot develop itself in isolation from the world.
— Chinese President Xi Jinping’s address at the closing meeting of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress, March 13, 2023
We sincerely call upon all countries to hold dear humanity’s shared values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom; to promote mutual understanding and forge closer bonds with other peoples; and to respect the diversity of civilizations.
— Xi’s report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, October 16, 2022
Mankind, by living in the same global village in the same era where history and reality meet, has increasingly emerged as a community of common destiny in which everyone has in himself a little bit of others.
— Xi’s speech at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Russia, March 23, 2013
About the concept:
Ten years ago, while expounding on China's views on international affairs at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for forging a community with a shared future for mankind, where each person has a stake in the other.
The vision has been written into the Constitution of the Communist Party of China, the Constitution of the country, as well as documents of multilateral mechanisms, including the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It has increasingly become an international consensus.
According to the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, building a human community with a shared future is the way forward for all the world’s peoples. Only when all countries pursue the cause of common good, live in harmony, and engage in cooperation for mutual benefit will there be sustained prosperity and guaranteed security.
China is committed to building
•a world of lasting peace through dialogue and consultation,
•a world of universal security through collaboration and shared benefits,
•a world of common prosperity through mutually beneficial cooperation,
•an open and inclusive world through exchanges and mutual learning,
•a clean and beautiful world through green and low-carbon development.
China’s efforts:
▘The burgeoning Belt and Road cooperation shows how China translates its words into deeds, and how the concept helps change the world.
•Over the past decade, the Belt and Road has galvanized nearly 1 trillion U.S. dollars of investment, established more than 3,000 cooperation projects, created 420,000 local jobs, and helped lift almost 40 million people out of poverty.
▘When it comes to safeguarding global peace, China has also upheld the spirit of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
•Committed to promoting a new type of international relations, China has been deepening and expanding global partnerships based on equality, openness, and cooperation.
•China is a major troop contributor and the second-largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, and has set up an 8,000-strong peacekeeping standby force.
▘ China has put forward the Global Development Initiative (GDI) , the Global Security Initiative (GSI) and the Global Civilization Initiative.
•Drawing a blueprint for a more inclusive development of the world, the GDI has won international recognition. More than 100 countries and a number of international organizations, including the United Nations, have committed support to the GDI, and close to 70 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the GDI.
•The GSI advocates a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, follows the philosophy that humanity is an indivisible security community, and aims to create a new path to security that features dialogue over confrontation, partnership over alliance and win-win over zero-sum.
•The Global Civilization Initiative called for respect for diversity of civilizations, advocating the common values of humanity, highly valuing the inheritance and innovation of civilizations, and jointly advocating robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.
▘China has been sharing opportunities with the world through the China International Import Expo, establishing pilot zones for Silk Road e-commerce cooperation, bringing into force the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and applying for membership in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
▘As presidency of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, China has coordinated and communicated with various parties and stakeholders in an effort to generate consensus. As a result, participating countries have reached the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a historic agreement to address the loss of biodiversity and restore natural ecosystems.
Extended reading:
Xi stresses building human community with shared future
Full text of the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China
Explainer: How is China's vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind viewed?
World Insights: China's new journey of development brings win-win opportunities for the world
World Insights: How China brings prosperity, stability to world
