Wang Yuzhu

The development of human society towards globalization is in fact a process towards a community of shared destiny. However, humanity is easily blinded by local, individual and short-term interests, and the interests of the community are therefore neglected. Meanwhile, the constant global crises that challenge the common interests of mankind have cast a spotlight on the fact that humanity shares common destiny. Preliminarily, the building of the community with a shared future for mankind requires progress from awareness to recognition, and giving priority to common interests. While perception can only transform into action through sincere cooperation among all parties and joint efforts towards the ultimate goal of peace, security and prosperity.

GLOBAL CRISES HIGHLIGHTS COMMON DESTINY

The history of humanity is one towards a common destiny. In the process of globalization, division of labor and cooperation among people from different regions and ethnic groups have intensified, thus deepening interdependence within humanity and fostering a community with a shared future.

I. Common Challenges Underline Common Destiny

The destiny of humanity is elementarily dependent on the combination of interests at multiple layers. Interests concerning human destiny, micro or macro, short-term or longterm, and local or overall, cannot always be achieved without conflicts. However, it is an objective fact that all human beings share common destiny. Specially, in the face of global crises, they usually put aside conflicting interests and divisions and reconnect with the value of the community. From natural disasters like pandemics, earthquakes or tsunamis to man-made disasters such as wars and global or regional economic and financial crises, the enormous catastrophic impacts on human society and the sense of crisis stimulate our kind to break free from the shackles of local, short-term and micro interests, thus incenting a shift from egocentrism to the awareness of the community.

This role of crisis is particularly clear in regional cooperation. In East Asia, for example, the global spread of COVID-19 illustrates the nature of humanity as a community with a shared future. For one thing, the virus is spreading rapidly around the world, attacking humanity indiscriminately, recognizing no borders, systems, races or religions; for the other, the pandemic is severely disrupting the normal functioning of global production networks. With the supply chains cut, global economy declines in a dramatic manner, which has made all countries feel their high dependence on the common economic system.

The current international situation remains complex. The Russia-Ukraine conflict continues with each side fighting for its self-justified interests and taking the other as the destroyer of interests and enemy against the future. Nevertheless, however much the warring parties may hate each other, they cannot escape their common destiny because they are both at war and equally harmed by it. Moreover, the war raised the prices of bulk commodities such as oil, gas and food, which swiftly spread to every corner of the world and once again remind the world of the interdependence of human destiny.

II. Giving Priority to Common Interests

The awareness of shared future doesn’t necessarily generate action in the interests of it. The crisis-response nature of shared destiny means in reality when things go well, nations, communities, social groups and so on tend to ignore others who share with them the same community. Worse still, even when people realize that shared community is real existence, they do not necessarily develop a consciousness to defend the common good. After all, before humans think about the ultimate proposition of the community’s destiny, they are often faced with many specific, microscopic and more immediate options for interests. For groups already divided in nations, regions, faiths and other titles, all the interests are not in harmony, but arguably in most cases they contradict with each other.

In a context where human survival is increasingly dependent on limited resources, a zero-sum game mentality and relative gains orientation has been highly sought after by certain powers in international relations. In China-U.S. relations, for example, the U.S. sees fast-developing China as a challenger with an opposing destiny. The Trump administration had, for this reason, ignored the fact that the economic interests of China and the United States are deeply interdependent and launched a blatant trade war to contain China’s development. The Biden administration has also continued this logic, both with its previously aggressive Indo-Pacific strategy and its recent efforts to build an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, whose essence still lies in the containment of China.

China and UNHCR provide humanitarian supplies to Afghanistan.(Photo/Xinhua)

Anti-pandemic and police supplies from the Chinese government arrive in the Solomon Islands.(Photo/Xinhua)

To some extent, the community with a shared future for mankind is a politics of recognition. In practice, recognizing the community requires putting the common good of humanity first and foremost, making it the first logical starting point for actions. But this is not easy to achieve. The existence of the free-rider phenomenon shows that acting in the common good of humanity is not the first choice of rational actors. For example, in the case of the global prevention and control of the COVID-19, the international community, particularly developed countries, needs to provide vaccine assistance to developing countries in order to bridge the immunization gap. However, because of the huge costs of vaccine production and transportation, vaccine aid from developed countries is always lip service. In short, it is precisely because translating the cognition of a community with a shared future from position to action requires a price to pay, i.e., the expense of local and short-term interests. Consequently, the building of such a community tends to remain a rhetorical exercise. In view of this, the building of such a community requires transformation of perception into action.

THE CHOICES OF THE ACTORS

What the common destiny eventually looks like roots from the actor’s game within human society. If the building of the community is not guided by a philosophy of goodness, human selfishness is likely to lead us into a common doom. Therefore, the building of the community must both pursue the highest good, as Aristotle said, and make it a priority in practice to prevent a descent into the abyss of evil. So, we need to be clear about what actions will make for a better future and reach some degree of consensus on the basic concept of this community with a shared future.

China-Belarus Industrial Park holding an agricultural fair, Belarus.(Photo/Xinhua)

President Xi Jinping’s keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the BFA annual conference 2022 set the starting point for a future vision of an Asian community with a shared future by calling for Asia countries to maintain peace, promote cooperation and foster solidarity. He emphasized only by insisting on peace, cooperation and solidarity could Asia gradually move towards the highest good. His words are a brief summary of the principles that should underpin the building of the community. And before that, President Xi had already made a clear blueprint for the community: a world of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, inclusiveness, cleanliness and beauty. As a more concrete interpretation of the community, the goal contains five aspects of objectives as follows.

Politically, it advocates mutual respect, opposes the Cold War mentality and power politics, and embraces a new approach to state-to-state relations, one that features dialogue rather than confrontation and seeks partnerships rather than alliances. In terms of security, the proposal calls for settling disputes through dialogue and resolving differences through consultation, coordinating responses to traditional and nontraditional threats, and opposing terrorism in all its forms. In the economic sphere, the proposal calls for a spirit of partnership in liberalizing and facilitating trade and investment, and making economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all. The proposal respects cultural diversity and approaches cross-cultural communication by replacing estrangement with exchange, clashes with mutual learning, and a sense of superiority with coexistence. The proposal emphasizes eco-friendliness, cooperation in tackling climate change, and the protection of our planet, the home for all humanity. The design of the goals and rules of conduct for building the community is the basis for its development for good, and is an important contribution of China to its building. It provides the international community with a basic framework of understanding about its concept.

A BETTER FUTURE THROUGH COOPERATION

The multilateralism that has long driven the international community’s continuous cooperation is at risk of being replaced by unilateralism. Globalization is experiencing headwinds, and the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 has blocked international economic cooperation and exacerbated world economic inequality. And the Russia-Ukraine conflict has cast a shadow of new Cold War over the world. A series of crises highlight the nature of international community. At a time when humankind is facing serious challenges, the international community needs to help each other like living in Noah’s ark.

With regard to a better shared future for mankind, China has chosen to start by improving itself and, on this basis, to promote international cooperation and thus work towards building a community with a shared future for mankind. Internally, China has successfully accomplished the daunting task of eradicating absolute poverty, a miraculous achievement that has not only renewed its international image, but has also changed the overall image of human society to a large extent. Externally, the Belt and Road Initiative has further stimulated the international players’ awareness of the shared community through economic and trade cooperation. China has undergone remarkable changes since its reform and opening up, and these achievements prove the correctness of adherence to cooperation. China believes that by facilitating policy coordination, connectivity of infrastructure and facilities, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and closer people-to-people ties, the Belt and Road projects will not only enhance the awareness of shared future through a higher level of interdependence, but also make it possible the future world depicted in the concept. For example, since the outbreak of the COVID-19, the Chinese government has actively mobilized all kinds of resources to fight the pandemic, and has made great efforts to develop the COVID-19 vaccine and ensure the production of pandemic prevention materials. It has provided more than 2.1 billion doses of vaccine to more than 120 countries and international organizations, playing a key role in the international community’s joint fight against the pandemic.

At present, the profound impact of COVID-19 on the planet is gradually emerging, and the various conflicts it has triggered are intertwined, seriously threatening the world’s economic development and the stability of the international order. The situation poses new challenges to the community that relies on a stable international order. To further promote international cooperation, President Xi has put forward the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative. Specifically, the Global Development Initiative advocates staying committed to development as a priority and following the approach that is peoplecentered, inclusive, innovation-driven, and harmony between human and nature while keeping action-oriented; the Global Security Initiative champions commitments in staying committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security; staying committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries; staying committed to abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter; staying committed to taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously; staying committed to peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue and consultation; and staying committed to maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional domains, etc. The two initiatives systematically expound the basic principles that the international community should uphold in its cooperation to build a community with a shared future respectively from the perspectives of promoting global development and maintaining world peace.

China-Laos Railway in northern Laos.(Photo/Xinhua)

Martin Albrow’s new book.(Photo/Xinhua)

In building the community with a shared future, China has not only started from itself, but also actively promoted bilateral and multilateral cooperation. It always holds high the banner of multilateralism in the international context of rising unilateralism and protectionism. By contributing public goods like Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative, China attempts to raise international community’s awareness of our shared destiny and promote the building of a community with a shared future with cooperation as a guarantee.