Building Up the New International Order

To establish a new international order is to establish a new international political and economic order. The new order is relative to the old international order characterized by hegemonism and power politics. The international order is the general term of the principles and mechanisms that restrict and regulate international relations, involving what principles, means and methods the international community employs to deal with international relations. The new international order mainly refers to the new international economic order and the new international political order. The proposition by the CPC on establishing a new international order was put forward by Deng Xiaoping after Reform and Opening-up and was particularly emphasized after the end of the bipolar pattern in the early 1990s. The international order in history is based on competing for the interests between the great powers, which is commonly known as the “old international order”. Its essential characteristics are hegemonism and power politics, that is, a few strong and large countries, relying on their economic and military strength, monopolize international affairs and interfere other countries’ internal affairs, and trample on the sovereignty of other countries; relying on the unreasonable international division of labor and the unreasonable international trading system, exploit and plunder weak, poor and small countries; even use force to invade and occupy other countries. The old international economic order is the world economic order in which imperialism and colonialism control, plunder and exploit colonies and developing countries.

China and the vast number of developing countries have always advocated that the main contents of the new international order should include: every country is equal regardless of size, strength and wealth; respecting each country’s right to choose its own development path and political, economic and social systems, opposing to interference internal affairs of other countries, and maintaining international fairness and justice; each country participates in solving world economic issues on an equal basis; handling economic exchanges, and promoting common development based on the principles of equality, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation, and the long-term development of the world cannot be established on the basis that one group of countries is getting richer while another group of countries is chronically poor and backward; and replacing confrontation with cooperation and replacing monopoly with win-win results. After World War II, although the original colonial and semi-colonial countries gained independence, the unreasonable international division of labor in the field of production and the unequal international trade relations in the field of exchange enabled developed countries, taking advantage of their strong economic and scientific and technological strength, to squeeze down the prices of primary products of developing countries and make huge profits in technology transfer. Since the 1960s, especially since the 1970s, with the basic completion of the historical task of national independence, the issue of international economic order has become more prominent.

In order to develop the economy independently and oppose hegemonism, developing countries put forward the idea of establishing a new international economic order through North-South dialogue in the early 1960s. In October 1964, the Second Meeting of the Heads of Non-aligned Countries or Governments clearly put forward the slogan of establishing a new international economic order for the first time. The 6th Special Session of the UN General Assembly held in 1974 adopted documents such as the “Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order” and the “Programme of Action on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order” drafted by the G77. Since the 1980s, with the efforts of developing countries, there have been some changes in international economic relations that are beneficial to developing countries, but the old international economic order has not fundamentally changed. From the end of the Cold War to the outbreak of the US subprime mortgage crisis and the global financial crisis in 2008, under the impact of US unipolar hegemony and economic globalization, the overall status of developing countries had declined significantly, the North-South contradictions intensified, and the disputes between the old and new international orders become more intense. Developed countries maintain their vested interests and status in the international economic system economically, enforce their systems and values politically, interfere in the internal affairs of developing countries under the pretext of human rights and arms control, frequently use military (e.g., willful use or threat of force), political and economic means to impose sanctions on developing countries and impose western democratic and human rights standards on developing countries.

The establishment of a new international political and economic order conforms to the common interests of human society and is an urgent requirement for peace and development. China actively advocates the establishment of a fair, reasonable and sustainable new international political and economic order. In the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union disintegrated and the bipolar pattern ended, Deng Xiaoping made a clear proposal to establish a new international order. He pointed out on December 21, 1988: “The general situation in the world is changing, and all countries are considering corresponding new policies to establish a new international order”. In September 1991, the Chinese government proposed at the UN General Assembly to establish a new peaceful, stable, just and reasonable international order, linking the new international economic order with the new international political order. It is emphasized that the new international political order shall be based on the “Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence”, and the new international economic order based on equality and mutual benefit, and that each country has the right to choose a social system, economic model and development path that suits its national conditions. China's proposition has injected new content into the struggle to establish a new international order.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has further proposed to establish a new international order of win-win cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. It advocated to cooperate in competition, achieve win-win results in cooperation, build a community with a shared future for mankind, and embark on a new road of inter-state exchanges featured by "dialogue rather than confrontation, and partnership instead of alignment". In recent years, in view of the relative economic decline of Western countries headed by the United States and the backward tendency of the United States in the multilateral trading system, a group of emerging developing countries represented by China and other BRIC countries have benefited from the significant realization of economic globalization and economic rise, the differentiation of developing countries in the development model and development speed, the trend of more balanced international power, and the reality of deepened interconnectedness and interdependence of countries, as well as some institutional reforms in the international governance system and international order that are beneficial to developing countries. China has gradually adjusted its strategy of establishing a new international order and recognized the positive side of the existing international system. The 19th CPC National Congress no longer simply repeated the slogan of establishing a new international order, but emphasized “promoting the transformation of the global governance system”, China's role as a “defender of the international order”, and “the Chinese Dream cannot be achieved without a peaceful international environment and a stable international order”, committing to “support the multilateral trading system, promote the construction of free trade zones, and promote the construction of an open world economy”.

At the same time, the Report of the 19th CPC National Congress still called for “promoting the construction of a new type of international relations of mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation”, reiterating to “embark on a new road of inter-state exchanges featured by dialogue rather than confrontation, and partnership instead of alignment”; and pointed out that China upholds the global governance concept of mutual consultation, joint construction and sharing, advocates the democratization of international relations, insists that countries are equal regardless of size, strength and wealth, supports the United Nations in playing an active role, and supports to increase developing countries’ representation and voice in international affairs. China will continue to play the role of a responsible power, actively participate in the reform and construction of the global governance system, and continuously contribute China’s wisdom and strength, including increasing aid to developing countries, especially the least developed countries, and promoting the reduction of the North-South development gap. Apparently, China’s adjustments to these wordings and policies are not only the result of subtle changes in China’s position and interests in the international order, but also the result of the remarkable achievements of the struggles for a new international order in the past half a century. However, in view of the fact that the weak position of developing countries and socialist countries in terms of strength comparison has not fundamentally changed, the struggle to establish a new peaceful, stable, fair, reasonable, and sustainable international order is still a long-term and arduous process.