Human Community with A Common Future

A community with a shared future for mankind. It has been a new concept on international relations and the future of mankind put forward by the Chinese government and leaders since 2011. The basic connotation is: all countries coexist on the same Earth and in the same world; they should take into account the reasonable concerns of others in the pursuit of their own interests, and promote the development of all countries in the pursuit of their own development. With the deepening of economic globalization, the world became increasingly interdependent. Common interests linked different countries together, and countries needed to maintain this bond in order to realize their own interests.

Problems such as food security, resource shortage, climate change, cyber attacks, population explosion, environmental pollution, epidemics, transnational crimes, terrorism and other non-traditional security issues kept popping up, posing severe challenges to the international order and human survival. No matter where people live and what their beliefs are, whether they are aware of it or not and apart from their subjective intentions, they are objectively and actually in a community with a shared future. It was against this backdrop that the international community is reflecting critically on the traditional view of national interests characterized by exclusion and zero-sum games.

In September 2011, the Information Office of the State Council issued the white paper titled as “China’s Peaceful Development”, which for the first time proposed the concept of “a community with a shared future”. It attempted to seek the new connotations of common interests and common values of mankind from a new perspective. In 2012, the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China first proposed and explained the concept of “a community with a shared future for mankind”. After taking office as General Secretary, when he met with foreign officials for the first time, Xi Jinping raised the idea that the international community had increasingly become an interdependent community of shared destiny, and in the face of the complex situation of the world economy and global problems, no single country could stay safe alone. On September 28, 2015, Xi Jinping delivered a speech entitled “Working Together to Create a New Mutually Beneficial Partnership and Community With a Shared Future for Mankind” at the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly, in which the concept was further explained.

Xi Jinping pointed out: “In today’s world, all countries are interdependent and share a common future. We should renew our commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, build a new model of international relations based on cooperation for the benefit of all, and create a community with a shared future for mankind.” In 2017, the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China stressed to “keep promoting the construction of a community with a a shared future for mankind” and made it one of the basic policies for upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. In the report, Xi Jinping called on: “the people of all countries to work together to build a community with a shared future for mankind, to build an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity”.

History teaches us that the law of the jungle will not lead to the coexistence of human society and that the arbitrary use of force cannot make the world a better place. To pursue peace, development and cooperation and oppose war, eliminate poverty and avoid confrontation in order to build a harmonious world of enduring peace and common prosperity—this is what the people of all countries long for. Peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit are the trends of the times and the noble cause of the United Nations.

China advocates and promises to build a community with a shared future for mankind. China will take a new approach to developing state-to-state relations with communication, not confrontation, and with partnership, not alliance; stick together with the world through thick and thin, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and make economic globalization more open, inclusive, and balanced so that its benefits are shared by all; respect the diversity of civilizations, and replace estrangement with exchange, clashes with mutual learning, and superiority with coexistence in handling relations among civilizations; respect the right of the people of all countries to choose their own development path, endeavor to uphold international fairness and justice, and oppose acts that impose one’s will on others or interfere in the internal affairs of others as well as the practice of the strong bullying the weak; actively develop global partnerships and expand the convergence of interests with other countries, promote coordination and cooperation with other major countries and work to build a framework for major country relations featuring overall stability and balanced development; support multilateral trade regimes and work to facilitate the establishment of free trade areas and build an open world economy; follow the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration in engaging in global governance, take an active part in reforming and developing the global governance system, and keep contributing Chinese wisdom and strength to global governance.

The concept of a community with a shared future for mankind comprises the vast and deep foundation of Chinese civilization gene: from the peaceful thought of “harmony is precious” and “peace among all nations”, to the philosophy of “do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself” and “within the four seas all men are brothers”; to the idealism in “take the public interests into account” and “in obscurity, maintain your own integrity; in times of success, make perfect the whole empire”. Advocating standing together with other actors through thick and thin is a concept of harmony that will be passed down from generation to generation.

Since the Reform and Opening-up, China has paid more and more attention to the common interests of mankind and has made itself a “stakeholder” in the international community. The concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, together with peace and development, is the theme of today’s world. As a major economy and responsible country, China advocates a common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security concept, which is the inheritance and development of its former policies, such as “the principle of sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith” towards developing countries and the principle of “amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness” in dealing with the neighboring countries.

In essence, it is interrelated with these concepts and policies, and inherits and develops them. The concept of a community with a shared future for mankind transcends the boundaries of race, civilization, nation, and ideology. It provides a feasible plan for promoting world peace and development. However, the construction of such a community will be a long, complicated and tortuous process, because some countries still adhere to power politics, hegemonism, and Cold War mentality. The situation will not be changed in a short time.

China will continue its efforts to safeguard world peace, contribute to global development, uphold international order, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.