Xi's vision still resonates after 4 years

Idea of building community with shared future for mankind wins global support

On Jan 18, 2017, President Xi Jinping explained his vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind in a speech at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, as China's answer to the challenges and problems facing the world.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, Xi's vision has become increasingly significant and has been widely accepted worldwide as the international community responded to the unprecedented public health crisis while striving to promote socioeconomic development.

In a recent letter to Xi, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez said countries should be united, respect and support each other against the disruption caused by the pandemic and commit to building a community with a shared future for mankind.

While talking over the phone with Xi on Dec 15, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera Echenique expressed his country's willingness to work with China to advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

He said Chile is willing to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with China, jointly safeguard a fair and free trade system, and strengthen communication and coordination on major issues such as sustainable development and climate change.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, countries including Pakistan, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos have agreed with China to build a community with a shared future to strengthen bilateral ties. At the regional level, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, African countries, Arab states and Latin American and Caribbean nations have reached consensuses with China on the initiative.

In a telephone conversation with Xi last month, Bounnhang Vorachith, then general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee, said his country stands ready to join with China in implementing the action plan of the Laos-China community with a shared future and will strive for greater development of Laos-China relations.

When Xi visited the United Nations Office in Geneva on Jan 18, 2017, he delivered a keynote speech entitled Work Together to Build a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind. In the speech, he called for building an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity to achieve shared and win-win development, and he explained how countries can build such a community.

In February 2017, the phrase was incorporated into a UN resolution for the first time by the 55th UN Commission for Social Development. It has also been adopted by the UN Security Council, the Human Rights Council and the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, thus turning the Chinese concept into an international consensus.

In recent years, Xi has used multilateral occasions to systematically explain China's perspectives on development, security, cooperation, civilizations and global governance to offer China's solutions in dealing with global challenges.

His propositions fully demonstrate the nation's firm resolve and strong responsibility to work with the rest of the world to build a community with a shared future for mankind, said Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, in an article published in Qiushi Journal, a flagship magazine of the CPC Central Committee, on Jan 1.

The pandemic has reminded the world that countries share a common destiny and need to stand together in the face of the crisis, which has made it more important and imperative to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, said Yang, who is also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee.

Pandemic response

As COVID-19 hit the world with an unprecedented impact, Xi has championed solidarity and cooperation in the global fight against the virus. He used head-of-state diplomacy to send a clear message that the virus respects no borders and disease does not distinguish between races, and humankind is a community with a shared future.

In 2020, Xi took part in 87 video meetings and phone calls with foreign leaders and heads of international organizations and participated in 22 important bilateral or multilateral events. During these diplomatic activities, he repeatedly underlined the importance of advancing the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

The global fight against COVID-19 has fully proved that building a community with a shared future for mankind is the right way for the whole world to cope with global challenges and build a more prosperous and better world, observers said.

The international community is a family that shares weal and woe, Yang said, and unilateralist and protectionist policies or the practices of extreme pressure and blackmail are not workable and are doomed to fail. Mutual support and win-win cooperation are the only way forward, he added.

BRI cooperation

The pandemic has sped up the transformation of the international landscape, causing a deep economic recession and affecting global industrial and supply chains. However, the Belt and Road Initiative, which is considered as a platform for building a community with a shared future for mankind and a new path to improve global governance, has demonstrated strong vitality and resilience despite these challenges.

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in an interview earlier this month that the past year witnessed BRI partners supporting each other and forging a "bond of solidarity" to control the coronavirus and pursue common development.

The China-Europe Railway Express transported more freight in the first 10 months of 2020 than in the whole year of 2019 and helped countries with their COVID-19 response, according to the Foreign Ministry. The Silk Road in the Air has enabled shipments of over 1,700 metric tons of medical supplies from China.

In the first three quarters of 2020, China's nonfinancial direct investment in countries involved in the BRI reached $13 billion, an increase of nearly 30 percent year-on-year.

"Most BRI projects have continued uninterrupted and without layoffs, and a number of new projects have been launched as scheduled," Wang said. "This has brought much-needed warmth to this harsh winter in the world economy and contributed to the efforts of partner countries in fighting COVID-19."

In his message to the High-Level Video Conference on Belt and Road International Cooperation in June, Xi proposed developing the Belt and Road into a model of cooperation, health, recovery and growth.

Addressing the Understanding China Conference in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in November, Shanghai Cooperation Organization Secretary-General Vladimir Norov commended Belt and Road cooperation, saying that it helps expand trade partnerships, promotes capital flows and rejuvenates the ancient Silk Road.