Traditional Chinese Culture and China’s Diplomatic Thinking in the New Era

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Traditional Chinese Culture and China’s Diplomatic Thinking in the New Era

□Xing Liju

Depositing the most profound spiritual pursuits of the Chinese nation, the traditional Chinese culture is the rich nourishment for the nation’s growth and development. The Report at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) points out that we must raise the country’s cultural soft power and cultivate high cultural self-consciousness and self-confidence. President Xi Jinping stressed several times recently that “the traditional Chinese culture is the most outstanding advantage of the Chinese nation and our most profound soft power”.

China and the World from the Perspective of Traditional Chinese Culture

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, Chinese leaders have often viewed in their foreign policy speeches China’s relations with the world from the perspective of traditional Chinese culture.

1. Keeping to the path China has chosen in the complicated world situation

President Xi pointed out recently that China should not copy the political system or development model of other countries; otherwise, it will suffer from dis-acclimation or even disastrous results. The reason is:“Oranges are oranges when growing in south of the Huaihe River, but trifoliate oranges when growing in north of the Huaihe River; they have similar leaves but their fruits taste differently. Why? The soil and climate are different.” A Chinese popular saying goes, “You have to try the shoes on to know if they fit you.” Only the people of a country know best whether the development path suits their country or not. We must keep to the socialist road with Chinese characteristics as it is a road chosen by the Chinese people that suits China’s national conditions. He also pointed out that to have a correct understanding of China, one must avoid the way of the blind men trying to size up the elephant, and to gain an objective understanding, one has to look into the history and reality as well as the material and cultural aspects. It is also necessary to understand the careful and meticulous attitude as well as the efforts of pooling collective wisdom on the part of China. In the environment of complex and changing international situation and fast economic globalization, China must rely on reform and opening-up to achieve greater development in fierce international competition. It is like sailing against the current: you either forge ahead or fall behind. President Xi stressed that our forefathers long ago put forward the idea of constantly striving to become stronger and making fresh progress each and every day. A wise man changes as time and circumstances change. We must keep abreast with the advance of the times and avoid the case of living in the 21st century but thinking as in the times of Cold War and zero-sum game. China’s reform is the selfimprovement and development of the Chinese socialist system; it will bring profound changes to China as well as new development opportunities to the world.

The materialization of the Chinese dream will bring the world opportunities not threats, peace not disturbances, and progress not retrogress.

2. Chinese dream and China’s peaceful development

President Xi pointed out recently that the Chinese dream is the realization of the great renewal of the Chinese nation; it is a dream to pursue peace, happiness and contribution to the world. “Improve yourself when you are in adversity; help others when you succeed.” The materialization of the Chinese dream will bring the world opportunities not threats, peace not disturbances, and progress not retrogress. China will try its best to make contributions to world peace and development. In this process, it will unswervingly pursue the path of peaceful development and never seek hegemony or make expansion. This is a solemn promise China has made to the international community that will never be taken back. The Chinese people cherish friendly sentiments and justice and they are true in word and resolute in action, which derives from the idea of “one must have credibility to stand upright”. Far back in ancient times, the Chinese put forward such peaceful ideas as “a war-like state will eventually perish no matter how big and strong it is”, “affinity, benevolence and good-neighborliness are treasures of a state”, “a strong state must not control the weak and a rich state mustnot bully the poor”, “harmony is most precious”, “achieving great harmony in the world”, and “seeking harmonious relations among all states”. The Chinese nation, which has experienced all sorts of sufferings, cherishes peace and is willing to pursue, safeguard and enjoy peace together with all countries in the world. The Chinese culture stresses “do not impose on others what you would not like others to impose on you”, and hence China will never impose what it has suffered to other countries and nations. President Xi pointed out that peace is like the air and sunshine: you benefit from them without notice but will be unable to survive once you lose them. He also said that peace is warm like the sunshine and nourishing like the rain; only when there are peace and stability, the mankind will be able to better realize their dreams. All countries should be keepers and promoters of peace, complement each other and work for joint progress instead of destabilizing a region or the world for the sake of one’s own interest. Premier Li Keqiang also pointed out that the ideas of “harmony without uniformity” and “harmony is most precious” happen to coincide with the idea of “harmony gives birth to justice and compassion” of the great Western thinkers.

3. Taking the correct approach to principles and interests in international relations

President Xi emphasized that a state must not take interests as interests only but principles as interests too; it must treasure credibility, cherish friendship, uphold justice, and foster righteousness. In international cooperation, attention should be paid to interests but more to principles. Only when you take into account both principles and interests, you will be able to gain both. On many occasions, President Xi emphasized the adherence to and practice of the correct approach to principles and interests, saying that the Chinese nation has all along advocated that “gentlemen take upholding principles as an essential virtue” and stressed that “wealth and rank attained through immoral means are to me as empty as floating clouds”. These are profound expositions of the ideas of putting principles ahead of and on top of interests. President Xi pointed out at the CentralConference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs that China should do a good job in foreign aid to genuinely achieve the goal of “enhancing principles and reaping interests”. While unswervingly following the path of peaceful development, the country should never give up its legitimate rights and interests or sacrifice its core national interests. When considering its own core interests, China will not neglect the demands of other countries. As a major developing country, China finds it all the more necessary to focus on overall, rather than immediate, interests. It should shape the image of a responsible major country and thus gain more interests from the overall principle of world development and the process of long-term development. Chinese culture advocates the idea of “helping others to get established if you want yourself to get established and helping others to succeed if you want yourself to succeed”. In particular, China should give more consideration to the interests of those neighboring and developing countries that have maintained long-term friendship with China but have difficulties in their development. It should give more to but take less from those countries and give first and take later, never profiting at the expense of others or shifting troubles onto others. Only in this way can favorable interaction and common development be achieved.

When considering its own core interests, China will not neglect the demands of other countries.

4. The new international relations concept of “community of common destiny”

The connected effects of “flourishing or perishing together” of all countries have already emerged under the current international situation. Countries can no longer just mind their own business but must cooperate to achieve win-win results because “cooperation brings about strength while isolation makes a country weak”. Living together in the same global village, the mankind should form the consciousness of “community of common destiny”. When addressing the Indonesian Parliament, President Xi mentioned the ancient Chinese ideas of “calculating the universal interests”and “you will have your own if you help others; you will get more if you give out to others” and stressed the necessity to get rid of the zero-sum thinking of “either you or me”. Common development conforms to the long-term and fundamental interests of the peoples of various countries. What China pursues is common development, and hence, it should not only ensure its national interests and development space but also strive to seek the converging points of the interests of various parties and the long-term strategy of common development of China and the whole world to make an increasingly bigger cake of common interests. Citing several times Lao Zi’s saying of “A huge tree grows from a tiny seedling; a high tower rises from a heap of earth”, President Xi emphasized that various countries should be broad-minded like the sea that admits thousands of rivers to realize mutual cooperation and common development. When expounding the Asian community of common destiny, Premier Li quoted a Chinese proverb of“a single string does not make a thread and a single tree does not form a forest” to emphasize the necessity of deepening results-oriented cooperation in various fields among all countries in the region. The basic connotation of the community of common destiny is: adhering to mutual trust and treating each other on equal footing; persisting in win-win cooperation and common development; insisting on realizing common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security; and persevering in the coexistence, exchange and mutual learning of various civilizations.

Elements of Traditional Culture in China’s Diplomatic Thinking in the New Era

China is a country with a long history and ancient civilization. China’s fine traditional culture embodies the unique values of the Chinese nation and is the valuable common wealth of human civilization. As a crystallization of the traditional cultural wisdom of China, China’s diplomatic thinking in the new era manifests in a profound way the features of connection, inclusiveness, harmoniousness and wholeness of the traditional Chinese culture.

1. Connection

Traditional Chinese culture looks at things as connected and evolving matters and maintains that all things are organically connected. The most representative is the theory on the universe. The ancient Chinese cosmology usually borrows a metaphor on birth or reproduction to explain the origin of the universe, instead of creation by God. This has something to do with the crop and ancestor worship in agricultural civilization. The theories of yin and yang and five elements maintain that the elements in the universe are mutually connected and influence each other, with each of them regulating itself to cooperate with others. In the network of the universe, the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth are not isolated to each other but play their role with the support of others. The Book of Changes says: “Reproduction means change.” That means the world is in constant change and change is the basic form of existence and shows the organic connection between various matters. The understanding on the connectivity of matters is a basic feature of the traditional Chinese culture.

Cooperation is the approach while win-win results are the goal, with the two complementing each other to form an integral whole.

Based on the cultural foundation that things in the universe are mutually connected and in constant change, China’s diplomacy emphasizes cooperation and innovation. President Xi pointed out: “Those who fail to make daily progress will fall behind.” Innovation is the inexhaustible source of prosperity and development as well as the most distinct gift of the Chinese nation. Against the backdrop of closer connection between various countries and higher globalization in the present world, it is necessary to foster the new win-win and all-win concept and create new models and management experience to improve and promote global governance. It is against this background that China has vowed to shape a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation to make win-win cooperation a universally applicable principle in treating international affairs by variouscountries.

Seeking common ground while shelving differences has always been the stand and proposition of China in handling relations with other countries.

The meaning of “new” in the new type of international relations lies in substituting confrontation with cooperation and monopoly with win-win results. The core of the concept is “win-win cooperation”. Cooperation is the approach while win-win results are the goal, with the two complementing each other to form an integral whole. Win-win cooperation is an important concept raised by China’s diplomacy in view of the overall situation in the world, which constitutes the most essential part of China’s diplomatic thinking in the new era. The win-win cooperation concept finds expression in all aspects of China’s diplomatic thinking in the new era. Politically, it seeks to construct a global network of partnerships in light of the new line of thinking of forming partnerships. China will make friends as many as possible under the condition of non-alliance. Those who share the same aspiration and vision are partners; those who seek common ground while shelving differences are also partners. Economically, China aims to create a new vision of common development. It endeavors to build an open Asia-Pacific economic pattern, explore new driving forces for economic growth, and bring various countries together to achieve common development and prosperity through the extensive radiation effect of the new Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative from both the land and the sea. In the field of security, China seeks to explore a road to formulating the kind of security that is built, shared and enjoyed by various countries. It is not only committed to maintaining regional stability and security but also advocates a new concept of security for Asia to provide a new line of thinking and idea for the maintenance of security and stability in Asia and the world at large. In culture, China calls for fostering a new atmosphere in which different civilizations accommodate and draw on strength from each other. No civilization should be excluded or rejected; the fine cultures of variousnations and religions should be assimilated.

2. Inclusiveness

The basic concepts in traditional Chinese culture usually comprise two aspects, such as heaven and earth, sun and moon, rigidness and softness, and yin and yang, with yin and yang the most representative. The Book of Changes maintains that yin and yang form the Way, which means that yin and yang are not antagonistic to each other but in fact complement, respond to and include each other to form the Heavenly Way. Ancient Chinese philosophers Zhuang Zi and Xun Zi maintained that yin and yang are the most elementary components of the universe and the two interact with and respond to each other to produce all things on earth in coordination. Yin and yang provide each other the conditions for existence and they interact and complement each other to form the world. British sinologist A.C. Graham once pointed out that the Chinese tend to look at the two opposing sides as complementary to each other while Westerners emphasize conflict of the two.

Inclusiveness stresses mutual learning and drawing on strength from each other. Along with the spread of globalization, cultural exchanges between various countries are deepening, which will inevitably give rise to collision and integration. In today’s world, cultures are rich and varied; different cultures have differences but also have their own advantages and strong points. The Chinese nation benefits greatly for its thriving for thousands of years from its spirit of learning from what is good and embracing all kinds of knowledge. President Xi has recently cited a saying of Mencius on several occasions: “Non-uniformity is the normal circumstance of matters.” There are over 200 countries and regions, more than 2,500 ethic peoples and numerous religions in the world, which have created rich and varied civilizations. All civilizations are common treasures of the mankind. Civilizations are colorful, which makes it worthwhile to have exchanges and mutual learning; civilizations are equal, which provides the precondition for exchanges and mutual learning; and civilizations are inclusive, which produces the impetus for exchanges and mutual learning.

During his visits abroad, President Xi often quoted very fittingly proverbs and sayings or well-known quotations from poets and men of letters of the host countries in his speeches and made greetings in the language of the host country, which shows his modesty and eagerness to learn in front of other civilizations. When talking about people’s views on China, Premier Li quoted a line from an ancient Chinese poem – “a mountain range when viewed in face but lofty peaks when seen from the side” – to point out that viewing things from different angles will produce different conclusions. China’s diplomatic thinking in the new era advocates the need to safeguard the diversity of world civilizations, respect the civilizations of various countries and nations, and carry out mutual learning among different civilizations in the right way; to treat a civilization with an equal and modest attitude and refrain from acting in a condescending way or rigidly copying or adapting; to promote exchanges and dialogue among and peaceful and harmonious coexistence of different civilizations; and to make a right choice of absorbing from various fine civilizations in line with the new practices and requirements of the times, persist in developing what is useful and discarding what is not in the course of inheriting a civilization, and endeavor to achieve the goal of modernizing the traditional culture so as to achieve the purpose of culture serving the people.

3. Harmoniousness

The expression “harmony” first appeared in the ancient book Guoyu (Remarks of Monarchs): “Shang Xie is capable of harmonizing the five teachings to protect the common people.” “Harmony”, an important concept in Chinese philosophy, originally refers to concordance of various musical sounds and extends to express conformity of different matters. In essence, the Chinese civilization is one of “harmony”. Lao Zi said, “All things have yin and yang and the two integrate to make harmony.” The Analects states that“man of virtue seeks harmony without uniformity” and that “in applying the rites, harmony is the priority”. The Doctrine of the Mean holds, “If harmony is achieved, the heaven and the earth will be in their right place and all thingswill grow.” The “harmony” the Chinese civilization adores encompasses multiple contents such as peace, inclusiveness, broad-mindedness and openness. Harmoniousness requires to not only affirm and accept the diversity of matters but also embrace the divergences between matters and at the same time integrate different matters into one harmonious whole. That is“harmony without uniformity”. Divergence is the prerequisite for the growth of things, and the harmonization of divergences is the preliminary condition for the multiplication and thriving of all things. “The wise man pursues harmony while the foolish man looks for divergence.” Pursuing a harmonious external environment is a long-standing cultural tradition of the Chinese nation. The concept of “maintaining harmony among all states” put forward in Collection of Ancient Texts is an expression of this idea.

Harmoniousness requires to find out in an exact way the commonness between matters and reduce or dissipate as far as possible the differences or contradictions between them. Seeking common ground while shelving differences has always been the stand and proposition of China in handling relations with other countries. With regard to China-U.S. relations, President Xi emphasized on many occasions that the Pacific Ocean is vast enough to accommodate both China and the United States. The two countries, which have different national conditions, should respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, respect the political system and development path they respectively choose, and respect each other’s core interests and major concerns. That is the important prerequisite and foundation for maintaining the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.

President Xi called for constructing a new model of major-country relations between China and the United States, pointing out that the two countries should resolve their differences through dialogue and consultation as common interests are always bigger than differences, address sensitive issues in an appropriate way, and never do things that will harm the core interests of the other side and that they should make positive interactions in the Asia-Pacific and encourage inclusive diplomacy so as to make joint contributions to peace and stability in the region. He also proposed topush forward the building of the new model of major-country relations between China and the United States in six important aspects to concretely implement the principle of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation so that this relationship will better serve the wellbeing of the two peoples.

China’s diplomatic thinking in the new era not only emphasizes seeking common ground while reserving differences but also advocates building up common ground while dissipating differences. Confronted with numerous conflicts between countries as well as global hotspots, China has been playing the role of a responsible major country, making great efforts to promote peace and encourage dialogue with the wisdom of harmony. It supports the political, security and economic transition in Afghanistan, takes an active part in the negotiations for a comprehensive agreement on Iran’s nuclear issue, gives consideration to the interests and concerns of various parties concerned on the Ukraine issue, vowed to uphold peace, dialogue and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, and proposed a five-point peace initiative regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The propositions in connection with China’s diplomacy in the new era are not only a further development and enhancement of traditional Chinese culture but also an important contribution to the contemporary international relations theory.

4. Wholeness

Grasping the nature, connectivity and development rules of matters from an overall, not partial, viewpoint is a salient feature of the traditional Chinese culture. The Book of Changes looks at heaven, earth and man as an integral whole, maintaining that there are widespread connections between the three. The concentrated expression of this way of thinking as a whole is the idea of “harmony between nature and man”, meaning the human race and all things in the universe together form a harmonious and integral whole. Traditional Chinese medicine diagnoses and treats illnesses based on the network of main and collateral channels of the whole body instead of looking at only where the illness is. In Chinese artistic creationand appreciation, the attention is on the overall atmosphere, charm, style and layout, which is distinctly different from the binary thinking in Western art. Only by grasping the features of matters as a whole will one be able to get hold of the general rule in matters without making the mistake of “not seeing the forest for the trees”.

China’s diplomacy in the new era takes the building of “community of common destiny” as its core and endeavors to integrate countries with divergent cultural backgrounds and different levels of economic development.

Wholeness requires to take seeking one’s own interests and respecting others’ interests into consideration as a whole. In the world today, no country can achieve security in the absence of world security, and no country can enjoy security at the expense of others’security. Only with concerted efforts to jointly address complicated challenges can various countries realize common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. In the course of deepening globalization, countries have become interdependent and formed close interactive relations. Wholeness requires a responsible major country to be responsive to the general demands of the international community and take a long-term and strategic vision to formulate and implement foreign policies out of the interests of the world as a whole instead of that of a single country. President Xi pointed out emphatically at the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs held in 2014 that to gain a clear understanding of the general situation of world development is an ever-fresh major topic. To develop China, we need to have a global vision, follow closely the general trend of development of the world as a whole, and give full account to the complexity of the transformation of the international pattern, the complications in the adjustment of the world economy, the acuteness of international conflicts and struggles, the protraction of the evolution of the world order, and the uncertainty in the surrounding environment. When conducting diplomacy, we must grasp the essentials from a variety of complicated phenomena,especially the long-term trend of development. These theses fully embody the Chinese leaders’ overall mastery of the historical traditions as well as current situation, displaying an integral strategic idea that inherits the past and ushers in the future.

The above-mentioned features are not separated from each other but form an organic entity. The traditional Chinese philosophy and culture maintain that all things are interdependent, interconnected and interactive. They influence each other, with each displaying the significance and value of its existence in its connection with others. China’s diplomacy in the new era takes the building of “community of common destiny” as its core and endeavors to integrate countries with divergent cultural backgrounds and different levels of economic development so as to reduce or dissipate the various problems and factors that constrain and hinder win-win cooperation. The mankind has only one earth and lives together in the same world. We should grasp the general situation, make efforts to seek and accumulate common ground and dissipate and dissolve differences to promote the building of the community of common destiny of the mankind. China has proposed the China-ASEAN Community of Common Destiny, the China-Africa Community of Common Destiny, the China-Pakistan Community of Common Destiny, the China-India Community of Common Destiny, and the China-Latin America Community of Common Destiny one after the other in the new era, which represents a brand-new perspective of China for the construction of the new international order and embodies the flexible, creative, inclusive and pragmatic features of China’s diplomacy.

Endeavors to Provide Global Public Goods

Originating from the comprehensive and profound Chinese civilization, China’s diplomacy aims to create a better environment for the country’s peaceful development and the world’s stability and prosperity. The unique Chinese values constitute invaluable cultural assets for China’s diplomacy. What the world faces today is not just difficulties in pursuing developmentbut also an underlying ideological crisis. What China’s diplomacy aims to do is to promote the Chinese culture, contribute the Chinese wisdom to the handling of current international relations and provide more useful public goods to human society to address various challenges in the 21st century.

Every civilization carries on the bloodline of a country or nation. Given the fact that the traditional culture has limitations due to the level of cognition and conditions of the times in the course of its formation and development, it must not only be inherited and safeguarded from generation to generation but also make progress and innovation in a bold way. The Chinese leaders have advocated many a time arousing the vitality of the Chinese culture to give life to all exhibits in museums, cultural heritage across the country and characters in ancient books and promote the creative transformation and innovative development of the Chinese culture in accordance with the new progress and demand of the times. The Chinesefeatured diplomatic thinking, rooted in the rich soil of Chinese culture, has profound historical origins and broad realistic foundation.

The present world is not peaceful and there are a variety of factors that affect and interfere with China’s peaceful development. Power politics still has some markets, terrorism remains rampant in many parts of the world, global economic growth is severely unbalanced, and traditional and nontraditional security problems interplay with each other. Unwilling to see the economic development and social stability in China and the happy life of the Chinese people, anti-China forces in some countries dish out from time to time fallacies of various descriptions. When China is busy doing things of its own, they complain that the country fails to shoulder responsibilities in the world, only benefiting from taking a free ride on others’ vehicle; when China plays its role in international affairs, they allege that the country attempts to get rid of others to seek hegemony; and some people even indulge in forecasting “China’s collapse” by infinitely magnifying the difficulties and challenges the country faces. In recent years, Western opinions and comments regarding China have always swung between touting the “China threat” and predicting “China’s collapse”, the reason of which lies mainly intheir lack of a basic understanding of China’s history, culture and reality.

Peaceful development is not only a necessity for global development and China’s own development but also the natural demand of China’s thousands of years of cultural sediments. Rooted in the fine traditional Chinese culture and accurately grasping the general development trend of the present-day world, China’s diplomatic thinking in the new era has not only pointed out the direction for China’s diplomatic work in theory and practice but also provided necessary approaches to appropriately handling international relations for other countries.

In theory, China’s diplomacy aims to build a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation, striving to build a community of common interests, a community of shared responsibilities and a community of common destiny together with various countries. These ideas have become the yardstick principle of China’s diplomacy in the new era.

Regarding developing countries in China’s neighborhood and other parts of the world, China puts the emphasis mainly on building the community of common destiny, standing for the establishment of a fairer and more just international political and economic order through resultsoriented cooperation, mutual support and common development. With regard to developed countries, China stresses more the construction of the community of shared responsibilities, advocating the need to join hands to shoulder their respective responsibilities for world peace and development through deepening mutual understanding and building up common ground while dissipating differences. Concerning the neighboring countries, China has put forward the diplomatic principle of “affinity, sincerity, benefit and inclusiveness”.

“Affinity” stresses the kith-and-kin relationship between China and its neighboring countries in geography, people and culture; “sincerity” indicates good faith and credibility with which to win more friends and partners;“benefit” means to work for mutual benefits and pursue the right approach to principles and interests; and “inclusiveness” underlines the need to be more open and broadminded in promoting regional cooperation. As for theAfrican countries, China puts forward the principle of “sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith” in conducting cooperation with Africa, advocating“teaching others how to fish instead of just giving out fish to them” and stressing the mutual benefit and win-win nature of China-Africa cooperation with the focus on helping African countries to transform their edges in resources into advantages of development to realize plural, independent and sustainable development. As to the world’s major powers, China is committed to establishing a new type of major-country relations with them and developing win-win cooperation instead of engaging in conflict and confrontation.

China advocates and practices multilateralism and has made active efforts in promoting, encouraging and keeping peace in global hotspots and on issues of regional disputes.

In practice, China’s diplomacy in the new era has put forward a series of proposals and initiatives on the basis of the principle of win-win cooperation and made positive efforts in constructing a global network of partnerships based on equality, peace and inclusiveness. The Asian security concept raised by China has further enriched the contents of the comprehensive security concept. The initiatives in formulating an all-dimensional and open pattern of cooperation with the outside world and promoting the building of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road have injected new vitality into the common development of the countries and regions along the routes.

China advocates and practices multilateralism and has made active efforts in promoting, encouraging and keeping peace in global hotspots and on issues of regional disputes. It has supported with concrete actions the G20, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BRICS group and others to play important roles in promoting peace and development in the region and the world over. It has made active efforts in the maintenance of the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, the realization of the UN Millennium Development Goals, and responses to such global issues as climate change and energy cooperation.

Responding to demands of the times for win-win cooperation, China has been energetically pushing forward the new Silk Road Initiative and has proposed the initiative of setting up the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The former is an important undertaking in carrying on the spirit of the ancient Silk Road, strengthening partnership of connectivity between various Asian and European countries along the routes and promoting regional economic cooperation among countries along the way. It is also a positive effort in exploring a new model of international cooperation and global governance, which will add positive energy to world peace and development. The setting up of the AIIB has been proposed in view of the serious constraint of poor infrastructure in various Asian countries on their economic development and conforms to the new theories of China on international relations that China’s own development should benefit the development of other countries. The above-mentioned initiatives of China are not put forward just out of the need of China but also that of other countries, which are public goods China provides to the world in line with its idea of building the community of common destiny of mankind.

We live in a time of mutual dependence. The world has never been so closely linked up and the destiny of various countries has never been so profoundly integrated. The opportunities of the development that China, the second largest economy in the world, brings to the Asia-Pacific region and the whole world are huge. In the meantime, China’s development cannot be separated from the peace and development of the world. China is willing to promote world peace and development through its own development and build together with other countries the community of common destiny in keeping with the trend of history.

Xing Lijuis Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University.