Excerpts from China’s Sept. 26 White Paper—

‘A Global Community of Shared Future’

Sept. 27—The following excerpts are taken from “A Global Community of Shared Future: China’s Proposals and Actions,” a 40-page White Paper, issued Sept. 26 by the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China. The original document has the following sections: Preface; I. Humanity at a Crossroads; II. An Answer to the Call of the Times and a Blueprint for the Future; III. Deep Roots in History and Cultural Traditions; IV. Direction and Path; V. China’s Action and Contribution; Conclusion. The sub-heads for the excerpts are by EIR.

Vision of Harmony on the Planet

In the universe there is only one Earth, the shared home of humanity. Unfortunately, this planet on which we rely for our subsistence is facing immense and unprecedented crises, both known and unknown, both foreseeable and unforeseeable. Whether human civilization can survive these has become an existential issue that must be squarely faced…. The most pressing task is to find a guiding beacon for the sustainable development of human civilization, because we all care about our future….

To build a global community of shared future, all peoples, all countries, and all individuals—our destinies being interconnected—must stand together in adversity and through thick and thin, navigating towards greater harmony on this planet that we call home…. The vision of a global community of shared future bears in mind the wellbeing of all humanity. It is based on both observation of the present and visionary planning for the future….

The Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative have taken root and borne fruits, bringing prosperity and stability to the world and creating substantive benefits for the people. Over the past decade, the vision of a global community of shared future has gained broader support. More countries and people have come to the understanding that this vision serves the common interests of humanity….

The vision has nothing to do with self-interest and protectionism. Instead, by presenting China’s vision of the course of human development, it confronts the hegemonic thinking of certain countries that seek supremacy. It is therefore of great significance to promote solidarity and cooperation among all countries and create a better future for humanity. The Chinese government is publishing this White Paper to introduce the theoretical base, practice, and development of a global community of shared future. We hope it will improve understanding and expand consensus in the international community, and reinforce the global effort to realize this vision.

This is an integrated world. Those who turn their back on it will have no place in it. Living on the same planet, all countries, adjacent or distant, large or small, developed or developing, are members of an emerging community of shared interests, responsibility, and destiny, whose wellbeing and security are interrelated. Only when appropriate attention is paid to the collective future of humanity is it possible that the wishes of every country, people, and individual come true. Whatever we may encounter on our journey ahead, the only right choice is to work together for the benefit of all….

Uncertainty Is Today’s Norm

Our world is undergoing change on a scale unseen in a century…. Instability, uncertainty, and unpredictability are now the norm…. The shadow of the arms race lingers on, and the threat of nuclear war—the Sword of Damocles that hangs over humanity—remains. Our world is at risk of plunging into confrontation and even war. The development deficit is ballooning…. Some countries … are pushing for decoupling, severing and ‘de-risking’ supply chains….

The world’s poor population has increased by more than 100 million, and nearly 800 million people live in hunger…. Some countries’ hegemonic, abusive, and aggressive actions against others, in the form of swindling, plundering, oppression, and the zero-sum game, are causing great harm…. No country, however strong it may be, can do everything on its own. We must engage in global cooperation. Only when all countries work together, only when we align individual interests with the interests of all, and only when we truly build a global community of shared future, can humanity tide through the crises confronting us and sail toward a better future.

The new era calls for new ideas…. It is increasingly obvious that the idea that ‘all strong countries will seek hegemony,’ the obsession with superior strength, and the zero-sum mentality are in conflict with the needs of our times. Humanity is in great need of new ideas that generate positive developments and conform to positive historical trends. There is no iron law that dictates that a rising power will inevitably seek hegemony….

The strong preying on the weak is not a way for humans to coexist. If the law of the jungle is imposed on human society, and the idea that ‘might makes right’ prevails, the principle of sovereign equality will be fundamentally undermined, and world peace and stability will be severely endangered…. The law of the jungle and the winner-takes-all mindset will lead nowhere…. The zero-sum game in which one wins by causing others to lose is doomed to fail. Nevertheless, certain countries still cling to this mindset, blindly pursuing absolute security and monopolistic advantages….

No country should hope for others to fail. Instead, it should work together with other countries for the success of all. China consistently aligns its development with global development, and aligns the interests of the Chinese people with the common interests of all peoples around the world. When the world thrives, China thrives, and vice versa….

A Blueprint for the Future. Standing at a crossroads, humanity is faced with two opposing options. One is to revert to the Cold War mentality that deepens division and antagonism and stokes confrontation between blocs. The other is to act for the common wellbeing of humanity, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, advocate openness and win-win results, and promote equality and respect. The tug of war between these two options will shape the future of humanity and our planet in a profound way…. The current international order is facing a myriad of challenges. Some countries, holding to the notion of might makes right, willfully engage in bullying, plundering and zero-sum competition….

Opening up new prospects for international exchanges…. All countries are equals. The big, the mighty and the wealthy should not bully the small, the weak and the poor…. We should forge global partnerships at both international and regional levels, and embrace a new approach to state-to-state relations, one founded on dialogue rather than confrontation and that seeks partnership rather than alliance….

We should create a security environment featuring fairness, justice, joint efforts, and shared interests…. No country can achieve stability by destabilizing others. The law of the jungle leaves the weak at the mercy of the strong….

Utilize, Transform Nature

We should promote open, innovative and inclusive development that benefits all…. We should increase inter-civilization exchanges to promote harmony, inclusiveness, and respect for differences…. We should build an ecosystem that puts Mother Nature and green development first. Humanity may have the ability to utilize nature and even transform it, but it is still a part of nature. We should care for nature and not place ourselves above it. We should reconcile industrial development with nature, and pursue harmony between humanity and nature to achieve sustainable global development and all-round human development. We should respect nature, follow its ways, and protect it. We should firmly pursue green, low-carbon, circular, and sustainable development….

No country should open Pandora’s box by willfully provoking turmoil and armed conflict or undermining the international rule of law…. We should build a world of common security for all through joint efforts…. As long as we show sincerity, goodwill and political wisdom, no conflict is too big to resolve, and no ice is too thick to break.

We should build a world of common prosperity through win-win cooperation. It means bidding farewell to the winner-takes-all mindset and sharing development achievements. In this day and age, the international community has evolved into a sophisticated and integrated apparatus, as the removal of any single part will cause serious problems to its overall operation. We must keep to the correct direction of economic globalization, and oppose any attempt to set up technological blockades, cause technological divides, or seek development decoupling…. Countries and nations should respect their differences and seek harmony without uniformity, and civilizations should draw strength from each other and make progress together….

Industrialization has created a level of material wealth never seen before, but it has also inflicted irreparable damage on the environment. We must not exhaust all the resources passed on to us by previous generations and leave nothing to our children, or pursue development in a destructive way….

Respect for the Other

Inheriting the best of traditional Chinese culture…. Harmony is the core concept of Chinese culture, which values the primacy of harmony and harmony within diversity, pursues the ideal of harmony and solidarity toward common progress, and embraces cultural diversity and global harmony…. The Chinese nation champions universal benevolence, holding that the virtuous are never left to stand alone, endorsing good neighborliness with good faith and good will, and pursuing both friendship and interests while putting friendship first.

The Chinese nation observes the rule that ‘to establish oneself, one must help others to establish themselves first; to succeed, one must help others to succeed first,’ believing that helping others is helping oneself. It also upholds the principle that ‘do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself,’ and never imposes its will upon other nations….

The CPC [Chinese Communist Party] is committed to seeking progress for China while benefiting the wider world, bringing a good life to the Chinese people and also helping other peoples to prosper, and contributing more to humanity….

China has initiated a range of visionary initiatives, including a global community of shared future, a new type of international relations, the common values of humanity, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, and promoted a set of approaches to global governance, to friendship and interests, to security, to development, to cooperation, and to the eco-environment. All these carry distinctively Chinese features, style, and ethos….

Incorporating the outstanding achievements of other civilizations … [the concept of a global community of shared future] draws on the outstanding achievements of cultural integration between diverse civilizations. It embodies the common aspiration of all humanity…. All civilizations around the world have manifestations of the concept of a global community of shared future. Ancient Greek philosophers conducted primary research on this concept based on city-states, believing that humanity as one community should act in concert to pursue common interests and thus must live in harmony. Ancient Indian literature records the motto of ‘Under Heaven—one family.’ The African philosophy of Ubuntu holds that ‘I am because we are,’ emphasizing interdependence of humanity. The concept of a global community of shared future reflects the common interests of all civilizations—peace, development, unity, coexistence, and win-win cooperation….

From the principle of equity and sovereignty established by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, to international humanitarianism established by the Geneva Conventions in 1864, then to the four purposes and seven principles established by the Charter of the United Nations in 1945, and later to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence proposed at the Bandung Conference in 1955, these norms of international relations have evolved into widely recognized principles and become the essential foundations of a global community of shared future….

Some people overstate the need to ‘reduce dependence’ and ‘de-risk,’ which is essentially creating new risks. Risk prevention and cooperation are not mutually contradictory, whereas non-cooperation is the biggest risk and non-development is the biggest threat to security…. The old path of colonialism and hegemonism leads to a dead end and those who follow it will pay a heavy price....

Mutually beneficial cooperation means that countries should reject the maximization of self-interest, address the legitimate concerns of other countries while pursuing their own interests, and promote common development of all countries alongside their own development….

China maintains that for the world, there is only one system, which is the international system with the United Nations at its core, that there is only one order, which is the international order based on international law, and that there is only one set of rules, which is the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter….

Democracy is not Coca-Cola, tasting the same across the world as the syrup is produced in one single country….

BRI—Connectivity, Security

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a vivid example of building a global community of shared future, and a global public good and cooperation platform provided by China to the world. Since introducing the BRI ten years ago … [p]olicy connectivity continues to deepen. By July 2023, more than three-quarters of countries in the world and over 30 international organizations had signed agreements on Belt and Road cooperation with China. China has successfully hosted the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017 and the second in 2019, and will host the third this year, maximizing synergy for advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. Infrastructure connectivity continues to strengthen. A general connectivity framework consisting of six corridors, six routes, and multiple countries and ports is in place….

The BRI originated in China, but the opportunities and achievements it creates belong to the whole world…. The BRI is an initiative for economic cooperation, not for geopolitical or military alliances…. It is a broad path that can be joined by all interested countries to work together for shared benefits, … an initiative to achieve common progress for humanity, an initiative that has opened up new paths for the common development of all countries. The BRI has facilitated the modernization drive of developing countries, leading the world into a new era of transcontinental cooperation.

China is committed to propelling global development through its own development. It has thoroughly applied the new development philosophy, with a focus on promoting high-quality development to foster a new development paradigm. Modernization of the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people will create a market rivalling the aggregated size of all developed countries….

Six Proposals of the Global Security Initiative…. Staying committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, upholding non-interference in others’ internal affairs, and respecting the independent choices of development paths and social systems made by people in different countries…. Staying committed to taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously, upholding the principle of indivisible security, building a balanced, effective, and sustainable security architecture, and opposing the pursuit of one’s own security to the detriment of others’ security….

Through the mediation of China, Saudi Arabia and Iran have achieved historic reconciliation, setting a fine example for countries in the region to resolve disputes and differences and achieve good neighborly relations through dialogue and consultation, and catalyzing a wave of reconciliation in the Middle East….

Nuclear War Must Never Be Fought

Concerning the fundamental issues in global nuclear security governance … China has pushed for the conclusion of a joint statement among the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states, reaffirming that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won, and must never be fought.’ China actively advocates the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, and it is the only nuclear country that has publicly committed to no-first-use of nuclear weapons, and not using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free zones….

The key to success is simple and boils down to action. Building a global community of shared future depends on the joint actions of all countries…. When all countries unite in pursuing the cause of common good, plan together, and act together day by day towards the right direction of building a global community of shared future, we can build an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and shared prosperity, and jointly create a better future for all of humanity.