Three years ago, confronted with the question "What’s wrong with the world and what should we do about it", President Xi made two historical speeches "Shouldering the Responsibility of the Era to Boost Global Development" and "Co-building the Community with a Shared Future for the Human Race” at Davos Forum in Switzerland and the Palais des Nations in Geneva respectively, picturing a new blueprint for the development and progress of human society on the basis of Chinese wisdom and precepts.

Three years later brings us to the present day, where the concept of a community with a shared future for humankind has resonated with the flow of the time and enjoyed increasingly popular support. The initiative of building a community with a shared future for humankind has been included in UN documents multiple times, it has produced an increasingly wide and far-reaching international influence, and become an important leading concept to unite the world in turbulent times.

This is an aerial photo of the Sahiwal coal-fired power plant in the Punjab Province of eastern Pakistan taken on August 6, 2019. The power plant is a high-priority project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which was fully completed and put into operation in July 2017. In 2018, the Sahiwal coal-fired power plant generated 9.04 billion kilowatts of power in total, meeting the power demand of tens of millions of Pakistan people and effectively eased local energy shortages.

At present, the world is still suffering from the international financial crisis, unilateralism and protectionism are still surging against the tide. There are ceaseless clashes in geopolitics. The international landscape and global governance system have evolved significantly. Humanity now faces complex and serious challenges in areas such as security, development, the environment and so on. 

In the autumn of 2013, President Xi proposed the "Belt and Road Initiative" for the first time. The "Belt and Road Initiative" was built together with fruitful achievements, by remaining true to the original intention for more than six years. The interconnection and inter-network of "six passages, six roads, multiple countries and ports" have been basically established. Major projects such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the China-Laos Railway, the Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway, and China-Europe freight trains have been implemented and taken root, which has brought a host of development opportunities to the countries and regions along the route. 

On April 25, 2019, the 2nd "Belt and Road" Forum for International Cooperation was held, attended by 39 foreign leaders, 150 countries, 92 international organizations and over 6,000 foreign guests. The Forum concluded by reaching 283 pragmatic outcomes across six categories...such impressive statistics reflect the influence, leadership, and appeal of China’s initiative.

In the autumn of 2019, on the bank of the Huangpu River, the 2nd China International Import Expo was held successfully. The event was attended by 181 countries, regions and international organizations and attracted over 3,800 enterprises, and recorded an intended annual trade of 71.13 billion USD, a growth of 23% from the first Expo.

The prosperity and stability of the world is an opportunity for China, and China’s development is also an opportunity for the world. The China International Import Expo is a platform on which China can exhibit its development achievements and present a more vivid portrayal of how China shares the same destiny as the rest of the world. Helen Elizabeth Clark, former head of the United Nations Development Program once commented that China and its partners can share peace and prosperity, as well as a community with a shared future for humankind.

At the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, “a community with a shared future for humankind” debuted in a mass parade; amongst an ocean of different skin colors and clothes, all shared the same youthful vitality and the same joyous smiles.

From conveying China’s opinion on the direction of human civilization to the world at the Moscow Institute of International Relations to the comprehensive exposition of the main connotations behind the new concept at a series of summits in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the UN to China’s proposal to "build a community with a shared future for humankind and achieve win-win sharing" at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, to clearly stating in the report of the 19th CPC National Congress that the characteristic diplomacy of China as a major country should promote the establishment of new international relations and facilitate the building of a community with a shared future for humankind. This concept carries the logic of China's diplomacy, which is the core philosophy and supreme goal for the interaction between China and the rest of the world.

2019 witnessed many turbulent times and challenges in the world. The confrontation between cooperation and resistance, multilateralism and unilateralism, openness and closeness has never been so fierce. In the chaos of the times, China has always stood on the right side of historical evolution and the common interests of the majority of countries, guarding the multilateralism, perfecting global governance, upholding fairness and justice and taking firm steps along the path to building a community with a shared future for humankind.

From Italy, Morocco to France, from Russia to Kyrgyzstan, and then to Tajikistan, from DPRK to Japan and then to India and Nepal, and finally to Greece and Brazil...President Xi made seven trips overseas in one year to make overall plans regarding relations with major countries, neighboring countries, and multilateral and developing partners. Led by the Head-of-State Diplomacy, China has won sincerity with sincerity, promoted development with the cooperation and continuously enlarged the partnership network in the community of a shared future for humankind.

In May 2019, the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations was held in Beijing. More than 2,000 government officials and representatives from 47 Asian countries gathered in China’s capital to share in a feast of cultural exchange. Such a ground-breaking event has led to a culture of mutual learning and has provided a new platform for equal dialogue and mutual inspiration among different cultures.

Commenting on the event, Halimah Yacob, President of Singapore said: "it’s the right time for President Xi to advocate the hosting of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations, which has set a good example for us and has enabled each party to explore how to better benefit the people of the world and how Asian cultures can engage in dialogue with other cultures of the world”.

Throughout the turbulence of the last century, there has been a "cultural clash", where protectionism, hegemony and other counter-currents were rife. The world needs a new ethos to pave a new path for the harmonious co-existence of humankind.

Advocating mutual exchange and learning with other cultures has been an inherent characteristic of Chinese culture throughout its evolution.

Looking back throughout history, whether it was the introduction of Indian Buddhism into China, becoming integrated into Chinese civilization; or the absorption of elements of Chinse culture by Japan during the Tang and Song dynasties; or the references made to Western culture in modern China, all such examples indicate China has always referred to and included other cultures to enrich their own, while other cultures have likewise been nourished by Chinese culture.

Under high-level leadership, there are increasingly abundant high-level cultural exchange mechanisms between China and foreign countries. The cultural activities co-hosted with other countries, such as “Cultural Year” and “Friendship Year” have become “standard means” for China to deepen bilateral relations with other countries.

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, cultural cooperation keeps pace with security and economy. In the BRICS mechanism, cultural exchange is “driven by three wheels”, namely economy, politics and security. As an important member of BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China has infused “humanistic qualities” into these cooperation mechanisms, thereby playing an important leading role.

Since the Belt and Road Initiative was first proposed, China has worked with each country and region along the route to promote the cooperation in the fields of education, science, culture, and archaeology, playing an active and far-reaching role in the inter-connectivity of the big family along the “Belt and Road”. Building a "cultural path" together has become an increasingly common action among the countries and regions along the “Belt and Road”.

A virtuous country will surely have good neighbors and friends.

Executive Editor: Ye Ke

Translation: Ye Ke, Chen Wenjing, Phil Brown