Discussion on the People’s Daily： What are the rich connotations of the concept of building a community of human destiny？
People’s Daily (09th edition, May 22, 2023)
Since the Chairman of the Supreme Leader put forward the idea of building a community of human destiny, building a community of human destiny has changed from concept to action, from vision to reality, and it has become a clear banner leading the trend of the times and the direction of human progress by uniting broad consensus and gathering powerful forces for building a better world together. As an important part of the supreme leader’s diplomatic thought, the concept of building a community of human destiny forms a scientific and complete ideological system, and with the development of practice, it increasingly demonstrates the leading role of grasping the truth of the general trend and answering the questions of the times. What are the rich connotations of this concept, what practical results have been achieved, and what is the value to the development and progress of human civilization? What is the significance of the research results formed around this concept to the construction of China’s independent knowledge system? This academic edition focuses on these issues.
— — Editor
Rich implication and great value of the concept of community of human destiny (academic round table)
Gao zugui
In a century of change, where the world is going and what human beings should do have become major issues that need to be answered urgently. Ten years ago, faced with the profound changes in the international situation and the objective requirements of all countries in the world to help each other in the same boat, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader made overall plans for the great rejuvenation strategy of the Chinese nation and the great changes that have never happened in the world in a century, creatively put forward the concept of building a community of human destiny and provided China’s plan for building a better world. In the past ten years, the ideological system of building a community of human destiny has been continuously improved and the practical achievements have been increasingly enriched. This concept has aroused widespread concern and continuous research at home and abroad, and it has been increasingly verified by practice, deeply rooted in people’s hearts, showing its powerful influence, vitality and appeal, and has become a clear banner leading the trend of the times and the direction of human progress.
Grasp the ideological system in depth
"What kind of world to build and how to build this world" is an eternal proposition of human society. In March 2013, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader put forward the concept of a community of human destiny at the Moscow Institute of International Relations. In September 2015, in his important speech at the seventieth session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader emphasized that all countries should work together to build a new win-win partnership and work together to build a community of human destiny. In January 2017, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader delivered an important speech at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, advocating all countries to jointly build a community of human destiny, and proposing that the international community should make efforts in partnership, security pattern, economic development, civilized exchanges and ecological construction. Since then, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader has put forward a series of important new ideas and initiatives to deepen and expand this concept from different angles. Building a community of human destiny, as a continuously enriched and developed scientific ideological system, needs our in-depth study and grasp from multiple levels and dimensions.
Grasp it from the background of the times. The Chairman of the Supreme Leader pointed out: "Human beings live in the same global village, in the same time and space where history and reality meet, and more and more become a community of destiny with you and me." Today’s world is in a great change that has never happened in a century, but the historical trend of peace, development, cooperation and win-win is unstoppable, and the development trend of interdependence among countries in the world and the close connection of human destiny is unstoppable. At the same time, peace deficit, development deficit, security deficit and governance deficit are aggravating, and human society is facing more severe common challenges. Standing at the crossroads where to go, the concept of building a community of human destiny conforms to the trend of the times and the expectations of people of all countries, and points out the way forward for world development.
Grasp from the overall layout. The community of human destiny, as its name implies, means that the future and destiny of every nation and every country are closely linked. We should share weal and woe, and strive to build our planet, where we were born and raised, into a harmonious family, and turn the yearning for a better life of people all over the world into reality. This concept takes "five worlds" as the overall layout, that is, insisting on dialogue and consultation to build a world of lasting peace; Insist on co-construction and sharing to build a universally safe world; Adhere to win-win cooperation and build a world of common prosperity; Adhere to exchanges and mutual learning to build an open and inclusive world; Adhere to green and low carbon, and build a clean and beautiful world.
Grasp from the path platform. Promoting the construction of new international relations is the fundamental way to build a community of human destiny. Adhering to the principles of mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, we will deepen and expand the global partnership of equality, openness and cooperation, and take a new path of exchanges between countries. Building the "Belt and Road" together provides a practical platform for building a community of human destiny. The "Belt and Road" focuses on interconnection, promotes the joint construction of national and regional policy communication, facility connectivity, smooth trade, financial intermediation and popular support, and opens up the road of common development, win-win development and shared development.
Grasp from the important support. The proposal and implementation of global development initiative, global security initiative and global civilization initiative provide strong support for building a community of human destiny. The global development initiative advocates adhering to development priorities and building a United, equal, balanced and inclusive global development partnership. The Global Security Initiative advocates that all countries adhere to the common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept, promote the construction of an indivisible global security community, and embark on a new security road of dialogue without confrontation, partnership without alliance, and win-win rather than zero-sum. The Global Civilization Initiative advocates the inclusive coexistence of different civilizations, exchanges and mutual learning, and strives to create a new situation of cultural exchanges, cultural integration and people’s hearts in all countries of the world. The three major initiatives have broadly gathered consensus and gathered strength, injecting strong impetus into building a community of human destiny.
Grasp it from the pursuit of value. Peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom are the common values of all mankind and are the common pursuit of people of all countries. We should be highly responsible for the future and destiny of mankind, advocate the common values of all mankind, understand the understanding of different civilizations on the connotation of values with a broad mind, and refrain from imposing our own values and models on others and engaging in ideological confrontation. This provides ideological support for countries around the world to transcend differences and differences in values and ideologies, realize civilized exchanges and mutual learning, and provide value guidance for building a community of human destiny.
Build the concept of a community of human destiny, combine Marxist thoughts on world history with the world outlook and the world outlook nurtured by Chinese excellent traditional culture, unify the future and destiny of the Chinese nation with the future development of human society, and unify the realization of national rejuvenation and the promotion of human progress into the great practice of the new era. This concept provides a new paradigm for the coexistence of different civilizations, a new idea for global governance, a new concept for international communication, and a new plan for coping with common challenges. It is an innovation and transcendence of the traditional views on power, interests, development, governance and order in international relations.
Comprehensively sort out the practical results
After ten years of unremitting efforts, the diplomacy of a big country with China characteristics in the new era has continuously opened up a new situation and achieved fruitful results in building a community of human destiny. At the bilateral level, China and Laos, Pakistan, Cambodia, Thailand and other countries have issued action plans, joint statements or reached important consensus on building a bilateral community of destiny; At the regional level, promote the construction of surrounding areas, Asia and China — ASEAN, China — Central Asia, Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other communities of destiny; At the cross-regional level, promote the construction of China-Africa, China-Arab, China-Latin America and China — Community of destiny such as Pacific island countries; At the level of global governance, we will promote the construction of a community of destiny in cyberspace, a community of destiny in nuclear safety, a community of human health, a community of global development, a community of human and natural life, and a community of life on earth. Community construction at different levels has promoted China and more and more countries to deepen the integration of interests and become more acquainted with each other.
Guided by the concept of building a community of human destiny, China adheres to the concept of global governance, and participates in leading the reform and construction of the global governance system. Advocate true multilateralism, oppose unilateralism and protectionism, firmly safeguard the international system with the United Nations at the core, the international order based on international law, and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and support expanding the representation and voice of developing countries in international affairs. Over the past decade, the community of human destiny has been written into the resolutions or declarations of multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS countries for many times. Its value choices of peace without war, development without poverty, openness without closure, cooperation without confrontation, unity without division, fairness without bullying have become more and more deeply rooted in people’s hearts, drawing a beautiful blueprint for transcending the cold war mentality, exploring new models of dialogue and cooperation, and seeking a new future of peaceful development.
The Chairman of the Supreme Leader stressed: "To promote the building of a community of human destiny, it is not to replace another system with one system, or to replace another civilization with one civilization, but to form the greatest common denominator for countries with different social systems, ideologies, histories, cultures and levels of development to share interests, rights and responsibilities in international affairs." China’s proposal to build a community of human destiny is not to reinvent the international system, nor to start a new stove, but to innovate and improve, promote the reform of unfair and unreasonable arrangements in the global governance system, and strive to make the global governance system reflect the wishes and interests of most countries in a more balanced way, and broadly condense the wisdom and strength of joint construction and sharing. This concept was put forward by China on the basis of his profound grasp of the characteristics of the times, the general trend of the world, his own development conditions and goals, and accompanied by the process of deep integration into the world, which reflected the firm confidence and determination of the developed China to take the road of peaceful development. A series of achievements in the practice of building a community of human destiny have fully proved that China’s peaceful development path has completely surpassed the western realistic power logic.
Deepen theoretical research continuously.
With the continuous enrichment of the ideological connotation of building a community of human destiny and the in-depth promotion of practice, the relevant research is mainly carried out from two dimensions: the evolution of theory and the policy measures of practice.
From the theoretical dimension, the relevant research starts from philosophy, political science and other disciplines, mainly focusing on the connotation, extension and value significance of the community of human destiny and its closely related new international relations, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" and the common value of all mankind. The position of these ideas and initiatives in the diplomatic thought system of the supreme leader, their theoretical origins and their logical relationship, their inheritance and innovation relationship with the Marxist theory of international relations, the fine diplomatic tradition since the founding of New China, and their transcendence over the western traditional theory of international relations, which has dominated the world for a long time, have formed a large number of research results around these issues.
In the practical dimension, the relevant research mainly focuses on a series of practical issues, such as the practical significance of building a community of human destiny to solve the outstanding problems facing peace, development and security in today’s world, the opportunities and challenges faced by building a community of human destiny, the realization paths, policies and measures, the spread and cognition of the concept of a community of human destiny between different countries and cultures, and how to promote effective communication and correct cognition, and so on.
As a concept formed in the great practice of the new era and constantly enriched and developed, building a community of human destiny has responded to major issues in the development of China and the world, with distinctive subjectivity and originality. This concept guides researchers to take China as a perspective and the times as a perspective, to solve the common problems faced by mankind, to enhance the autonomy of research, and to expand a broad space for promoting knowledge innovation, theoretical innovation and method innovation of philosophy and social sciences in China. The research results formed around this concept have made important contributions to the construction of China’s independent knowledge system.
Building a community of human destiny is a beautiful goal that needs long-term unremitting efforts to achieve. We should deepen and expand the research from a longer-term perspective and a broader vision, and provide theoretical support for this concept to further deepen and practice in practice. For example, the value and significance of building a community of human destiny in the process of Chinese modernization and world modernization; From the perspective of human civilization, the contribution of building a community of human destiny to creating a new form of human civilization; How to consolidate the foundation of common interests and common values and constantly solve the practical problems of building a community of human destiny; Combined with the background of information, networking, data and intelligence in the ascendant, what are the characteristics of the future prospect of the community of human destiny, etc., these are all issues that need further study.
(The author is Dean of the Institute of International Strategy of the Central Party School (National School of Administration))
Leading the development direction of human civilization and progress (academic round table)
Liu tongfang
Chinese-style modernization represents the development direction of human civilization progress, showing a new picture different from the western modernization model, and is a brand-new form of human civilization. Chinese-style modernization takes the road of peaceful development, always stands on the right side of history, on the side of human civilization and progress, and promotes the building of a community of human destiny. Building a community of human destiny is conducive to solving the common problems faced by mankind, constantly promoting the progress of human civilization and constantly writing a new chapter in the development of human civilization.
Promote the common destiny of different civilizations. Marx and Engels said: "The more thoroughly the primitive closed state of all ethnic groups is eliminated due to the increasingly perfect mode of production, communication and the division of labor between different ethnic groups naturally formed by communication, the more history will become world history." In the view of historical materialism, the formation of world history is the result of capital’s "settling down everywhere, developing everywhere and establishing contacts everywhere". However, the world system promoted by capital is unequal from the beginning and cannot promote the common interests of all mankind in a balanced way. The world market system and global governance system dominated by capital logic are facing a profound crisis. Building the concept of a community of human destiny, adhering to the principle that all countries, big or small, are equal, insisting on mutual consultation, joint construction and sharing, and advocating that the world destiny should be shared by all countries, international rules should be written by all countries, global affairs should be governed by all countries, and development achievements should be shared by all countries. Relying on the platform of "One Belt, One Road" and other platforms, through mutually beneficial economic cooperation around the world, the status of developing countries in the global industrial chain will be enhanced, the gap between the North and the South will be further bridged, and the problems of unbalanced and insufficient development between countries and within countries will be solved. Promote the construction of an open world economy, enhance the openness and inclusiveness of cooperation mechanisms, concepts and policies, and promote the development of economic globalization in a more open, inclusive, inclusive, balanced and win-win direction, so that development results can benefit the people more.Create a stronger community of interests. The concept and practice of building a community of human destiny will promote the continuous enhancement of the overall interests of human beings in their mutual connection and interdependence, promote a more balanced development of global productive forces, promote the symbiosis of interests, the sharing of rights and responsibilities, and effectively promote the equality, destiny and solidarity of different civilizations.
Promote win-win cooperation among different civilizations. The process of modernization in the world began in the western capitalist countries. With the early completion of industrialization, capitalist civilization has formed a mentality of "respecting me" and "giving priority to me", and it emphasizes more competition than cooperation and more opposition than unity in dealing with the relationship between "me" and "the other". Thinking and practices such as zero-sum game, cold war mentality, and "decoupling and breaking the chain" are the important sources of the current world peace deficit, development deficit, security deficit and governance deficit. We should build the concept of a community of human destiny, abandon the theory of "superiority of civilizations" and "clash of civilizations", advocate the coexistence of all things without harming each other, respect the individuality of civilizations without contradicting each other, actively seek the commonness of civilizations, transcend the estrangement of civilizations, learn from each other, transcend the superiority of civilizations, and let the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations become the driving force for the progress of human society and the link for maintaining world peace. This provides a new perspective for dealing with the relationship between different civilizations. Emphasize the establishment of a new concept of win-win, win-win and win-win, abandon the old thinking that you lose and I win, and the winner takes all, expand the convergence of interests with other countries, unify their own development with the development of all countries in the world, and promote common development and prosperity. Advocate healthy competition on the basis of fairness and justice,Adhere to dialogue without confrontation, tolerance without exclusion, enhance political mutual trust with strategic communication, and replace opposing conflicts with consultative dialogue. To build a community of human destiny is to create a world that can accommodate the common growth and progress of all countries, which will effectively promote win-win cooperation, harmony and symbiosis among different civilizations.
Promote the inclusive coexistence of different civilizations. The modernization centered on capital in the West, the realization of primitive accumulation of capital through colonial expansion, the transfer of various crises of its own development through foreign wars, and the imposition of its own values and models through the implementation of so-called "universal values" have brought profound disasters to human civilization. Building a community of human destiny takes the common value of all mankind as its value pursuit and support. Countries have different histories, cultures, systems and levels of development, but people of all countries pursue the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom. Peace and development are our common cause, fairness and justice are our common ideal, and democracy and freedom are our common pursuit. There is no "liberal democracy" that is superior to others, and there is no "universal value" that is self-centered. Imposing one’s own values on others can only increase turmoil, and drawing lines according to ideology can easily lead to conflicts. To promote the construction of a community of human destiny, we must be highly responsible for the future and destiny of mankind, advocate the common values of all mankind, understand the understanding of different civilizations on the connotation of value with a broad mind, respect the exploration of people in different countries on the path of value realization, respect and support the independent choice of people in different countries on the road of modernization, and embody the common values of all mankind in the practice of realizing the interests of their own people. Build a community of human destiny, uphold and carry forward the common values of all mankind,What we want to build is a world that can bear different forms of civilization and be compatible with diverse modernization roads. We will surely gather a consensus on values, draw the greatest unity, promote the inclusive coexistence, exchanges and mutual learning of different civilizations, and jointly enrich the world’s civilized gardens.
(The author is a professor at the School of Marxism, Zhejiang University)
Highlight China characteristics, China style and China style (academic round table)
Guo Shuyong
The concept of building a community of human destiny has scientifically answered major issues such as "what kind of world to build and how to build this world" and pointed out the direction for the world at the crossroads of history. This concept is full of China characteristics, leading the trend of human development and progress, highlighting China’s position, China’s wisdom and China’s value, and has become a symbolic concept with great international influence and appeal in China in the new era.
Concept is the basis of theory. In the theoretical system of the supreme leader’s diplomatic thought, the community of human destiny is a fundamental and dominant concept. Serving national rejuvenation and promoting human progress are the main lines of China’s diplomacy in the new era. Realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation requires a favorable international environment, and the Chinese nation should make greater contributions to the lofty cause of peace and development of mankind. It can be said that the overall goal of China’s diplomacy in the new era is to build a community of human destiny and coordinate the service for national rejuvenation and the promotion of human progress, which fully embodies the high degree of unity of China’s development and world development, and profoundly reveals the essential requirements and direction of China’s diplomacy in the new era. Around the realization of this general goal, we put forward a series of new ideas, new ideas and new initiatives, such as building new international relations, jointly building the "Belt and Road", the common value of all mankind, the global development initiative, the global security initiative, and the global civilization initiative, so as to make the concept of the community of human destiny more three-dimensional and rich, and make China’s diplomatic principles and positions more distinctive and diplomatic theories more characteristic of the times in the new era. Build a community of human destiny, embody the theoretical character of being upright and innovative, establishing oneself, and taking responsibility, and fully demonstrate China characteristics, China style and China style.
Be upright and innovate. After the founding of New China, our party established an independent foreign policy of peace, and put forward different diplomatic ideas and propositions in different historical periods according to changes in the international situation and China’s development tasks. Entering the new era, the international power balance has undergone profound changes, the international order has been deeply adjusted, the world is in a great change that has never happened in a century, and the relationship between China and the world has undergone historic changes, so it is necessary to lead new practice with new ideas. In a profoundly changing world, our Party insists on observing, grasping and leading the times with Marxism, deeply grasping the reality that all countries in the world are more closely related and interdependent, deeply grasping the trend that mankind is becoming an inseparable community of destiny, and accurately analyzing the position and mission of China in the new era in the world, thus putting forward the idea of building a community of human destiny. This idea comes down in one continuous line with a series of diplomatic thoughts and propositions put forward by China in the past, and it is also a theoretical innovation to meet the requirements of the times and the changes in the relationship between China and the world in the new era. This theoretical innovation not only promotes China’s diplomacy to show a new atmosphere and open up a new situation, but also injects new vitality into the construction of mutually beneficial and cooperative international relations for all countries in the world today, and opens up a brand-new vision for the theory of international relations to break away from the traditional pattern and conform to the changed world political and economic structure.
Set yourself up. The Chairman of the Supreme Leader pointed out: "All countries should adhere to the concept of human priority and should not put their own interests above human interests." The concept of building a community of human destiny adheres to the Marxist stand, viewpoint and method, is rooted in the profound Chinese excellent traditional culture, and shows the great country’s temperament of establishing oneself and being ambitious. Marxism adheres to the combination of proletarian internationalism and patriotism of people of all countries. Chinese civilization advocates that "the trip to the main road is also for the public" and that different countries and cultures "share beauty and beauty, and the world is one." Building a community of human destiny is not to eliminate differences and differences, but to seek common ground while reserving differences, highlight the integrity of human beings, and realize the organic unity of individuals and the whole in the common body. Although there are some research achievements with cross-cultural vision in western international relations theory, its field of vision is based on unequal international relations, so it is impossible to complete the theoretical construction concerning the overall future and destiny of mankind. The concept of building a community of human destiny not only carries China’s expectations for the international environment based on its own better development, but also contains the expectations of people all over the world for a better future, which embodies China’s world feelings of closely linking its own interests with those of all countries in the world and providing more new opportunities for the world through its own development.
Take responsibility. China’s contribution rate to world economic growth has been around 30% for many years, and the development of China has a profound impact on the course of world history. Only by clarifying China’s position and role in the evolution of the world pattern and scientifically formulating foreign policies can we realize the benign interactive development between China and the world. Building a community of human destiny highlights China’s role as a great power. A big country should look like a big country, provide more global public goods, assume the responsibility of a big country and show its responsibility in safeguarding world peace, promoting common prosperity and promoting mutual learning among civilizations. At the bilateral level, China and Laos, Pakistan, Cambodia, Thailand and other countries have issued action plans, joint statements or reached important consensus on building a bilateral community of destiny; At the regional level, promote the construction of surrounding areas, Asia and China — Communities of destiny such as ASEAN and Shanghai Cooperation Organization; At the level of global governance, we will promote the construction of a community of destiny in cyberspace, a community of human health and wellness, and a community of human and natural life. These ideas and initiatives have enriched and refined the theoretical connotation and practical path of the community of human destiny, and embodied China’s solemn commitment and responsibility for the progress of mankind and the great harmony of the world.
(The author is a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Shanghai International Studies University)