Adhering to the Global Governance Concept Featuring Extensive Consultation, Joint Contribution and Shared Benefits

Adhering to the Global Governance Concept Featuring Extensive Consultation, Joint Contribution and Shared Benefits

By Professor Su Changhe, Fudan University, Shanghai

The world today is undergoing a new round of major developments, changes and adjustments, and the reform of the global governance system is accelerating. What philosophy to be applied to guide the reform and construction of the global governance system not only reflects the ability of countries’ understanding and commanding the inherent contradictions in global governance and international order, but also affects the direction and effectiveness of the reform and building of the global governance system. "China upholds the global governance concept based on extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits," the 19th CPC National Congress Report says. During his recent visit to Italy, President Xi Jinping stressed that China upholds the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, follows the principles of openness and transparency and achieves win-win cooperation. The global governance concept featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits is a basic concept and proposition of China's active participation in the reform and development of the global governance system, provides China's wisdom for building a better world and China's solution to the governance challenges the world is commonly facing. China adheres to the global governance concept featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, actively advocates the concept of win-win cooperation and the right approach to justice and interests, and strives to push the global governance system to develop in a more just and equitable direction.

The world has become a global village in which all are interconnected

The world today is the one of interconnectivity and interoperability. The global flow of people, money, goods and information is accelerating, having brought various countries unprecedentedly together as never before. Today, no country can develop itself in isolation, and no country can stay aloof. To realize self-development, cooperation is the inevitable choice. As comrade Xi Jinping has pointed out, “the world has become a global village in which all countries are closely intertwined. Countries become increasingly interconnected and interacted with each other in economic and social development. To push interconnectivity and interoperability and accelerate inclusive development have become a common choice for promoting common prosperity and development.” Meanwhile, the development of all countries is closely linked with a fact that one’s development is good for all, and all kinds of contradictions of various countries at different development stages confront are growing interwoven and complicated.

Many new phenomena and problems that are not encountered in the era of traditional international relations have emerged in the interconnected and interdependent world. An increasing number of countries have come to realize that if they rely only on their own efforts and do not seek international cooperation, it will be difficult to solve many common problems faced by mankind, which will in turn affect the common development of all countries and the world at large. Therefore, while improving ones own national governance systems, various countries must take into account the building of the global governance system. In addition, this state of connectivity and interoperability is also redefining the concepts of rights, interests and responsibilities in international relations. Under the condition that the fundamental principle of state sovereignty remains unchanged, rights, interests and responsibilities become increasingly interrelated, and more and more interacted rights, interests and responsibilities are emerging in the field of international relations. Such outdated concepts and practices as beggar-thy-neighbor approach, winner-or-loser approach, exclusive-alliance approach and exclusive-ownership approach have gone against the trend of the times and become an obstacle to the development of international relations in the age of interconnectivity and interoperability.

With countries becoming ever more interdependent and deepening their symbiosis of interests, the form and operation of international relations are also changing. The global governance system gets less and less adapted to the changes in international relations, and the international community is increasingly calling for reform and improvement of the global governance system. People of vision in the international arena have recognized the trends interrelated to the destiny of all countries, promote breaking away from the ideological barriers of leading-and-led, and jumping out of the trap of zero-sum game and winner-take-all theory. Following the trend of the times, the CPC Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping at its core going with the trend of the times, has put forward the global governance concept featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and called on various countries to expand common interests and work together to meet challenges, and jointly safeguard peace and promote development. This global governance concept has become an advanced concept guiding the reform and building of a global governance system.

Global affairs should be governed by all countries

To solve the global governance hard challenges, we need to face up to the current difficulties, uphold the concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and innovatively promote the reform and development of the global governance system. "Common" is the core value and key word of this concept. Comrade Xi Jinping stressed that "the destiny of the world should be commanded by all countries, international rules should be drafted by all countries, global affairs should be governed by all countries, and the fruits of development should be shared by all countries." It is the common cause of the international community to promote the reform of the global governance system, only adhering to the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, can various sides in the course of changing global governance system reach consensus, and take an united action.

Objectively speaking, there are still many ways of thinking and systematic mechanisms in the current global governance system that do not conform to the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. For example, in the fields of economy and security governance, closed mini-multilateral political blocs, exclusive trade blocs, confrontational military alliances targeted against others, and clash of civilization thinking, etc. are all obstacles to the building of a new type of international relations. Some countries have put their own interests first and adopted a policy system centered on confrontation, which are in contradiction with the current reality that solving global problems requires cooperation among various parties. Some countries simply reject or withdraw from hard-won international cooperation agreements, or force a vote on some non-negotiated programs or proposals in multilateral international organizations, thus creating artificial frictions. Regarding distribution of the outcomes of global governance, horizontally there are problems of unreasonable, unbalanced and unequal distribution among various countries. Vertically there is lack of consideration for sustainable development for future generations of mankind, so difficult for global governance results to form intergenerational share. These are issues that need to be addressed with concerted efforts in the reform of the global governance system.

The global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, which is actually China's thinking and solution to problems of global governance. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, China has adhered to the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and actively participated in the reform and construction of the global governance system. The global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits has become an important part of Xi Jinping diplomatic thought.

On the reform of the global governance system, comrade Xi Jinping stressed, "the reform process should embody the spirit of equality, openness, transparency and inclusiveness, enhance the representation and discourse of developing countries, and resolve differences through consultation when running into them, no small circle should be formed, no imposing the will onto others. China continues to support developing countries in expanding their representation and voice in international affairs, and is committed to promoting the democratization and rule of law of global governance and making the global governance system reflect the will and interests of the majority of countries in a more balanced way. Maintaining multilateral trade system such as World Trade Organization and others the main channel in the process of the global trade liberalization and facilitation, actively promoting international financial organizations reform such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and others, promoting development of the G-20 and BRICS cooperation mechanisms, vigorously upgrading the representation and voice of emerging market economies and developing countries in global governance system. Through building the Belt and Road program and the global partnership network, we will push economic globalization to develop in a direction of more open, inclusive, universal, balanced and win-win results.

On building of the global governance system, comrade Xi Jinping stressed firmly upholding the international order and international system with the purposes and principles of the UN charter as the core. China attaches great importance to promoting cooperation and dialogue between the existing systems and incremental systems to avoid unnecessary impact on the global governance system and international order. On the premise of playing the role of a major country, it would attach greater importance to stimulating the strength and vitality of small and medium-sized countries and encourage more developing countries to participate in building the global governance system. We would strengthen exchanges and cooperation with political parties and organizations of various countries to consolidate the institutional foundation for building a global governance system.

Promoting various countries to work together to build a community with a shared future for mankind

The global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits is a continuation and development of independent foreign policy of peace China follows constantly. Comrade Xi Jinping stressed, "we should adhere to the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, constantly reform and improve the global governance system, and work together with various countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind." This governance vision is producing a positive and far-reaching impact on the building of a new type of international relations.

Pushing forward the international political civilization to move forward. The global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits is in line with the trend of international relations in the new era. Emerging markets economies and developing countries have contributed 80 percent to global economic growth, their voice and influence in international affairs and global governance are also rising and their awareness for national independence and accelerated development is greatly strengthened. This has laid the foundation for formation of new achievements in international political civilization. The concept of zero-sum game and winner-take-all in international relations has lost its popularity and should be replaced by the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.

Effectively solving global governance hard challenges. A just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust one finds little. Practice has proved that whenever there is stronger voice for extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits in the international order, the stability, tranquility and sustainability of the international order will be stronger. Whenever there is stronger voice for zero-sum game and winner-take-all in the international order, more conflicts are seen in the international order. The interconnectedness of various issues in today's world determines that the global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits is an effective way to solve global governance hard problems. This concept is increasingly recognized by more countries in the world and is increasingly found in the outcome documents of international organizations and multilateral cooperation. This global governance concept of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits will enable various countries to work together, jointly respond to global challenges and make concerted efforts to build a better world.

(Edited excerpt of the article in People's Daily, 27-03-2019)