China and EU have a chance to set an example of responsible great power statesmanship

Editor’s note: Enhanced dialogue between scholars from China and overseas is needed to build mutual understanding on many problems the world faces. For this purpose, the China Watch Institute of China Daily and the National Institute for Global Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, jointly present this column: The Global Strategy Dialogue, in which experts from China and abroad to offer insightful views, analysis and fresh perspectives on long-term strategic issues of global importance.

The global order is transitioning from a unipolar structure, which emerged after the end of the Cold War, to a more complex and multipolar one. This transition is characterized by the relative decline of the Western powers, led by the United States, and the eventual growth of economic and political influence of other powers, such as China, Russia, India and Brazil.

As with every transition in global security architecture, this phase of human history is full of contradictions, tensions and conflicts. The Ukraine crisis, perhaps, is the most vivid example of this process.

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However, the emergence of a multipolar world order should not mean the return of jungle rule in international politics, where everyone is at loggerheads with each other and “might is right” is the only principle. Great powers should work diligently to find ways to coexist, cooperate and manage contradictions. In this context, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence — mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual nonaggression, noninterference in each other’s internal affairs, equality, and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence — initiated by China 70 years ago, continue to be relevant.

Former Chinese premier Zhou Enlai proposed these ideas on Dec 31, 1953, when he met an Indian government delegation. In June 1954, Zhou visited India and Burma (now Myanmar). The Joint Statement of the Prime Ministers of China and India, issued on June 28, 1954, and the Joint Statement of the Prime Ministers of China and Burma, issued a day later, affirmed the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as guiding principles in their bilateral relations.

Later, the Five Principles were formally proposed as the norm for handling international relations. In 1955, the Asian-African Conference convened in Bandung, Indonesia, adopted 10 Principles for conducting international relations, including the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

These five principles provide a solid basis for the development of relations between China and the European Union.

The Ukraine crisis, sanctions against Russia, and the protectionist policy of the US, including the adoption of the Inflation Reduction Act, have put enormous stress on the EU economy, undermining the model of social welfare upon which the union is based. Meanwhile, the US is continuing to push the EU into its orbit of China deterrence. However, the EU has the choice of becoming an independent pole in the emerging new world order while keeping its strategic partnership with the US or becoming a junior partner of the US.

Moreover, this is not an issue only about the EU and its future. Suppose the EU does get fully pulled into the US orbit, including its policy toward China, it will significantly increase the chances of a new Cold War emerging between the West and other rising powers. Meanwhile, if China and the EU agree on pursuing the Five Principles of Coexistence, the unfolding multipolar world order will not become a jungle.

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In this scenario, China and the EU can offer a valuable alternative, which will be attractive to many rising, middle and minor powers. Of course, the EU and China have their contradictions, which span from human rights to the rules of economic competition, but the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence are not about allying with like-minded ones. On the contrary, they are about managing contradictions and preventing their transformation into conflicts.

Accepting the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence will provide EU the moral high ground, which was the hallmark of the union in the past, and will strengthen the EU’s role and influence. China and the EU now have a chance to set before the world an example of responsible great power statesmanship, and it will be a mistake to let this opportunity pass by and bring the world closer to a new crisis.

The author is chairman of the Center for Political and Economic Strategic Studies in Yerevan, Armenia. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.