Working with partners, nation utilizing its role as major country to promote shared future for mankind
China intends to use its position on the global stage to work with partners to promote peace and hedge against rising uncertainties, according to members of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
These members, mostly officials and scholars focused on foreign policy, are gathered in Beijing to attend the two sessions, the annual meetings of China's top legislature and top political advisory body.
They noted that China will host a range of international events this year and how it can navigate its ties with major countries, including the United States, and help shore up global peace and development.
The political advisers said efforts should be made to advance the world's multipolarity and economic globalization, reject bloc confrontation and protectionism, boost public diplomacy and build on the Belt and Road Initiative.
This year, China holds the rotating presidency of the intergovernmental Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and will host the 25th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO.
China will also celebrate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War, as well as the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.
Through these events, Beijing will send out the "common voice of the SCO member states on major international and regional issues", said Zhang Hanhui, a member of the 14th CPPCC National Committee and Chinese ambassador to Russia.
In the 20 years between 2001 and 2020, the total value of annual trade between China and SCO member states rose 20-fold to $245 billion.
"China is the one who empowers the SCO's pragmatic cooperation," Zhang wrote in an article published in Russian media on Feb 28.
The annual trade volume between China and Russia reached $244.8 billion last year, showcasing an impressive potential for development, he said.
"China promotes the in-depth synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative with SCO countries to boost the sense of gain of the people of those countries in terms of SCO cooperation," he said.
China is also set to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting in 2026, after receiving support and endorsement from other APEC economies in November.
China has hosted the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting twice, in 2001 and 2014.
The Asia-Pacific region accounts for one-third of the world's population, more than 60 percent of the world's total economic output and nearly half of global trade.
This makes it the most dynamic region in the global economy, contributing 70 percent of the world's economic growth.
Liu Xianzhong, director of the Department of Russian History and Culture at the Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and a member of the 14th CPPCC National Committee, said the outlook for the Asia-Pacific is optimistic.
"In the context of the world economy's overall downturn, the economy of the Asia-Pacific region has maintained a good momentum of growth," he said
According to a report from the International Monetary Fund in November, the Asia-Pacific's economic growth rate was expected to reach 4.2 percent in 2024, much higher than the global growth rate of 2.9 percent.
As of November, China was the largest trade partner of 13 APEC economies, contributing 64.2 percent to Asia-Pacific economic growth, according to the Foreign Ministry.
"The momentum of economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region also adequately proves that: only through solidarity and collaboration can we overcome difficulties together, only through mutually beneficial cooperation can we develop together, and only through openness and sharing can we benefit the mankind," Liu said.
At the same time, this momentum "is also a response to unilateralism, protectionism and the increasing fragmentation of the world economy", he added.
President Xi Jinping put forward a slew of proposals at the 31st APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru, in November, such as making green innovation a catalyst for the Asia-Pacific.
Liu said, "This demonstrates China's sense of duty as a responsible major country in deepening Asia-Pacific cooperation, jointly addressing the challenges it faces and promoting common development in the face of various challenges to Asia-Pacific cooperation."
The Asia-Pacific region should earnestly shape the course of economic globalization, and it should not follow some nations' approach of seeking exclusive hegemony, he said.
It should push economic globalization to release more positive effects and enter a new stage that is more dynamic, more inclusive and more sustainable, he added.
Human touch to ties
When addressing the 2025 Duke-UNC China Leadership Summit via video link on Feb 28, Xie Feng, Chinese ambassador to the US, recalled his visit to Duke University over 10 years prior where he discussed the international situation and China-US relations with the students.
"While I cannot join you in person today as I am attending the annual two sessions in Beijing, I am glad to see so many young friends continue to care for China-US relations," said Xie, who is also a member of the 14th CPPCC National Committee.
Last year, two-way trade between China and the US exceeded $680 billion, and around 73,000 companies from the US have invested in China.
"Any attempt to decouple and disrupt supply chains would cause a heavy blow, and any trade war or tariff war would inflict greater injury on oneself than others," Xie said.
He noted that in the past year, around 16,000 young people from the US visited China under President Xi's initiative to invite 50,000 American youths over five years.
Noting the fact that during World War II, the two peoples "forged a friendship amid the trials of blood and fire", Xie said his hope is that American students will continue to take an active part in the "50,000 in five years" initiative.
He called on them to "reach out to and make friends with your peers in China, and encourage our two countries to respect one another with empathy, manage differences in awe, and expand cooperation with a sense of mission".
Zhao Mei, a senior research fellow at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a member of the 14th CPPCC National Committee, suggested inviting more young scholars from the US who are active in academic and strategic circles to visit China.
The goal is to "give them more opportunities to personally experience the real situation of China's politics as well as its economic and social development", she said.
She noted that the elder generation of US experts on China such as Ezra F.Vogel, a renowned scholar of East Asian studies at Harvard University, had witnessed the thawing of China-US relations, US president Richard Nixon's visit to China, as well as China's reform and opening-up.
"They have seen firsthand China's transformation from a destitute country to a prosperous and strong nation, and they have a deeper affection for China."
She cited the example of Vogel, who began studying Mandarin at the age of 40, and embarked on a three-month field survey in South China's Guangdong province for a deeper understanding of the nation.
Following the passing of Vogel in 2020, the younger generation of US experts on China studies have joined the ranks of Washington's policymakers in charge of China policy.
"They have grown up in the context of China's rapid development, the narrowing of the gap in strength between the two countries, China's increasingly important role in the international arena, and the West's hyping of the 'China threat'," she said.
"Many of them do not have so deep a bond with China as the elder generation of scholars. Therefore, their attitudes toward China are markedly different from those elder scholars."
As a result, it is of great importance to work with young people from the US to strengthen communication and exchanges with the younger generations on both sides, she said.
Benefiting Global South
This year marks the 12th anniversary of the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, and over the past 12 years, more than 150 countries and international organizations have signed cooperation agreements with China, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Major infrastructure projects, such as the China-Laos Railway and the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, have been completed and are now in operation.
Lin Songtian, a member of the 14th CPPCC National Committee and deputy director of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the CPPCC National Committee, said the BRI has driven the development of participating countries. "The BRI has optimized their environment for investors, built a number of special economic zones and industrial parks, created a massive amount of jobs and improved people's livelihoods," he said.
It has also enabled Chinese enterprises' operations overseas with industrial parks and supporting infrastructure, policies, laws and services, he told reporters on Tuesday.
Speaking of the benefits created by BRI flagship projects, he cited the example of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway, which has helped Ethiopia fast-track its poverty reduction and development by providing a gateway to the sea for a population of over 100 million people.
China-Europe Railway Express freight services, another major BRI project, reaches 25 countries and more than 220 cities in Europe, "creating a new land transportation corridor between Asia and Europe, and building a strong bond of interest between China and Europe in terms of friendship and common development", he said.
"Actions have proved that building the Belt and Road is beneficial to the countries and their people, connecting the five continents and benefiting all mankind, and it is a monumental project in this century that serves and benefits this generation and beyond," Lin said.
"We are convinced that under the joint efforts of various parties, high-quality co-building of the Belt and Road will make the Chinese people's dream journey to the world more accessible, and enable more people in the world to share the opportunities for development and prosperity," he added.
Yang Guangbin, a member of the 14th CPPCC National Committee and dean of the School of International Relations at the Renmin University of China, said that an increasing number of countries, including Global South nations, are seeking cooperation involving the BRI and the initiative of building a community with a shared future for mankind, which means "an interaction network based on equality and fairness".
The world is witnessing the "constant advance of a new type of economic globalization", and the Chinese path to modernization is benefiting the Global South, he said.
In recent decades, the Global South developed rapidly, and "the total economic output of the Global South has approached that of the developed economies", Yang noted.
China has been the world's largest exporter of commodities for many years, and with industrial products made in China, many Global South nations can enjoy the convenience brought by modern technology, Yang said.
"For example, China is not only one of the world's largest smartphone markets, but also the world's largest smartphone shipper, and Chinese cell phones have attracted a large number of users in the Global South because of their good quality and low price."
By providing high-quality, low-cost photovoltaic products, China is helping Global South countries to seize the opportunities presented by economic globalization, and promoting the transformation and upgrading of the global energy structure, Yang added.
