On December 27th & 28th 2023, the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs was held in Beijing. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the conference and delivered an important address at the conference, in which he presented a systematic review of the historic achievements and valuable experience of major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in the new era, gave a profound exposition on the international environment and historical mission of China’s external work on the new journey and made comprehensive plans for China’s external work for the coming period. This is a conference of milestone significance. The conference identified the theme of China’s external work as building a community with a shared future for mankind, setting a noble goal for major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics and holding a glorious banner for the development and progress of human society.
As we can see, the world today is far from tranquil. The old and new issues are intertwined, global economic recovery remains sluggish, unilateralism is on the rise, protectionist reasserting itself, the governance and trust deficit in the international community is decidedly widening, and the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation. Given that the great transformation is accelerating across the world, as early as in 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a major call of building a community with a shared future for mankind, which encapsulates how China proposes to solve the questions of what kind of world to build and how to build it. It reflects the Chinese Communists’ worldview, perception of order, and values, accords with the common aspiration of people in all countries, and points the direction for the progress of world civilizations.
The vision of a community with a shared future for mankind is a clarion call for solidarity, is the way forward for all the world’s peoples. In March last year, Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim visited China. During this visit, President Xi Jinping and Mr. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim reached important common understandings on building a China-Malaysia community with a shared future, drawing a blueprint for the development of bilateral relations in the new era. So far, China has engaged with dozens of countries and regions in building communities with a shared future in various forms. Within the ASEAN’s framework, other than Malaysia, China and Indonesia agree on building China-Indonesia community with a shared future, China and Thailand announced the building of a China-Thailand community with a shared future for enhanced stability, prosperity, and sustainability, China and Vietnam ungraded the bilateral relations to a community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, and China is working with Cambodia and Laos on a new, five-year action plan for building a community with a shared future, adding to the good momentum toward a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future. Over the last decade, building a community with a shared future for mankind has developed from a conceptual proposition to a scientific system, from a Chinese initiative to an international consensus, and from a promising vision to substantive actions.
The vision of a community with a shared future for mankind pool strength for cooperation, serves as a guiding principle for building a world with shared prosperity. Last year, China successfully hosted several events such as the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF III), Third China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE), China International Import Expo (CIIE), First China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE), to provide more opportunities for all countries to share China’s big market with a population of over 1.4 billion. China is applying high standards to its implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and is advancing the process of acceding to the two agreements of Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA). China is taking more proactive actions to advance a broader agenda of opening up across more areas and in greater depth. China has signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations to create the largest platform for international cooperation with the broadest coverage in the world. China’s economy has contributed to over 30% of global economic growth for years in running, providing a driving force for building a world of shared prosperity.
The vision of a community with a shared future for mankind light up the way forward，provides strong certainty for the world’s peace development. Last year, China facilitated the historic reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran, setting a new example of political settlement of hotspot issues. President Xi Jinping personally engaged with leaders of various countries and multilateral institutions, including the United Nations (UN) following the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis, and China released China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis to make active efforts for resuming peace talks and restoring peace as we built up the conditions for the cessation of hostilities and peace talks. As the rotating president of the U.N. Security Council, China pushed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to adopt a resolution - the first of its kind since the conflict broke out, and also released China’s Position Paper on Resolving the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. China’s contribution has been highly commended by the international community. In the great process of building a community with a shared future for mankind, the goal is to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and shared prosperity, the pathway is promoting global governance that features extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefit, the guiding principle is to apply the common values of humanity, the basic underpinning lies in building a new type of international relations, the strategic guidance comes from the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, and the platform for action is high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. On this basis, we seek to bring countries together to meet challenges and achieve prosperity for all.
China and Malaysia are both emerging economies and developing countries. The two countries have similar visions and similar positions in promoting the development of the global governance system and many other aspects. China is ready to work with Malaysia, take the joint building of a China-Malaysia community with a shared future as a guide and high-quality Belt and Road cooperation as a platform to constantly substantiate and enrich the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, promote sustained prosperity, stability and development in the region, and usher in a bright future of peace, security, prosperity and progress for our world.