Performers dance a tea-picking dance at the “Tea for Harmony” Yaji Cultural Salon in Mexico City, Mexico, on May 20. Harmony (和, hé), a central notion of Chinese culture, is the conceptual basis of a global community of shared future. Photo: XINHUA

The international landscape and system are currently undergoing significant transformations. Numerous issues within the established international order have emerged, rendering it inadequate for today’s circumstances. Consequently, nations worldwide are seeking a more equitable and reasonable model of global governance. China has proposed building a new type of international relations and a global community of shared future. To discuss the existing global governance system and implications of these Chinese proposals, CSST recently interviewed Evandro Menezes de Carvalho, a professor of international law and head of the Center for Brazil-China Studies at Getulio Vargas Foundation School of Law in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Undesired international system

The Global Risks Report 2024, published by the World Economic Forum on Jan. 10, 2024, presents a predominantly gloomy outlook for the coming decade. According to the survey, which gathered responses from 1,500 interviewees including academics, businesspeople, government representatives, and members of civil society, 63% of the respondents believe the world will face a “stormy” or “turbulent” period characterized by social upheaval and a high risk of global catastrophes.

The survey identifies extreme climate change (66% of the respondents), misinformation generated by artificial intelligence (53%), and political and social polarization (46%) as the top three risks facing humanity. As stated in the Global Risks Report 2024, “dissatisfaction with the continued political, military, and economic dominance of the Global North is growing, especially as states in the Global South bear the brunt of climate change, the consequences of pandemic-era crises, and geoeconomic divergences between great powers.”

In Carvalho’s view, the international policy of the West, conducted in the name of “globalization,” was dedicated to promoting the uniformity of standards of behaviors, values, and norms that underpinned the “Westernization” of the world.

“This globalization favored developed countries in the Global North to the detriment of developing countries in the Global South by maintaining, albeit under a different institutional and normative guise, the same logic of economic exploitation that sustained the West’s domination over non-Western countries,” he said.

Carvalho noted that certain countries in the Global North, which claim to be democratic, are the first to oppose the democratization of the international system. He added that some of these Western democracies have adopted authoritarian practices on the international level.

Chinese insights

Faced with this scenario, the Chinese government suggests a new type of international relations and new ideas for global governance. “The time has come to debate these new approaches and ideas, not just those proposed by China but those by the Global South,” Carvalho said.

“According to China, the objective of a global community of shared future is to abandon the old path of colonialism and hegemonism,” Carvalho continued. “China has the legitimacy to make such a claim. After all, the country has no history of colonization or aggression against other nations. China’s message is that its new foreign policy does not seek to Sinicize the world and, therefore, would respect countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Carvalho explained that the conceptual basis of a global community of shared future is the notion of harmony (和, hé), a central concept of Chinese culture. “Established in Confucius classics as a sociopolitical idea and a category of philosophy and aesthetics, the notion of harmony was also discussed by Shi Bo in ‘Zheng’s Discourse,’ in the Discourses of the States. Shi Bo teaches us that ‘harmony’ is inconsistent with the idea of sameness or uniformity of things, tastes, opinions, etc. Harmony presupposes diversity and complementarity between different things.”

“Uniformity, the objective of Western-style globalization, means the obliteration of differences and, therefore, the elimination of harmony, while diversity, central to the notion of harmony, means valuing differences that complement each other,” Carvalho said.

He emphasized that the international order proposed by China is that of a more diverse and, consequently, less Westernized world. Building this community is China’s proposed strategy to reform and improve the international governance system. This does not advocate for dismantling or restarting the international system; rather it aims to promote greater democracy in international relations and to make global governance fairer and more equitable.

Different worldviews

“We speak different languages when we dialogue with the Global North,” Carvalho said. The Global North’s worldview is one of intense competition in an international system where the final result will always be zero-sum and the search for standardization of positions, behaviors, thoughts, etc. Such assumptions guide the political conduct of the Global North, which is strongly marked by the sign of domination, control, imposition of the contents of the rules of international law, etc.

“The predominant logic of the Global North that structures its relationships and identity is that of Shakespearean inspiration of ‘to be or not to be,’ while China’s logic of Taoist inspiration is one of ‘to be and not to be’: an additive logic and not an exclusionary one. Considering the Chinese approach, the Global South can be more resilient and patient with differences,” Carvalho said.

He referenced US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who encapsulated the Global North’s mindset by saying, “If you’re not at the table in the international system, you’re going to be on the menu.” “Everyone needs to be included at the table. The menu that the Global South has to offer is one of a more inclusive, fair, and peaceful world,” Carvalho concluded.