It has been 10 years since Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the vision of building a human community with a share future during his visit to Russia in 2013. At a recent international symposium on the “10th Anniversary of the Human Community with a Shared Future and the Creation of a New Form of Human Advancement” convened in Beijing, scholars discussed the development of the concept in theory and practice over the past 10 years.

Ever-richer implications

Building a human community with a shared future is a Chinese proposal for world development. The innovative notion has altered the inherent, simplistic logic of international relations. Martin Jacques, a senior fellow from Cambridge University, compared the human community with a shared future to traditional concepts like “nation state.” He noted that this new concept pays attention not only to states, but also to the common interests of humanity.

“The vitality of a concept lies in its connotation being constantly enriched and expanded,” said Yue Yanghua, director of the China Center for Contemporary World Studies under the International Department of the Central Committee of CPC. In recent years, the notion of a human community with a shared future has been interpreted from rich and diverse perspectives, while increasingly specific perceptions have also endowed the concept with more profound contemporary value.

Wang Wen, executive director of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China (RUC), said that since it was put forward, the notion of the human community with a shared future has been continuously deepened in conception and layout.

In terms of national rejuvenation, President Xi Jinping has elucidated the community for the Chinese nation and the community of shared destiny across the Taiwan Straits. To date, more than 20 countries have expressed their interest in building a multilateral community as part of their vision for bilateral cooperation. On a broader level, China has proposed building an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future, a China-ASEAN community with a shared future, a SCO community with a shared future, and the like. President Xi Jinping has also conceptualized various communities with a shared future, such as a maritime community, a cyberspace community, and a global development community, among others, Wang said.

The vision of building a human community with a shared future is underpinned by the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the newly proposed Global Civilization Initiative, which highly align with Chinese modernization. Li Junru, former vice president of the Party School of the Central Committee of CPC (National Academy of Governance), said that Chinese modernization integrates the concepts of development, security, and civilization, and is committed to advancing the building of a human community with a shared future.

Notable progress in practice

Over the past decade, China has promoted the building of a human community with a shared future with pragmatic action and has made a series of remarkable achievements. With an increasingly clear path of practice and growing international recognition, the concept has become an important source of certainty for advancing lasting peace and common prosperity in the world.

Irwansyah Mukhlis, a political counselor from the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing, pointed out that cooperation between China and Indonesia has generated fruitful results under the guidance of building a human community with a shared future. As strategic partners, the two countries have also pledged to build a “China-Indonesia community with a shared future,” with the common aim to build a human community with a shared future and contribute to peace and development of the region and beyond.

As a crucial platform to practice the building of a human community with a shared future, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been a vital mechanism for vivid practices related to the vision. Over the last 10 years, high-quality joint construction of the BRI has garnered active support from more than 75% of the world’s countries and dozens of international organizations, involving more than 3,000 cooperation projects and investments of nearly $1 trillion. Yue said that the BRI is significantly paradigmatic to driving international cooperation. It is consistent with interests of many countries along the route, and has helped humanity create an organic community with shared interests, future, and responsibilities.

Along with prominent achievements in international cooperation, the human community with a shared future is gaining increasing global recognition. In the past 10 years, China has approached the center of the global political arena and played a huge role on the international stage and in diplomacy. In Jacques’s opinion, as a developing country with one fifth of the global population, China’s own development and its key role in global affairs are inseparable from related policy support. In particular, practices of building the human community with a shared future and the BRI have fueled China’s development while profoundly influencing the pace of the world’s progress.

The symposium was co-hosted by RUC and China Public Diplomacy Association.