RECENTLY, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed a Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), calling for respect for the diversity of civilizations when he delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting. This is the third major global initiative presented by China after the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative.
The political parties’ conference was held by the Communist Party of China (CPC) ahead of US President Joe Biden’s proposed second Summit for Democracy with the governments of Costa Rica, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Zambia on March 29-30, 2023. The background of the Global Civilization Initiative is that in recent years, as geopolitical conflicts have intensified, the “clash of civilizations” and “superiority of civilizations” has returned to public attention under the instigation and hype of some politicians in the US and the West.
The Global Civilization Initiative puts forward four initiatives – respect for the diversity of civilizations, advocating the common values of humanity, highly valuing the inheritance and innovation of civilizations, and jointly advocating robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.
Political leaders who took part in the virtual meeting spoke positively about Xi’s initiative and expressed their willingness to work with the CPC to play a guiding role in promoting exchanges and mutual learning of civilizations and pursuing a path toward modernization based on their own national contexts.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who also attended in his capacity as the president of the ruling African National Congress, said that he fully agrees with Xi’s initiative. The history of SA in fighting for freedom makes its people value the importance of unity, harmony, inclusiveness and mutual respect, he said.
The initiative is particularly important considering the destructive challenges that the world is currently facing, “such as climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, terrorism and geopolitical confrontation”, Ramaphosa added.
He also said that South Africa appreciates China’s foreign policy based on non-interference in the domestic affairs of other sovereign states and mutually beneficial cooperation, which are reflected in China’s global initiatives and are crucial to promoting the collective growth of developing countries.
As the international landscape undergoes profound changes, Xi’s remarks on multiple international occasions, which demonstrate China’s view on world civilizations, offer an insight. For example, he said “diversity spurs interaction among civilizations, which in turn promotes mutual learning and their further development. To meet our common challenges and create a better future for all, we look to culture and civilization to play their role, which is as important as the role played by economy, science and technology. The meaning of the speech goes far beyond the cultural scope.” President Xi hopes that different civilizations will strengthen exchanges and mutual learning to promote world peace and development.
China’s view of world civilizations is rooted in its traditional values of peace, harmony without uniformity, and harmonious co-existence, which have not only shaped its own action model but also added impetus to global efforts to promote world peace and development.
China’s view of world civilizations is characterized by equality, mutual learning, dialogue and mutual accommodation. It calls for replacing mistrust with exchange, clashes with mutual learning, and a false sense of superiority with co-existence in order to safeguard world peace and development.
Apart from cultural heritage conservation, China is also working with other countries in poverty reduction, environmental protection and other fields as part of its efforts to jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind.
Rooted in traditional Chinese culture, the vision of President Xi’s building a community of shared future is China’s contribution to human civilization. Beijing has applied and enriched such a vision in developing bilateral and multilateral relations, and practised it in such areas as ocean, health and environment.
As a key platform for building a community with a shared future for mankind, the Belt and Road cooperation has won increasing popularity, eyeing further development in health, environment, digital growth and other areas. In addition, China’s anti-poverty cooperation continued despite the pandemic, with new pilot projects announced in Southeast Asian countries, and training programs expanding to help African farmers.
Some countries are trying to form values-based alliances to provoke ideological confrontation. At this critical time, Xi’s remarks may shed light on how to understand and handle cultural and civilizational differences.
“As we review our past and look beyond Africa, we should have greater confidence in our civilizations. We will build on the rich heritage of our forefathers, stay engaged with other civilizations and increase mutual learning. By doing so, we will add new glory to African civilizations.”
And I must quote what President Xi also said: “It’s foolish, disastrous to reshape or replace other civilizations.”
