Behind the Asia-Pacific dream that president Xi Jinping proposed at the APEC CEO Summit on Sunday lies China’s wish for as large a proportion of the global population as possible to benefit from economic development and the progress of human civilization.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank China has helped to launch and the $40 billion Silk Road Fund China has promised to create are concrete actions aimed at helping to make that dream come true.
No wonder “building a future-oriented Asia-Pacific partnership with common efforts” is the theme of the current Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting Beijing is hosting.
A peaceful rise is not just a slogan on the lips of Chinese leaders. It is also a concept that underlies the global strategy for China’s development, which necessitates its stance of seeking win-win cooperation with as many countries as possible with a view to creating a harmonious world.
That is not because China is not powerful enough to exercise hegemony, but because we realize that the superiority sustained by hegemony will not last long and is not in conformity with the concept of harmony long championed by Chinese culture.
Confucius said, never do to others what you don’t want others to do to you. China was bullied and oppressed by foreign powers for almost a century, which proved to be a motivating power for its rise. But even though China has developed into the world’s second-largest economy, it has no intention of inflicting the same kind of sufferings it endured on other peoples.
Instead, it wants to help as many countries as possible to develop and to join hands with as many countries as possible to create a harmonious world.
The aid in both cash and commodities it has offered to African countries, the contributions it has made to U.N. peacekeeping efforts and the strategic partnerships it has forged with many countries verify its willingness to contribute to the world’s common prosperity.
Look at how much China has done for APEC, which it sincerely hopes will create more conditions for closer and smoother regional economic cooperation.
In this globalized world, there are always challenges such as climate change and terrorism that cannot be dealt with by a single power. This is also the reason why China chooses to seek as extensive a partnership as possible with the rest of the world for a more prosperous and peaceful world.
