China spearheads global efforts to pursue development with GDI

BEIJING -- At the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 21, 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled the Global Development Initiative (GDI), offering the international community another significant public good.

Two years on, the initiative, which aims to steer global development toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated, and inclusive growth, has won increasing recognition and support.

Analysts opined that with the GDI, China is blazing a trail for global development, which diverges from the Western-dominated development models, playing a pioneering role in building a community with a shared future for mankind.

NEW MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT

China introduced the GDI at a time when development across the world, particularly in developing countries, was going through a rough patch.

Unilateralism, protectionism, and anti-globalization are running rampant. Transnational challenges are intensifying, with frequent outbreaks of regional conflicts. Clinging to the Cold War mentality, some Western countries are bent on provoking bloc confrontations, putting global security at greater risk.

To navigate through those hurdles and unlock a path forward, balanced, coordinated, and inclusive development is of paramount importance. That means no country should be left in the lurch, and developing nations -- whose development interests have been overlooked for far too long -- deserve more attention and support.

With its influence and experiences, China is trying to galvanize the world economy and create fairer bases for all nations to prosper, said Waleed Gaballah, a professor of financial and economic jurisdictions at Cairo University.

The GDI is an initiative that "is built on maintaining cooperation and achieving interests for all without leaving any country behind," pointed out Gaballah.

Referring to the GDI as "an inclusive and coherent proposal for a new international order that is just and equitable," Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said at the recently-concluded Group of 77 and China Summit in Havana that the initiative is helping "place knowledge-based development at the center of the priorities of the international system."

By rolling out a set of initiatives including the GDI, China is propelling the world "into a new paradigm, where we think about the one humanity first, before we think about national interests," said Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and chairwoman of the German think tank Schiller Institute.

INDISPENSABLE ROLE

To effectively implement the GDI, China, a developing country, prioritizes the urgent needs of developing countries, proposing a range of practical measures to empower developing countries in crucial areas including poverty reduction, food security, industrialization, and connectivity.

China's efforts are bringing tangible benefits. According to a report released by the Chinese government in June, in just the past year, China has established over 100 projects to promote the GDI, benefiting nearly 40 developing countries. Additionally, China has set up 1,000 capacity-building projects and provided 20,000 training opportunities in relevant countries.

"Every day, we see the Chinese initiatives are embodied in Chinese projects on real ground," said Gaballah, the Egyptian economist, adding that he "expects momentum in the Chinese projects and actions for promoting the process of development in general."

Enhancing the voice and representation of developing countries in the global governance system is also an essential aspect of the GDI. In such events as the largest-ever expansion of the BRICS mechanism and the successful inclusion of the African Union in the G20, China has all played an indispensable role.

"The GDI, in specific, has great practical importance," said Robert Lawrence Kuhn, chairman of the Kuhn Foundation, noting that the initiative deals with all kinds of projects and necessities that either developing countries or the least developed ones need the most.

China's goals contained in the GDI are right, said Akkan Suver, head of the Istanbul-based Marmara Group Strategic and Social Research Foundation. "They have created a different atmosphere ... (and) enabled people to live better, move better, and achieve better."

EXPANDING GROUP OF FRIENDS

Having witnessed the far-reaching dividends brought about by the GDI, more members of the international community are joining the symphony of development, becoming ardent supporters and active participants in this initiative.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has stated that the GDI aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations and that China's efforts in assisting developing countries in their common development goals are unparalleled.

So far, over 100 countries and international organizations have voiced support for the GDI, and more than 70 countries have joined the Group of Friends of the GDI. China has also signed cooperation memorandums of understanding with more than 20 countries and international organizations.

Inspired by the GDI, the world is rallying together to create an unstoppable tide in the quest for equitable development and a just global governance system.

However, it cannot be ignored that at this very moment when global unity is urgently needed, certain Western countries, in a bid to maintain their hegemony, are willfully sabotaging international collaboration.

They advocate for decoupling and form exclusive cliques with the intention of obstructing development in other nations through technological monopolies and trade barriers. For the world as a whole, these countries represent the direst threat to development.

While the West "keeps working tirelessly" to maintain all economic gains from its hegemony, the economic order where the West occupies a dominant position "has become weak," argued Gaballah.

These countries must mend their ways and heed the call of the majority of nations around the world, who aspire for development and unity, and abhor hegemonism and confrontation, according to the scholar.

Global development efforts should be a collective endeavor involving people from all nations. China has always been ready to join hands with other countries to pursue such a goal.

With a focus on addressing the fundamental obstacles to human development, the China-proposed GDI is bound to go even further, said Suver. "I believe the initiative will be more productive in the coming years."