Create a Better Post-Covid World

Create a Better Post-Covid World*

January 17, 2022

The world today is undergoing change on a scale unseen in a century. This process, not limited to a particular moment, event, country or region, highlights the profound and sweeping changes of our times. As they combine with a once-in-a-century pandemic, the world finds itself in a new period of turbulence and transformation. How do we beat the pandemic and build the post-Covid world? These are major issues of common concern to people throughout the world. They are also urgent questions to which we must provide answers.

As a Song-dynasty philosopher observed, “The momentum of the world either flourishes or declines; the governance of the world either progresses or regresses.” The world is always developing through the interplay of opposites; without this interplay, nothing would exist. The history of humanity is one of achieving growth by meeting various tests and of developing by resolving various crises. We need to move forward by following the logic of history, and develop by keeping pace with the trend of our times.

Whatever the trials and tribulations, humanity will move on. We need to learn by comparing and analyzing long cycles of history, and see the change in things through the subtle and the minute. We need to foster new opportunities amid crises, open up new horizons on a shifting landscape, and pool great strengths to overcome difficulties and challenges.

First, we need to embrace cooperation and jointly defeat the pandemic.

Confronted by this unprecedented pandemic, which is going to significantly affect the future of humanity, the international community has fought a tenacious battle. Reality has once again proved that amid the raging torrents of a global crisis, countries are not riding separately in some 190 small boats, but are rather all in a giant ship, on which our shared destiny depends. Small boats cannot survive a storm, but a giant ship is strong enough to withstand it. Thanks to the concerted efforts of the international community, marked progress has been made in the global battle against the pandemic. This said, the pandemic is proving a stubborn opponent, resurging with more variants and spreading faster than before. It poses a serious threat to public safety and health, and is exerting a profound impact on the global economy.

Strong confidence and cooperation represent the only way to defeat the pandemic. Hindering each other’s efforts or casting around for targets to blame only causes needless delay in our response and distract us from the overall objective. Countries need to strengthen international cooperation against Covid-19, carry out joint research and development of medicines, build multiple lines of defense against the coronavirus, and speed up efforts to build a global community of health for all. Of particular importance is to fully leverage vaccines as a powerful weapon, ensure their equitable distribution, accelerate the vaccination process, and close the global immunization gap, so as to truly safeguard people’s lives, health and livelihoods.

China is a country that delivers on its promises. China has already sent over 2 billion doses of vaccine to more than 120 countries and international organizations. And China will provide a further 1 billion doses to African countries – including 600 million donated doses – and will also donate 150 million doses to ASEAN countries.

Second, we need to address a number of risks and promote a steady recovery of the global economy.

The global economy is emerging from the trough, yet it is still subject to many constraints. Global industrial and supply chains have been disrupted. Commodity prices continue to rise. Energy supply remains tight. These and other stresses compound one another and heighten uncertainty about economic recovery. The low inflation environment has changed considerably, and the risk of rising inflation driven by multiple factors is surfacing. If major economies slam on the brakes or take a sudden turn in their monetary policies, there will be serious negative spillovers. They will present a threat to global economic and financial stability, and developing countries will bear the brunt. In responding to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis we need to explore new drivers of economic growth, new social models, and new pathways for people-to-people exchange, in a bid to facilitate cross-border trade, keep industrial and supply chains secure and smooth, and promote steady and solid progress in global economic recovery.

Economic globalization is the trend of the times. Though countercurrents are sure to exist in a river, none can stop it from flowing to the sea. The weight of the water boosts the river’s momentum, and eddies of resistance may yet strengthen its overall flow. Despite the countercurrents and dangerous shoals along the way, economic globalization has never veered off course and never will.

All countries should uphold true multilateralism. We should remove barriers, not erect walls. We should open up, not close down. We should seek integration, not decoupling. This is the way to build an open world economy. We should guide reform of the global governance system in accordance with the principles of fairness and justice, and uphold the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its center. We should establish generally accepted and effective rules for artificial intelligence and the digital economy on the basis of full consultation, and create an open, just and nondiscriminatory environment for scientific and technological innovation. This is the way to make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all, and to fully unleash the vitality of the global economy.

There is a common understanding that to steer the world economy from crisis to recovery, it is imperative to strengthen macro policy coordination. Major economies should see the world as a single community, apply systems thinking, increase policy transparency and information sharing, and coordinate the objectives, intensity and pace of fiscal and monetary policies, so as to prevent the world economy from faltering again. Major developed countries should adopt responsible economic policies, manage policy spillovers, and avoid severe impacts on developing countries. International economic and financial institutions should play a constructive role to build global consensus, enhance policy synergy, and prevent systemic risks.

Third, we need to bridge the development divide and revitalize global development.

The process of global development is suffering from severe disruption, exacerbating prominent problems such as a widening North-South gap, diverging recovery trajectories, development fault lines, and a technological divide. The Human Development Index has declined for the first time in 30 years. The world’s poor population has increased by more than 100 million. Nearly 800 million people live in hunger. Difficulties are mounting in food security, education, employment, medicine, health and other areas critical to people’s wellbeing. Some developing countries have fallen back into poverty and instability due to the pandemic. Many in developed countries are also experiencing difficulties.

Whatever difficulties may come our way, we must adhere to a people-centered philosophy of development, place development and people’s wellbeing front and center in global macro policies, realize the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and build greater synergy among existing mechanisms of development cooperation to promote balanced development worldwide.

We should uphold the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, promote international cooperation on climate change in the context of development, and follow up on the outcomes of COP26 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Developed economies should take the lead in honoring their emissions reduction responsibilities, deliver on their commitments to financial and technological support, and create the necessary conditions for developing countries to address climate change and achieve sustainable development.

Last year, I proposed a Global Development Initiative at the UN General Assembly to draw international attention to the pressing challenges faced by developing countries. The initiative is a public good, open to the whole world, designed to form synergy with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and boost common development across the world. China stands ready to work with all partners to translate the initiative into concrete actions and make sure that no country is left behind in this process.

Fourth, we need to discard the Cold War mentality and seek peaceful coexistence and win-win outcomes.

Our world today is far from tranquil; rhetoric that stokes hatred and prejudice is widespread. The resultant acts of containment, suppression or confrontation do harm to all; they do not in any way advance world peace and security. History has proved time and again that confrontation does not solve problems; it only invites catastrophic consequences. Protectionism and unilateralism can protect no one; they ultimately hurt one’s own interests as well as damaging the interests of others. Even worse are the practice of hegemony and the strong abusing the weak, which run counter to the tide of history.

It is inevitable that countries will experience differences of opinion and disagreements, but a zero-sum approach that seeks to enlarge one’s own gain at the expense of others will not help. Stubbornly creating “walled-in courtyards” or parallel systems, zealously putting together exclusive circles or blocs that polarize the world, overstretching the concept of national security to hold back economic and technological progress in other countries, fanning ideological antagonism, and politicizing or weaponizing economic, scientific and technological issues – all of these will gravely undermine international efforts to tackle common challenges.

The right way forward for humanity is peaceful development and win-win cooperation. Different countries and civilizations can prosper together on the basis of mutual respect, and seek common ground and win-win outcomes by setting aside differences.

We should follow the trend of history, work for a stable international order, champion the common values of humanity, and build a global community of shared future. We should choose dialogue over confrontation and inclusiveness over exclusion, and we should take a stand against all forms of unilateralism, protectionism, hegemonism and power politics.

* Part of the speech at a virtual session of the 2022 World Economic Forum.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)