President Xi Jinping’s Elaboration on the Vision of a Global Community of Shared Future Since 2013

Today is a time of great development, change, and adjustment for our world. 

On the one hand, the historical tide of peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit has become unstoppable, and the trends of multipolarity and economic globalization are irreversible. Yet, on the other hand, great harm is being done by the hegemonic, high-handed, and bullying acts of those who use strength to intimidate the weak, take from others through force and subterfuge, and play zero-sum games. The deficits in peace, development, security, and governance are growing. As a society, humanity is thus facing challenges like never before. 

With humanity’s advance in mind, along with the shared and fundamental interests of the people of China and the rest of the world, President Xi Jinping has profoundly contemplated the major questions concerning our collective future, such as the kind of world to build and the way to build it. Demonstrating great foresight, he has put forward the important vision of building a global community of shared future. 

Taking a morally righteous perspective, this vision brings together the common aspirations of the peoples of all countries to chart the right course for humanity at a critical historical juncture when our world is going through momentous once-in-a-century changes at an accelerated pace. 

Since the start of the new era in 2012, President Xi has expounded on the vision of building a global community of shared future on various international occasions, such as state visits and multilateral summits. As a result, this major concept has been continuously enriched and developed. 

In March 2013, during a speech at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, he declared that we live in a world “where countries are linked with and dependent on one another at a level never seen before. Humanity, by living in the same global village in the same era where history and reality meet, has increasingly emerged as a community of shared future in which everyone has in himself a little bit of others.” 

In the latter half of the same year, President Xi put forward two major initiatives, proposing the Silk Road Economic Belt in Kazakhstan and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in Indonesia, which have collectively become known as the Belt and Road Initiative. 

This initiative has served as an international cooperation platform for applying the concept of a global community of shared future in practice and has been warmly welcomed by the international community as a public good.

In June 2014, on the 60th anniversary of the introduction of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, President Xi called on all countries to uphold and carry forward these principles in order to build a new type of international relations under changing circumstances. Establishing a new type of international relations is both the prerequisite and path for building a global community of shared future, which serves as our goal and direction of effort. 

As such, in addition to promoting a global community of shared future, President Xi has also creatively proposed the development of a new type of international relations characterized by mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation. In reality, this means developing a new way for nations to interact with each other so as to create the path and conditions needed to build a global community of shared future.

In September 2015, President Xi delivered a major speech at UN Headquarters in New York, in which he stated that peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom are values shared by all humanity. 

In this speech, he also systematically laid out the main elements of a global community of shared future from five aspects: partnerships, security, development, intercultural exchanges, and ecological systems. 

In October of the same year, during the 27th group study session of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee, President Xi pointed out that “With the rise in global challenges, strengthening global governance and promoting reform of global governance has become a prevailing trend.” 

He emphasized the need to “advocate for global governance featuring shared growth through discussion and collaboration” and “promote a more just and equitable global governance system,” making it clear that China would actively work for the improvement and reform of global governance based on the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration.

In early 2017, in a historic speech at the UN Office in Geneva, President Xi comprehensively outlined the vision for building a global community of shared future, covering five key aspects: building a world of enduring peace through dialogue and consultation, building and sharing together a world of common security, building a world of common prosperity through mutually beneficial cooperation, building an open and inclusive world through exchanges and mutual learning, and building a clean and beautiful world by pursuing green and low-carbon development. 

In his speech, President Xi addressed the questions of what is happening to the world and how we should respond from a historical and philosophical perspective. He also systematically set out pathways for building a global community of shared future from a practical standpoint and declared China’s commitment to making unremitting efforts toward forging this community. 

In recent years, amid a sluggish global economic recovery, intensifying geopolitical conflicts, and escalating major power competition, it has become more urgent than ever for the world to take concrete and resolute steps to address the defining question of our times: Where should humanity be heading? 

In response, President Xi took the steps of introducing the Global Development Initiative in 2021, the Global Security Initiative in 2022, and the Global Civilizations Initiative in 2023, in order to go further in addressing the universal desire among all peoples for peace, development, and cooperation. 

These initiatives have provided feasible approaches for safeguarding world peace and development and improving global governance. At the same time, they have provided a fresh boost of powerful momentum for building a global community of shared future. 

At the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs held at the end of 2023, President Xi presented a comprehensive review of the rich practices involved in building a global community of shared future. On this basis, he put forward a further series of new viewpoints and important conclusions to enhance the theoretical depth and practical scope of this vision, while also strengthening its strategic guidance and practical relevance. 

At the conference, building a global community of shared future was defined as a core tenet of Xi Jinping thought on diplomacy. It was stated that this concept reflects the worldview, sense of order, and values of Chinese Communists; it aligns with the common aspirations of people around the world, points to the direction of progress for world civilization, and represents a noble goal pursued by China in conducting major-country diplomacy in the new era. 

President Xi put forward a well-conceived system for building a global community of shared future, comprising the following elements: The goal is to build an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world of lasting peace, common security, and shared prosperity; the pathway is promoting global governance that features shared growth through discussion and collaboration; the guiding principle is to apply the common values of humanity; the basic underpinning lies in building a new type of international relations; the strategic guidance comes from the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilizations Initiative; and the platform for action is high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. On this basis, China hopes to work with all countries to meet challenges, achieve prosperity for all, and see the world moving toward a brighter future of peace, security, prosperity, and progress. 

President Xi noted that in response to the major problems and challenges facing the world today, China has issued the call for an equal and orderly multipolar world and universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization. 

By addressing the core and most urgent concerns and demands of the majority of countries, especially developing nations, this call has helped enhance the international community’s understanding and recognition of a global community of shared future and created a more solid foundation for its development. 

Bearing in mind the close link between a country’s foreign policy and its domestic agenda and the interplay between external and internal imperatives, President Xi pointed out that in the current and upcoming periods, China should champion building a global community of shared future to steer momentous world changes in the right direction, pursue development within the broader global development context, and advance the interests of the people of China and the rest of the world, so as to create a more favorable international environment and provide more solid strategic support for turning China into a great modern socialist country and advancing national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization.

In June 2024, when addressing guests at a conference marking the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, President Xi once again elaborated on the vision of building a global community of shared future. He explained that this vision captures the reality that all countries have a shared future and intertwined interests and sets a new model of equality and coexistence for international relations. 

It responds to the world’s prevailing trends of peace, development, and mutually beneficial cooperation, and opens up new prospects for peace and progress. It also keeps pace with the historic trend toward multipolarity and economic globalization and inspires new ways to achieve development and security.

Editor: Zhang Xian