China and the new more just world order
Mutually beneficial trade, cooperation, and shared achievements
In today’s commentary, I reflect on a recent article by Elias Jabbour, associate professor of theory and policy of economic planning at Rio de Janeiro State University. The article was published in Geopolitical Economy Report and on the Website of the Friends of Socialist China.
Jabbour begins with the observation that the modern world-system in determined historic moments has been characterized by the rise of new poles of power and the decline of existing ones, with corresponding changes in hegemony. Today the world-system is in such a moment of transition, but it is qualitatively different. In the first place, more that a decline of the hegemonic power relative to other powers, there is today “an accelerated stage of political, social, moral, and economic decomposition of a hegemonic power: the United States of America.” This has occurred because the USA beginning in the late 1970s turned to financialization as the driving force in the accumulation of capital, thus undermining its capacity for national production, which at the same time has generated “a spiral of greater instability and unpredictability” in the world. As indications of its decomposition, the United States demonstrates its incapacity to manage financial crises, and it breaks the rules that it itself created in the post-World War II era, using the dollar as a political weapon, for example.
In the second place, there is not only the rise of new powers (China, India, Russia, Brazil) in terms of economic growth relative to the North Atlantic pole, but in addition, there is occurring “the emergence of another kind of globalization.” The general guidelines of the new globalization have been put forth by Chinese President Xi Jinping, beginning in 2013 with the Belt and Road Initiative, and more recently with global initiatives on development, security, and civilization, which involve a “rethinking of the principles formulated by the famous Bandung Conference of 1955.” Thus, the new globalization, Jabbour observes, is centered on China, and thus he speaks of “globalization with Chinese characteristics.”
I would like to suggest that the dynamics of the world-system today constitute more than the emergence of a new form of globalization. What is occurring today ought to be understood as a process of transition from a neocolonial world system to a different kind of world system, more just and democratic. It is a question of transition from a neocolonial world-system with a capitalist world-economy, in which inter-imperialist competition among world powers is the norm, and in which there is repeated interference in the internal affairs of nations; with a geographical division of labor between core and periphery, which functions to ensure the perpetuation of unequal exchange and superexploitation; and with widespread conflict, division, and confusion. It involves a transition to a more democratic world-system that has political space for nations constructing socialism; and that is characterized by cooperation among nations and respect for the sovereignty of nations as well as by mutually beneficial trade among nations, with structures that provide the foundation for peace and prosperity.
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China leads the construction of the new world order
The need for a new world order, more just and democratic, was proclaimed by leaders of newly independent nations in the 1950s, when the neocolonial world-system with U.S. hegemony was at its zenith, although the call was heard only among the colonized and neocolonized peoples of the planet. The transition in practice to a new more just world order was initiated in the 1970s, with the declaration of the UN General Assembly for a New International Economic Order, which combined with other factors, provoked the American power elite to counter-productive and self-destructive policies that ultimately accelerated the transition, especially evident during the last ten years.
The alternative more just and democratic world order has been announced by China. During the last ten years, China has been leading the world in the theoretical formulation and practical construction of the new world order.
In 2013, Xi Jinping proposed that China join with other countries to build a Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which together were designated the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Reacting to a world situation in which modern economic globalization has not contributed to a common development that provides benefits for all, the goal of the BRI is to develop a more inclusive form of globalization that is beneficial to all, that expands the possibilities for developing countries in all regions of the world to achieve modernization, based in win-win cooperation, equal participation, and shared achievements.
With the Belt and Road Initiative, China offers to the world a new model of international relations based on cooperation. A white paper emitted by China’s State Council Information Office on the occasion of the BRI’s tenth anniversary stated:
“The BRI goes beyond the law of the jungle and the hegemonic order based on power struggles. It rejects zero-sum thinking and discards the Cold War mentality of ideological rivalry and geopolitical competition. Instead, it paves the way for peaceful development, and aims to offer a fundamental approach to lasting peace and universal security. Under the BRI, nations respect each other's sovereignty, dignity, territorial integrity, development path, social system, core interests, and major concerns. As the initiator of the BRI, China passionately campaigns for the establishment of a new model of international relations characterized by mutual respect, equity, justice, and win-win cooperation. It is committed to building partnerships based on dialogue rather than confrontation, and friendship rather than alliance, and to fostering a new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. These efforts help to create a peaceful and stable development environment.”
At the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 21, 2021, Xi Jinping proposed a Global Development Initiative based on the principles of commitment to people-centered development, with attention to the special needs of developing countries. The Initiative ought to be driven by innovation, harnessing the most recent technological achievements to boost productivity, with commitment to harmony between humans and nature. Jinping reiterated the principles of international relations as seen by China:
“We must strengthen solidarity and promote mutual respect and win-win cooperation in conducting international relations. A world of peace and development should embrace civilizations of various forms, and must accommodate diverse paths to modernization. . . . We need to pursue dialogue and inclusiveness over confrontation and exclusion. We need to build a new type of international relations based on mutual respect, equality, justice and win-win cooperation.”
On April 21, 2022, at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, Xi Jinping proposed a Global Security Initiative, intended to “promote security for all in the world.” The initiative is based on the principle that the security of each is ensured by the institutionally protected security of all. It is, Xi declared, a “vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security” that respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries and upholds the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of states. It is a vision that respects “the independent choices of development paths and social systems made by people in different countries.” It stands with “the purposes and principles of the UN Charter” and is opposed to unilateralism and to double standards.
The Global Security Initiative, Xi maintained, is based in a vision that rejects the Cold War mentality and confrontations between blocs of nations. It is “committed to taking the legitimate security concerns of all countries seriously.” It upholds the principle of indivisible security, in opposition to “the pursuit of one's own security at the cost of others' security.” It seeks to “build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture.” It opposes “the wanton use of unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction.” It proposes that nations “work together on regional disputes and global challenges such as terrorism, climate change, cybersecurity and biosecurity.”
On March 21, 2023, at a forum sponsored by the Communist Party of China of dialogue with political parties around the world, Xi proposed a Global Civilization Initiative, which is based on the premise that “all civilizations created by human society are splendid,” and all have made “important contributions to humanity’s modernization process.” And the Initiative is based on the premise that the advancement of humanity’s modernization process occurs through mutual learning among different civilizations.
The Global Civilization Initiative, Xi declared, respects the diversity and equality of civilizations. It advocates mutual learning, cultural exchanges, and people-to-people exchanges among civilizations, based in open-minded appreciation of the values of different civilizations. It calls for the building of a global network for inter-civilizational dialogue and cooperation, with the intention of making together a garden of colorful and vibrant world civilizations. It maintains that all countries should refrain from imposing their values or political-economic models on other countries, and they should avoid ideological confrontation.
The Global Civilization Initiative, Xi observed, calls for balance between inheritance and innovation. Countries need to appreciate the relevance of their histories and traditional cultures to the present times; at the same time, they need to creatively transform and innovatively develop traditional cultures, in accordance with the challenges and conditions of today’s world.
On October 18, 2023, Xi Jinping addressed the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. He asserted that the expansion of Belt and Road cooperation has reinforced China’s belief that “win-win cooperation is the sure way to success,” beneficial to all. Xi declared:
“When countries embrace cooperation, . . . a place of underdevelopment can be transformed into a land of prosperity. Countries taking the lead in economic development should give a hand to their partners who are yet to catch up. We should all treat each other as friends and partners, respect and support each other, and help each other succeed. . . . Helping others is also helping oneself. Viewing others’ development as a threat or taking economic interdependence as a risk will not make one’s own life better or speed up one’s development.”
Xi further maintained that success in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative during the last ten years demonstrates that “Belt and Road cooperation is on the right side of history. It represents the advancing of our times.”
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China and the Third World project
China adopted its vision of win-win cooperation with a solid understanding of the political and ideological conditions of the world, with consciousness that its proposal would be well received by the peoples and states of the Third World, inasmuch as the Chinese vision coincides with the principles of the Third World project that had been initiated at the Bandung conference of 1955. Leaders of twenty-nine newly independent nations of Africa and Asia, including Sukarno, Nehru, Nasser, and China’s Zhou-En-lai, participated in the historic conference, which formulated the principle of economic cooperation among nations. The Bandung conference led to the establishment in 1961 of the Non-Aligned Movement by twenty-one newly independent governments of Asia and Africa plus Yugoslavia and socialist Cuba. In accordance with the spirit of Bandung, eighty-three governments and national liberation movements from Africa, Asia, and Latin America met in 1966 in Havana for the First Solidarity Conference of the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, which named colonialism and imperialism as the source of Third World underdevelopment and defended nationalization as an effective strategy for attaining control over national economies.
In 1974, the General Assembly of the United Nations approved the Non-Aligned Movement’s proposal for a New International Economic Order. The declaration affirmed the principles of the right of self-determination of nations and the sovereignty of nations over their natural resources. It advocated: the creation of raw materials producers’ associations to give raw materials exporting states control over prices; a new international monetary policy that did not punish the weaker states; increased industrialization of the Third World; the transfer of technology from the advanced industrial states to the Third World; regulation and control of the activities of transnational corporations; the promotion of cooperation among the nations of the Third World; and aid for Third World development. In 1979, ninety-three nations at the Sixth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana reaffirmed “their deep conviction that a lasting solution to the problems of countries in development can be attained only by means of a constant and fundamental restructuring of international economic relations through the establishment of a New International Economic Order.”
During the 1980s and 1990s, in the context of the worldwide imposition of neoliberal policies, the leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement was hijacked by accommodationist representatives of the “Asian Tigers.” Neoliberal policies had weakened the national economies of the world, and as a result, they weakened states, especially those in developing countries. The imposition of neoliberal policies silenced the call of Third World governments for a new international economic order.
However, in the context of worldwide people’s rebellions in reaction to the negative consequences of neoliberal policies with respect to fundamental human needs, leaders with a socialist or progressive agenda arrived to political power in several Latin American nations, which gave rise to the establishment of anti-imperialist regional associations, culminating in the creation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in 2011. The new political reality in Latin America inspired the governments of the Non-Aligned Movement to retake its classic principles and political agenda. The 2006 Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana, in a declaration affirmed by its 118 member states, affirmed the principles of the equality and sovereignty of nations, non-intervention in the affairs of other states, and “the free determination of peoples in their struggle against foreign intervention.” The renewal of the founding principles is evident in subsequent chairmanships of the Non-Aligned Movement: Egypt, 2009 – 2012; Iran, 2012 – 2016; Venezuela, 2016 – 2019; and Azerbaijan, 2019 – 2023.
The Nineteenth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was held in Kampala, Uganda on January 19-20, 2024; with the slogan “Deepening cooperation for shared global affluence.” NAM has 120 member states; eighteen countries and ten organizations participated in the Summit as observers. The 120 member states together comprise 58.35% of the world's population. The Uganda Chairmanship has put forth the Ten Bandung Principles that have guided the work of the Movement, including respect for the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations; respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations; recognition of the equality of all races and of the equality of all nations, large and small; abstention from intervention or interference into the internal affairs of another country; refraining from acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country; and promotion of mutual interests and cooperation.
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The Chinese vision is being implemented in practice
Chinese leadership toward a new international economic order is welcomed by Third World governments as a better option than accommodation to the imperialist policies of the Western powers. China has become a main trading partner of more than 140 countries, many of which proclaim that China treats them with respect, conducting herself in a manner different from the comportment of the imperialist powers.
The 2023 white paper on the Belt and Road Initiative reports that major infrastructure projects have been completed or are underway in designated corridors connecting subregions in Asia and Europe: The New Eurasian Land Bridge, the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor, and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor. And it reports on railway projects in Africa. In addition, the Silk Road Maritime Network has reached 117 ports in 43 countries.
The white paper also reports that from 2013 to 2023 the value of imports and exports between China and her partners has increased at a rate of 6.4% per year, and that cooperation with BRI partner countries has included education exchanges and people-to-people exchanges as well as cooperation in health, science and technology, and the launching of communication satellites. More than 150 countries, comprising more than 70% of the world’s population, have signed Belt and Road documents of cooperation.
In 2014, Xi Jinping met with the heads of state of the nations of CELAC, including Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia, to establish the China-CELAC Forum, and he subsequently visited Venezuela and Cuba. In an interchange with Latin American journalists, the Chinese President described China as a large nation, but not a global power, and in a phase of development similar to the Latin American and the Caribbean nations. He maintained that China is seeking to develop its economy through trade based on cooperation and win-win relations of mutual benefit. He defended South-South cooperation as the engine that can drive the autonomous and sustainable development of the underdeveloped nations, and he observed that the expanding economic and social relation between China and CELAC is an example of this necessary South-South cooperation. He affirmed the commitment of China to an alternative international economic and political order, more just and reasonable.
In December 2022, Xi Jinping participated in the first China-Arab States Summit and the first China-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh and paid a state visit to Saudi Arabia. In his keynote address to the China-Arab States Summit, Xi declared that in their friendship based in equality and mutual benefit, China and the Arab states have set an example for South-South cooperation. He rejected the notion of a clash of civilizations.
“We appreciate each other's civilizations and have written a splendid history of mutual learning. We keep drawing wisdom from each other's time-honored civilizations, and we jointly promote ‘peace, harmony, integrity, and truth’, the very essence of civilization. We stay true to our principles, despite the clamor for ‘clash of civilizations.’ We advocate together inter-civilizational dialogue, oppose discrimination against particular civilizations, and endeavor to safeguard the diversity of world civilizations.”
China supports the independent development plan of the Arab states in accordance with their national conditions. Both China and the Arab world support the sovereignty of states and the principle of non-interference in the affairs of states. Xi declared:
“China supports Arab states in independently exploring development paths suited to their national conditions and holding their future firmly in their own hands. China is ready to deepen strategic mutual trust with Arab states, and firmly support each other in safeguarding sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity. Our two sides should jointly uphold the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs, practice true multilateralism, and defend the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.”
Xi proposes continued focus on “economic development” and “win-win cooperation.”
Final considerations
Political analysis in the Western nations is often rooted in the assumption of a world system characterized by inter-imperialist competition among world powers, where the rise of one is seen as necessarily involving the fall of a another. Among the peoples of the West, the rise of China is seen as a threat, and the Third World project is unknown, so that there is very limited consciousness of the sustained effort of China and the Third World to construct an alternative world order characterized by respect for the sovereignty of nations, without interference in the internal affairs of nations, permitting each nation to arrive to an understanding of its form of modernization and its political-economic system, in accordance with its culture and values; a world-system characterized by mutually beneficial trade, cooperation, and shared achievements. From the vantage point of the West, it appears that a world of sovereign nations is an idealist or utopian dream. The politicians, peoples, and movements of the West have not seen that the alternative world order is emerging in practice, driven by the necessity for it, given the desperate and aggressive actions of the power elite of the hegemonic nation in economic decline and political and moral decadence.
For intellectuals of the West, our highest duty is and must be a persistent effort to understand these world dynamics, to develop effective methods for explaining them to our peoples, and to creatively look for ways to expand the reach of our voice.
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