A new world order is taking shape
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"Providing public goods" is currently a very popular concept in the international community. It means that every country, especially influential ones, should contribute something to the welfare of humanity. I think it's a very reasonable idea. Now that the whole world has become a village, as a rapidly-developing member of this village, shouldn't China consider doing its bit to promote the well-being of mankind?
Some people may say that tens of millions of Chinese are still struggling in poverty and vast areas in central and west China are underdeveloped. Here, I think we can learn from how Deng Xiaoping dealt with a similar situation. At the beginning of reform and opening up, China's economy faced numerous difficulties. But Deng had the vision and courage to look beyond China's borders and place China in its international context when fashioning China's new model of development. Now with China standing at a new starting point, we may well need this kind of courage even more than before.
What kinds of public goods can we offer the world? I think there are three areas where we can contribute. The first one is peace. The world is generally at peace today. But regional wars and insurgencies still exist. The burden of UN peacekeeping operations is getting heavier. We could consider undertaking more missions to support the UN. The second area is development, which is now a global issue. We have the capability to make an effective contribution to promoting world development. The third one is climate change. This is an inescapable challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. And we can help other developing countries deal with it.
What should we do now that we find ourselves at the center of the international arena? My view is that we should correlate the domestic and international situations. This timely concept was proposed by President Hu Jintao at the Central Meeting on Foreign Affairs Work in August 2006. In his report to the 17th National Congress of the CPC President, Hu said: "The historic change of relationship between modern China and the world shows that China's future is closely connected with the world. China cannot develop healthily without the world and the world cannot prosper without China's participation."
We should remain aware of the fact that international affairs may affect a country's domestic situation. What we do in China may also exert influence on the world at large. Thus we should ensure that our actions have a positive impact on the international community. We must not do anything to harm world peace and development.
We should also pay attention to combining patriotic education and internationalist education. We Chinese have a patriotic tradition. But in the age of globalization, we need to teach our people internationalism as well. During the revolutionary period, our party stressed both. We supported other countries' revolutions and they supported us in turn. Today, with peace and development the two major themes in the world, we must unswervingly walk on the path of peaceful development and pursue a win-win opening-up strategy. We must teach young people to love their country but also humanity. If we broaden our minds, we Chinese people can make a great contribution to the world. We will in turn receive the best wishes of China and the world.
The developments and changes in the international situation during 2009 may come to be seen as a milestone in human history. We are confident that, with the emergence of a new pattern of international relations, the world will be a more just, equal, prosperous and progressive place.
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