The G20 Leaders’ Summit kicked off on Tuesday. Leaders of many countries and heads of international institutions have delivered speeches successively. Everyone touched upon the severe challenges facing humanity’s peace and development in their opening remarks. This is a basic judgment of the international community, and there is no dispute about it.
As for the causes, responsibilities and solutions to the challenges, the views of different countries differ given their own perspectives. This is normal. But it is crucial to work together in order to deal with these global challenges.
In Bali, the participating countries arranged a number of multilateral and bilateral meetings, with long-awaited handshakes, rather than competitive atmosphere, between the East and the West, and between the developed and developing countries. It shows that, more than ever, the international community needs to bridge divergences and form a joint force to overcome the difficulties. This is the big picture of international situation in which all humanity live today and cannot be avoided.
What is particularly eye-catching is that on November 15 Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech entitled, “Working Together to Meet the Challenges of Our Times and Build a Better Future.” Xi underscored the need to make global development more inclusive, beneficial to all, and more resilient. He said that it is imperative that all countries advocate peace, development, and win-win cooperation. All countries should replace division with unity, confrontation with cooperation, and exclusion with inclusiveness. Xi also, again, expounded the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative. These are systematic “Chinese solutions” to solve the puzzles of the times, which is highly appreciated and welcomed by all parties.
From the summit, it is not hard to feel that the international community has never expected and valued China’s presence and voice as much as it does today, and China is approaching the center of the world stage like never before. What needs to be emphasized is that this is not a competition with the US for the so-called world leadership. In fact, the US has never really “led the world,” it has only led the Western world. It is the trend of multipolarization, the complex and turbulent world situation, which calls for major powers to take responsibility, for which China must endeavor to fulfill its responsibility.
On November 15, President Xi held meetings with leaders of France, the Netherlands, South Africa, Australia, Senegal, South Korea, Spain, Argentina and other countries on the sidelines of the G20 summit. This is the most intensive and eye-catching head-of-state diplomacy China has carried out on multilateral occasions since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Leaders of different countries have a strong desire to have face-to-face talks with the Chinese head of state, and important consensus has been reached in each meeting. More and more countries have realized that both global governance and their own development are inseparable from maintaining good communication and interaction with China, and that China is an indispensable partner of cooperation worthy of trust. This is not only the result of China’s major-country diplomacy, but also the diplomatic foundation for further opening up the situation.
During the talks between President Xi and leaders of many countries, “openness,” “pragmatism,” “cooperation” and “mutual respect” are high-frequency buzzwords, which are supposed to be the basic principles in engagement among countries and the way that is comfortable and beneficial to all peoples at the same time. However, in recent years, due to the complex changes in the international situation, the rise of isolationism and protectionism, and the sudden tension in the geopolitical situation, these most basic norms have been impacted. How can the international community not be worried? Leaders’ meetings usually play the role of steering and guiding.
The meetings between President Xi and leaders of other countries not only promote the concepts of peace, development, cooperation and win-win, but also make the value of independent diplomacy more prominent.
Public opinion has noticed that there have been subtle changes in the attitudes of Australia and Japan toward China recently, especially Australia, which is quite active in promoting the easing of relations with China. The meeting between the leaders of China and Australia at this time will help stabilize the relationship between the two countries.
Japan is also seeking a meeting between Chinese and Japanese leaders. On one hand, it is influenced by the positive interaction between China and the US; on the other hand, it also shows that even in an atmosphere full of ideological prejudice in the West, there is always a relatively rational side regarding perception toward China. As long as we adhere to our principles and remain steady, the space for China’s diplomacy will be broad.
China is a peace-loving country, and it has always been making friends and forming good ties. Through participation in the summit and interaction with leaders of other countries, the Chinese head of state has sent a signal to the outside world to firmly promote true multilateralism, which is also an important political support for the Southeast Asian country hosting the summit. China’s major-country diplomacy has shown shining performance at the G20 summit, which is good news for the region and the whole world that are crisis-ridden.
Courtesy: Gloabl Times
