The 70th anniversary of the promulgation of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence is an important event for the international community and is of considerable importance to President Xi Jinping, who aims to carry on China’s millennia-old tradition of friendly cooperation among citizens of all countries to foster world peace and development.
The People’s Republic of China does not subscribe to the theory that a strong country should seek hegemony. The Chinese people do not have in their blood the gene of oppressing other peoples through militarism or so-called conditioning soft power, or through humanitarian bombs that bring “freedom.”
Seventy years ago, during the decolonization movement that arose after the end of World War II, the cause of independence and national liberation flourished in African-Asian-American countries, which sought to establish equal international relations with those states that had hitherto dictated law and imposition in an imperial-colonial manner.
The newly independent countries followed this historical trend and jointly upheld the Five Chinese Principles of mutual respect, sovereignty, territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, and non-interference in internal affairs, based on equality and mutual benefit of peaceful coexistence.
As early as 1954, the People’s Republic of China and some Asian countries issued joint declarations to confirm that these Five Principles would be applied in their mutual relations and in their respective countries’ relations with other countries in Asia and around the world. This is an important initiative in the history of international relations and a historic contribution to the creation of a new kind of just and reasonable international relations.
Looking to the past, President Xi Jinping not only expresses profound gratitude to the first directive generation of the People’s Republic of China, but also develops and reaffirms that these Five Principles are a form of respect and solidarity with the forward-looking people in various countries, who have been insisting on advancing the values of equality and independence in the world for a long time!
This means exploring the best way to bring forward the establishment of a new kind of international relations and build together a world order based on win-win cooperation.
The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were born in Asia because they inherit the ideological tradition of Asian peoples advocating peace. People who have never tried to impose their ideas on other continents, or on different political and economic systems of thought, as we know has happened in Europe, where for centuries they have regarded themselves as the source of truth at every level: from social to religious.
The Chinese nation has always supported harmonious concepts that do not need uniformity and violence to be applied. Not surprisingly, Asian countries have always upheld concepts such as benevolence, charity and peace. Tagore, the great Indian poet, wrote, “Do you think you can achieve friendship by war? Spring will slip away in front of your eyes.”
President Xi Jinping has always affirmed that the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence vividly reflect the goals and objectives of the United Nations Charter and offer a visible, feasible and achievable connotation to those contents. They not only represent the new expectations of Asian countries for international relations, but also embody the spirit of the international rule of law that should unify the rights and obligations and responsibilities of all countries in the world.
Thanks to these principles, as early as the 1950s, the People’s Republic of China and some Asian countries resolved ancient disputes, including, in the 1960s, the dispute between the People’s Republic of China and Myanmar (Burma). The two countries properly resolved the border issue by signing a treaty that was the first of its kind signed by New China with neighboring countries. In addition, the two states signed a Treaty of Friendship and Non-Aggression, also the first treaty of peace and friendship between Asian countries.
Since the late 1960s, the Five Principles have not only taken root in Asia, but have become deeply entrenched and widespread throughout the world. President Xi Jinping believes that, summing up the practice of international relations, the Five Principles have a strong vitality. India itself declared a short while ago that if the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were recognized in relations among all countries, there would be almost no more conflicts and wars in the world.
It is incontrovertible to say that since the time of President Xi Jinping’s leadership, the Five Principles, as open and inclusive in international law, have withstood the test of the vicissitudes of the world situation and embody the values of sovereignty, justice, the rule of law and democracy, to be intended as the independence of states from the vexatious will of more powerful states, and not in the propagandistic and petty liberal sense as the political expression of parties representing the privileged and exploitative classes that run finance capital.
The Five Principles are precisely becoming the fundamental norms of international relations. They scientifically frame the essential features of the new type of foreign affairs. They are an interconnected, mutually and indivisibly reinforcing unit, and are applicable to relations between countries of different social systems, levels of development and sizes. In 1955, for example, the ten principles adopted by the Bandung Conference were an extension and development of the five principles of peaceful coexistence.
The Non-Aligned Countries Movement, which arose in the 1960s, adopted the Five Principles as its fundamental guide. Declarations adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1970 and 1974 both accepted the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. These have been adopted by a number of international organizations and covenants and treaties in the world today and have been widely recognized and respected by the international community.
In effect, the Five Principles protect the rights and interests of developing countries. The essence of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence is that all countries have equal sovereignty and oppose any country’s monopoly on international affairs. This provides a powerful ideological weapon for developing countries to defend their national sovereignty and independence. The solidarity principles have become a banner for these countries to unite, cooperate and strengthen themselves through militant solidarity, which deepens mutual understanding and mutual trust, promotes South-South cooperation and develops and increases North-South cooperation.
Currently, the main purpose of the Five Principles is their contribution to the creation of a more just and reasonable international political and economic order. The Five Principles reject the law of the jungle in which the weak can prey on the strong. From the wave of independence of countries subjected to colonial empires in the 1960s, which accelerated the collapse of the formal colonial system, a clear anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist signal emerged.
In the context of the Cold War, “spheres of influence” and other methods failed to adequately manage relations between countries, resulting in peripheral regional conflicts over expanding interference. In contrast, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence have opened a new path for the peaceful resolution of historical issues and international disputes between countries.
Today’s world is going through profound and complex changes. The trend of the times of peace, development, cooperation and win-win is increasingly becoming a community of destiny in which “we are among you and you are among us.” At the same time, injustice and inequality in international relations are still evident, global challenges emerge one after another, and various regional conflicts and local wars are going on in many countries without the screen of ideologies anymore, but with the clear attempt to grab resource-rich territories. People, especially children, still live in the fire of war, and many developing countries still linger in the flames of war. People still suffer from hunger and cold. There is still a long way to go to maintain world peace and promote common development.
In this situation, the spirit of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence is by no means obsolete, but remains fully relevant; the meaning of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence is not diluted, but becomes deeper; it is not weakened, but strengthened over time.
Sovereignty is the fundamental symbol of national independence, as well as the basic manifestation and reliable guarantee of national interests. Sovereignty and territorial integrity cannot be violated, and countries must respect each other’s basic interests and major concerns. These are hard truths that cannot be evaded at any time and should never be abandoned.
President Xi Jinping says that countries, big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, are all equal members of the international community and have the same rights to participate in international affairs. Each country’s affairs should be managed by the same people in that country. We should respect each country’s independently chosen social systems and development paths and oppose the use of illegal means to subvert other countries’ legitimate political power for selfish interests or opinions.
In addition, security should be universal. All countries have the right to participate in international and regional security affairs on an equal footing, and all have a responsibility to maintain international and regional security.
The concept of common, global, cooperative and sustainable security should be upheld, and the security of every country should be respected and protected. One country cannot be secure while other countries are not, some countries are secure while others are not, not to mention so-called absolute security at the expense of the security of others. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen international and regional cooperation, jointly respond to the growing number of non-traditional security threats, resolutely combat all forms of terrorism and eradicate the fertile ground that fosters it.
When dealing with differences and disputes between countries, we must insist on resolving them peacefully through dialogue and consultation, increasing mutual trust through dialogue and not by resorting to or threatening force. The willingness to use force is a sign of moral poverty. Only security based on ethics can have a solid foundation and be truly lasting. It is necessary to promote the construction of a new architecture for security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific that is open, transparent and fair, and to encourage all countries to jointly safeguard regional and global peace and security.
Some countries are getting richer and richer, while others remain poor and in backward status for a long time. This situation is unsustainable. It is necessary to jointly safeguard and develop an open world economy, jointly promote strong, sustainable and balanced growth of the world economy, promote the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, adhere to open regional cooperation, oppose all forms of protectionism and oppose any policy of welfarism and blackmailing handouts.
Xi Jinping says we should combine the national interests of each country with the common interests of all countries and strive to expand convergence in every direction. It is not a matter of solving problems here and solving problems there, but they should complement each other. It is necessary to actively establish the new concept of win-win, multi-win, and abandon the old thinking that you lose, I win, and the winner takes all.
With this in mind, rights and responsibilities must be shared so that we can work together to address growing global issues, such as climate change, energy and resource security, network security, and major natural disasters, and jointly protect the Earth, i.e., our home, on which humanity depends.
Respect for international law underpins the universally recognized fundamental principles of international relations; it uses uniformly applicable rules to distinguish right from wrong, promote peace and pursue development. In the international community, law should be the common standard.
There is no law that applies only to others but not to oneself, nor is there a law that applies only to oneself but not to others. There should be no double standard in the application of law. We must safeguard together the authority and seriousness of international law and international order, which have been violated in recent years. All countries, in the name of the rule of law, should exercise their rights in accordance with the law and oppose the distortion of international law and the violation of other countries’ legitimate interests, as well as the threat to peace and stability.
As for the development of Xi Jinping’s theses, five years after the pandemic event, the recent trip to France-which was on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Beijing-Paris-Hungary-Serbia diplomatic relations-gave the Chinese leader an opportunity to reiterate his three initiatives for global development, global security and global civilization, pointing the direction of human society toward these three dimensions to provide strategic guidance for the PRC’s international relations.
Already in the recent past, Xi Jinping has argued that the global economic recovery is fragile and weak, various security challenges emerge one after another, misunderstandings, estrangements and even conflicts between different civilizations still exist, and deficits in peace, development, security and governance continue to increase.
Focusing on promoting the development and progress of human society, in recent years President Xi Jinping has contributed to the improvement of the international scenario, the management and mediation of global challenges, and the resolution of problems as they arise.
Peace, stability, material abundance and spiritual wealth are the fundamental goals of development. Development is the material basis for security and civilization, and security is the basic prerequisite for all these aspects. President Xi Jinping stresses that they complement each other and unite the international community to strengthen cooperation and address challenges together, once a broad consensus is created that benefits all, but is balanced, coordinated and inclusive.
More than 100 countries and international organizations have supported the Global Development Initiative, more than 70 have joined the “Global Development Initiative Group,” and nearly 30 countries and international organizations have signed memoranda of understanding on cooperation with the People’s Republic of China.
In addition, the Global Development Initiative is fully aligned with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and closely follows the most urgent needs of developing countries in order to meet people’s livelihood needs, promote the building of cooperation platforms and partnerships in key areas such as poverty alleviation, food security, industrialization and connectivity in the digital era; as well as deepen practical cooperation and strengthen knowledge sharing on development for the benefit of most developing countries.
In addition, there is a need to insist on promoting peace and negotiations on burning issues such as the Ukrainian crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and to find political solutions to additional global crises, such as the climate crisis.
The Global Civilization Initiative advocates respecting the diversity of world civilizations, promoting the common values of all humanity, the importance of the heritage and innovation of civilizations, strengthening international exchanges and cooperation among peoples, and promoting inclusive coexistence, exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations.
The three initiatives promoted by President Xi Jinping have taken root and are leading the international community in the right direction of common development, peace and long-term stability. Looking forward, the People’s Republic of China will continue to work with all parties to actively implement the three initiatives that aim for a world community with a shared future.
EU-PRC Relations: Cooperation or Confrontation?
Regarding trade frictions between the PRC and the EU, the question arises: cooperation or confrontation? The EU is thus at a critical crossroads in its relations with China.
On Jan. 27, Britain’s “Financial Times” reported that many European PV companies have recently announced factory closures and that the EU is considering imposing punitive tariffs or anti-dumping investigations on Chinese PV products, as well as implementing subsidies to encourage countries to keep factories running.
In this regard, German media have criticized that European PV companies have no obvious technical advantages and that so-called “subsidies” will not have substantial effects. Even the German Renewable Energy Association has warned that blindly targeting Chinese investments and companies could threaten workers engaged in ancillary industries in Europe.
Europe is a beneficiary of the multilateral trading system. The “Wall Street Journal,” in an article two days later, said that this is precisely why Brussels could reintroduce Trump’s system, which pursues “America First” and anti-globalization. The election of the U.S. president raises concerns. Some observers believe that the European Commission’s repeated defense that “risk reduction” does not equate to “decoupling” shows that the EU believes that “decoupling and disconnecting” the Chinese economy is not in its interest.
Both the European Parliament and the United States will hold important elections this year. How to get along in relations with China will test the political wisdom of European leaders. As is well known, China’s PR is willing to enter into a dialogue with the EU on supply chain stability to eliminate mutual doubts. It is believed that as long as Europe adheres to strategic independence, the world will not repeat the mistakes of the Cold War and bloc confrontation.
Giancarlo Elia Valori– Honorable de l’Académie des Sciences de l’Institut de France, Honorary Professor at the Peking University.
Giancarlo Elia Valori is one of the most appreciated Italian managers in the world, a prestigious academic with friendly relationships and solid collaborations with Heads of State, politicians, entrepreneurs, managers and academics at the highest international levels.
(The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights).