Viewing China’s peaceful development strategy through a Western lens may result in analytical astigmatism. Contrary to Washington’s allegation that China is an aggressive nonstatus-quo power, China has not been involved in any war since 1979. The United States, on the other hand, has been cruising into an uncharted sea of interventionist adventurism since the end of World War II. Besides adopting an extremely assertive foreign policy, the US has supported color revolutions abroad, promoting regime change, and waging “preventive” wars or resorting to military actions in the name of fighting international terrorism.
China’s guiding diplomatic principles have placed an emphasis on peace and development, an economic development-first strategy, integration into the current international system, all-around development, and multilateral diplomacy. In fact, China’s peaceful development strategy and its strict adherence to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence (Five Principles) have played a role in anchoring global stability. As President Xi Jinping correctly pointed out in his speech at a conference marking the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles in Beijing on June 28, the initiation of these principles marked a groundbreaking and epoch-making achievement in history.
The Five Principles are: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual nonaggression, mutual noninterference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. In 1955, more than 20 Asian and African countries attended the Bandung Conference in Indonesia. They proposed 10 principles for handling state-to-state relations on the basis of the Five Principles, and advocated the Bandung Spirit of solidarity, friendship, and cooperation.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the official initiation of the Five Principles. In June 1954, China issued two joint statements with India and Burma (now known as Myanmar), each of which affirmed the Five Principles as guiding principles for bilateral relations and proposed making them norms governing international relations. Then-Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru said, “If these principles were recognized in the mutual relations of all countries, then indeed there would hardly be any conflict and certainly no war.” Unfortunately, not all countries have implemented these principles in spirit.
As Shakeel Ahmad Ramay has pointed out, the principles are well rooted in international law largely because they embody the values of sovereignty, justice, democracy and the rule of law, in a departure from the divisive mentality of bloc alliances, avoiding the zero-sum game of losers and winners, and encouraging win-win cooperation (Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Have Been Thriving for Over 70 Years, in China Daily, July 2, 2024). President Xi emphasized that these principles were initiated with the purpose of protecting the interests and pursuits of small and weak countries from power politics. Instead of getting caught up in Sino-American geopolitical tensions, many small and weak countries choose to give top priority to peace and economic development in line with the Five Principles.
As Patricia Kim has persuasively pointed out, China does not seek to overthrow democratic regimes or force its political model on others. Nor does it pose an existential threat to US territory or its way of life. In fact, China’s comprehensive ties with the US and other democracies since the launch of its reform and opening-up policy have been foundational for its rise and the vast improvement of its people’s quality of life over the past several decades (Should the US Pursue a New Cold War With China?, Sep 1, 2023).
China has taken practical steps to promote peaceful coexistence. In 2011, the State Council Information Office published a white paper on China’s peaceful development, putting an emphasis on the promotion of a harmonious world, China’s international responsibility, and the promotion of regional cooperation and good-neighborly relations.
Under President Xi’s leadership, China has put forward a series of policies in line with the Five Principles. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been very successful in attracting global attention (Jinghan Zeng, Slogan Politics (Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore Pte. Ltd, 2020). For instance, Malaysia and Cambodia are strong advocates of the BRI. Malaysia wants to take full advantage to build up infrastructure at home and link to other countries. Another encouraging development is the willingness of Russia to collaborate with China to integrate the BRI with the Eurasian Economic Union.
More than 60 countries from Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central and Western Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe are generally regarded as belonging to the BRI network. By pursuing a peaceful development strategy and adhering to the Five Principles, China is able to capitalize on the economic opportunities offered by globalization and the BRI. China is the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries. In fact, more countries count China than the US as their leading trading partner. China’s vast trading network has raised the likelihood of an increasingly important role played by Hong Kong as a superconnector, which should be enhanced by connecting China with a larger world, especially the Global South.
The Five Principles also provide an important analytical tool for us to gain a better understanding of the synergistic effect arising from the interaction between these principles, the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative. As a result of the synergy, China is playing a more important role in delivering international public good, maintaining global stability and promoting peace and development. Moreover, the Five Principles are prerequisites for building a community of a shared future for mankind. This concept has a theoretical high ground in China’s diplomacy (Jinghan Zeng, supra).
The vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind carries forward the same spirit of the Five Principles. There is great merit in Xi’s contention that the 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, and that it also keeps pace with the historical trend toward multipolarity and economic globalization, and inspires new ways to achieve development and security. It hardly needs emphasizing that China is on the right side of history.
Henry Ting is chairman of the International Chinese Welfare Foundation, and vice-chairman of Chinese Dream Think Tank.
Kacee Ting Wong is a barrister, part-time researcher of Shenzhen University Hong Kong and Macao Basic Law Research Center, chairman of Chinese Dream Think Tank, and a district councilor.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
