Respect diversity: China and the two years of the global civilization initiative

On March 15, 2023 President XI Jinping gave an important speech under the high level meeting for the dialogue between the China Communist Party (CCP) and political parties in the world. At that time, the form idea launched by the Chinese president was “respect for civilizations and their diversity.” This historic presentation of the Chinese leader urged everyone to defend the principles of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusion between civilizations, allowing cultural exchanges to transcend the removal, that mutual learning transcends conflicts and that inclusion transcends any sense of superiority.

The President of the Popular Republic of China, in a tone of amplitude and respect for the history of all peoples and nations, emphasized the importance of the “common values ​​of humanity” as a guide for international relations and aspirations of all peoples. These values ​​would be: peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom. He stated that the inheritance and innovation of civilizations must be highly valued and that countries need to fully enjoy the relevance of their stories and cultures for the present times, promoting creative transformation and the innovative development of their valuable traditional cultures.

To achieve the objectives of forming a “global civilization”, it is very necessary to promote the exchange between the peoples of the world, as well as the construction of a global network for dialogue and intercivilization cooperation. Interestingly, there is currently a true wave of expulsions and mass deportations of foreign workers in countries that call themselves “civilized”. This initiative of global civilization, by proposing a more emphatic approach in the sense of respect and absorption of difference, puts China as the country of the world whose defense of peace, respect and sovereignty became an existential principle of the Chinese nation and part of the concepts that form the theory of “socialism with Chinese characteristics”.

On the other hand, the initiative is very clear and refers to the need for each country or people to maintain an open mind to appreciate and absorb the values ​​of different civilizations, while avoiding the imposition of their own values ​​on other countries. This Chinese initiative seeks to demarcate a tolerant and civilizing world view, as opposed to attempts to export values, models of society and incite racism, xenophobia and ideological confrontation. Another point to be observed is the fact that each country follows its own way to achieve social peace and development, without necessarily importing values ​​and formulas from other countries.

In this sense, modernization and development cannot be seen as an “exclusive brand” of some countries, nor can they have a single formula. For any nation to reach modernization, it is necessary not only to follow the general laws that govern this process, but above all to consider its own national conditions and unique characteristics.

China’s development should be observed within the scope of a process that brings benefits not only to its people but also to the world. Each country should make the most of the Chinese experience for initiatives based on their own realities. Another important point on China’s development is its peaceful character, without the need to colonize, loot other countries or subvert the values ​​of other nations. Nor should it follow the path of other powers that have become imperialist forces, willing to shape the world to its image and likeness.

We must understand the context of the launch of the global civilization initiative. Since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, through Covid-19 pandemic and the advancement of economic protectionism of the United States, the world has entered an era marked by great uncertainties, threats to economic globalization and conflicts (armed or not) in every corner of the planet. Intolerance, racism, and xenophobia have become part of the global daily life, and the rise of far-right political forces in several countries threatens the world with a setback of dark times. The strength of the United States lies in its ability to influence people and countries in favor of their objectives. The export of its “democracy” model serves purely political goals, subverting the history of each nation and provoking more confusion, intolerance and war.

With each passing year, the global civilization initiative gains relevance and actuality. The trademark of initiatives launched by China is in anticipation of problems that afflict world development. For example, the belt and route initiative predicted the need for a wave of investments in global interconnection and industrial, productive, financial and commercial exchange, something that today is fully agreed. The same is true of the global civilization initiative, in which China and its diplomacy, starting from its own example of tolerance to diversity, send the world the signs necessary to promote peace and the right to development.