The same ocean, let the world rise and fall together, safety and security.
On April 23, 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the concept of a community with a shared future for the sea when he met with the heads of foreign delegations invited to attend the multinational naval activities marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army Navy in Chinese. China's plan to jointly protect maritime peace, jointly build maritime order, and jointly promote maritime prosperity conforms to the trend of history, responds to the requirements of the times, and contributes wisdom and strength to enhancing human well-being, promoting development and prosperity, and protecting the common home.
Ocean governance requires the cooperation of all humanity
The ocean gives birth to life, connects the world, promotes development, and is an important foundation for the survival and sustainable development of human society. Globally, the market valuation of marine and coastal resources and industries is $3 trillion a year, or about 5 percent of global gross domestic product, and the livelihoods of more than 3 billion people worldwide depend on marine and coastal biodiversity, according to the United Nations.
"The blue planet we inhabit is not divided into isolated islands by the ocean, but is connected by the ocean into a community of common destiny, and the people of all countries share the same safety." President Xi Jinping has provided ideological guidance for all countries to work together to maintain maritime peace and tranquility, and has gathered "blue power" for building a community with a shared future for mankind.
The fourteenth goal of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and resources for sustainable development. In recent years, maritime security issues have emerged in an endless stream, the marine ecological environment has become increasingly severe, and the global governance of the ocean is facing challenges. These problems cannot be solved by any country on its own, but need to be addressed jointly through the solidarity and cooperation of the international community. As an important part of the community of human destiny, the community of ocean destiny explains the harmonious coexistence between humans and the ocean from a new perspective, and clarifies the direction for the development of global marine use.
China is a land power and a maritime power, with about 18,000 kilometers of mainland coastline, about 14,000 kilometers of island shoreline, about 3 million square kilometers of sea areas under its jurisdiction, and abundant marine resources. From actively exploring maritime fisheries cooperation and resource co-development with neighboring countries, setting up a number of Asian cooperation funds to provide impetus for regional maritime cooperation, to proposing the initiative of jointly building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and actively promoting the interconnection and economic integration and development of countries along the route; from supporting and cooperating with the international community to combat various illegal fishing activities and effectively implementing the policy of fishing moratorium in the off-season, to carrying out exchanges and cooperation with many countries in marine environmental protection, disaster prevention and mitigation, climate change, blue carbon, ocean acidification, marine litter control, etc., China has always been the promoter of the sustainable development of the oceans, the builder of global ocean governance and the defender of the international maritime order, and is committed to working with other countries to build a peaceful, cooperative and beautiful ocean.
Bambang Suryono, chairman of the Asian Innovation Research Center, an Indonesian think tank and chairman of the Indonesian ASEAN Nanyang Foundation, spoke highly of the concept of a community with a shared future for the oceans, believing that it "helps to solve the current dilemma of the world's fragmentation in the development of marine resources, points out the direction for the sustainable use of marine resources, and is of great significance to the realization of lasting peace and long-term development of mankind."
Ju Jae-woo, a professor of international politics at Kyung Hee University in South Korea, said that human beings should not be divided into different islands and camps by the ocean, and ocean governance requires the cooperation of all mankind. Working together to meet challenges is the only way to build a community with a shared future for the oceans.
Promote maritime connectivity and pragmatic cooperation in various fields
The sea is connected, and the oceans are connected. Historically, the grand scene of "crossing the sea with an unknown number" is a vivid portrayal of the people of all countries along the Maritime Silk Road through maritime exchanges, integration and mutually beneficial cooperation.
At present, the cooperation in markets, technology, information and culture with the ocean as the carrier and link is getting closer and closer, and China's proposal to jointly build the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road is to promote maritime connectivity and pragmatic cooperation in various fields, promote the development of the blue economy, promote the integration of marine culture, and jointly enhance the well-being of the ocean.
The Thambulon Cross-Sea Bridge across brunei Bay has made the small city of Thambulon no longer isolated from Brunei mainland; the Peljesac Cross-Sea Bridge has been successfully integrated, and the connection between the north and south of Croatia has been smoother; the port of Piraeus has new equipment, new infrastructure and new technologies, becoming the largest port in the Mediterranean, contributing more than 600 million euros to the direct economy of Greece; the Gwadar port of Pakistan has full operational capacity and is moving towards the development goal of logistics hub and industrial base...
Over the years, one pragmatic cooperation project after another has taken root and blossomed, playing an important role in promoting the economic development of various countries and promoting the smooth flow of global trade.
In Kenya, when the Navy's hospital ship "Peace Ark" left, a team of motorcycles with five-star red flags on the dock stretched for 1 kilometer and drove in the direction of the hospital ship's voyage, expressing reluctance. Since the "Peace Ark" hospital ship was listed, it has gone abroad nine times, sailed more than 240,000 nautical miles, served 43 countries and regions, more than 230,000 person-times, won high praise at home and abroad, and was known as "the messenger of friendship who guards peace on the ship";
"I am an escort formation of the Chinese Navy, if you need help, please call me on channel 16." For more than 13 years, this bilingual announcement in Chinese and English has become the "sound of peace" for Chinese and foreign merchant ships sailing through the Gulf of Aden. So far, the Chinese navy has successively dispatched 40 convoys to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters, escorting more than 7,000 Chinese and foreign ships, making the world's "most dangerous sea area" a "golden channel" again;
In January this year, the Tonga submarine volcano violently erupted caused a tsunami, the Navy's Five Finger Mountain Ship, Chagan Lake Ship formed a formation, Chinese New Year's Eve departure, starry night, continuous voyage of more than 5,200 nautical miles, more than 1,400 tons of aid materials delivered to the Tonga capital Nuku'alofa in time. Tonga Prime Minister Sovalerini said that the support from China has solved Tonga's urgent needs and helped rebuild after the disaster...
Actively build a blue partnership and find common ground and convergence of interests of all parties. In the post-epidemic era, the world significance and era value of the concept of building a community with a shared future for the ocean have become more and more prominent.
Promote the development of the blue economy steadily and farther
History has repeatedly shown that it rises to the sea, and the back sea declines. At present, the epidemic of the century is intertwined with the changes of the past century, the economy and security are facing complex and severe challenges, and the future and destiny of all countries are linked as never before. China has always held high the banner of multilateralism, defended the international system with the United Nations at its core, safeguarded the international maritime order based on international law, adhered to respecting the reasonable maritime interests of all parties, bridged differences through dialogue, resolved disputes through negotiation, and taken the concept of a community with a shared future for the sea as the guide, deepened maritime cooperation in various fields, promoted the development of the blue economy steadily and far-reachingly, and promoted the high-quality recovery of the world economy.
On the South China Sea issue, China and ASEAN countries have actively committed themselves to the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and have continuously made new progress in the consultation on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.
The Belleolico Offshore Wind Power Project meets the electricity needs of nearly 20,000 households in Italy, and "green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains" has become a bright business card for China and Italy to jointly build a green "Belt and Road";
The modified clay green environmental protection technology for red tide control, which has been invented by scientific research for more than 20 years, has been applied on a large scale in more than 20 waters off the coast of China and the United States, Chile, Peru and other countries, successfully ensuring the water environment safety of a series of important waters;
Promote the establishment of the BRICS Coordination Center of the "United Nations Ocean Decade Plan", coordinate the participation of the BRICS countries in the "United Nations Ocean Decade Plan", and brew up cooperation to launch the flagship project of the "BRICS Ocean and Climate Forecast"...
"Protecting the oceans is not only about the oceans, but also about people." Vladimir Rabinin, Executive Secretary of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, stressed this. The marine environment is closely related to the future and destiny of all countries, and the maintenance of the marine environment is the common responsibility and obligation of all countries. Under the banner of the community of marine destiny, it is the direction of the joint efforts of the international community to jointly safeguard the marine ecological environment, keep the ocean clear and blue forever, and always benefit mankind.
In the view of El Tamimi, a professor at the Department of Business Law of the University of Mansour in Egypt, the Chinese wisdom and Chinese concept represented by the concept of a community with a shared future for the ocean will play a greater role in promoting global common development.
Georges Zogopoulos, a researcher at the Institute of European Studies in Nice, France, believes that China's vision of ocean development is not limited to the interconnection of countries and regions, but also extends to regional peace, biodiversity and natural resource conservation, etc., and the EU and China can play a synergistic effect.
The sea does not give up water, so it can become its great. China is willing to work with other countries in the world to uphold the concept of a community of common destiny, continue to promote global ocean governance, promote the sustainable development of the ocean, and enhance the common well-being of mankind through the development and utilization of the ocean, so that the ocean will always become a beautiful home on which mankind can inhabit and develop.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Gu Wanquan Zhang Wu Text Editor: Li Linwei
Source: Author: People's Daily Yu Yichun Zhao Song Shen Xiaoxiao