Guide
Today's Western politicians are accustomed to looking at China through "colored glasses". They should follow the example of Franklin, Leibniz and other ancestors, and evaluate the positive significance of the Belt and Road Initiative from a rational and inclusive perspective. The Belt and Road Initiative has brought more benefits to the world, and the Cold War mentality of the West is what threatens world peace. Only through dialogue and cooperation can we solve the common problems faced by mankind, and the Belt and Road Initiative is China's concrete action to build a community with a shared future for mankind and promote the joint progress of all countries.
By Stephen Brawer, Director of the Belt and Road Research Institute in Sweden
Benjamin Franklin, the founding father of the United States, once expressed his deep admiration for Chinese civilization and praised China as an object to be emulated in the development struggle of the North American colonies. As Dave Wang, an adjunct professor at St. John's University in the United States, said in his essay "Benjamin Franklin and China," Franklin was very fond of reading books about China, and from his lifelong letters and writings, Franklin was quite familiar with Chinese culture. It is no exaggeration to say that Franklin may well be America's "first and most outstanding China expert."
Understanding is the foundation of cooperation. More than 200 years ago, Franklin had a deep understanding of China's history and culture, but today, it is not difficult to see from the reaction of the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom to China's Belt and Road Initiative that this understanding is seriously lacking.
At present, more than 150 countries have joined the Belt and Road Initiative. However, the EU and the United States have not embraced this inclusive initiative that is open to all willing countries, but have adopted a hostile, highly competitive and even confrontational attitude on top of the tone of "de-risking" and sanctions against China. However, this does not stop the world from moving towards a new world economic structure, which is based on the rise of the BRICS and may even give rise to a new financial system that will replace the old dollar-based reserve system.
Image source: Xinhua News Agency
At present, the trajectory of NATO, the Western military alliance, is posing an extremely serious threat to all of humanity. It is pushing for an escalation of competition and even risking a global nuclear war to maintain the old unipolar power structure against China's rise. In fact, this stance is aimed not only at China, but at any country, including Russia, that seeks to challenge the dominance of the developed countries of the West. This irrational desire to dominate stems from Hobbes's view that the world is a jungle in which security is based on the use of brute force to enforce the will of a global minority – a unipolar hegemony. The fundamental policy behind all this is "regime change".
In 1999, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair delivered a very famous speech in Chicago, proposing a fundamental change in international policy, abandoning the principles of the Peace of Westphalia and adopting a policy of "intervention". In short, any government or leader that does not submit to the so-called Western interpretation of the values of "democracy" and "human rights" will be the target of a coup d'état or, if necessary, a military intervention. Under this policy, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and, most recently, Ukraine have become victims. Since there is no negotiated solution to the war, the conflict has now been pushed to the brink of full-blown nuclear war.
Without a fundamental reversal in the mindset of Western policymakers and politicians, there will be no way to change the current economic mindset in the West, putting them on the right path to working with the countries of the Global South, let alone embracing the Belt and Road Initiative. There may be many difficulties ahead, but as China's leaders have said, dialogue and cooperation can solve the common problems of mankind. If European and American countries fail to understand the concept of a "community with a shared future for mankind", the survival and development of mankind may also be threatened.
Image source: Visual China
What is the correct way to solve the problem? It is not a "new Cold War," nor is it an intensification of confrontational competition between Europe, the United States, and China. Instead, we need to get rid of Hobbes's irrational and self-serving views. Let's look back to the ideas of the great universal thinker and philosopher Leibniz and look for the direction needed to unite East and West: Leibniz spent his life striving to promote understanding and inclusion, reflecting the rational thought of the Renaissance, including the promotion of wisdom and virtue and the promotion of the common good. This principle of the common good has been deeply rooted in Chinese civilization for more than 2,000 years and has become part of Confucianism, as Leibniz wrote in his 1697 book Recent Events in China.
Sadly, there is a general lack of understanding and tolerance among policymakers in developed Western countries today about how human reason has shaped the direction of civilization over the course of history. Without a full understanding, Western politicians have fallen into the trap of superficial self-interest. They are neither able nor willing to admit that there is a direction that would better promote East-West unity. Therefore, they ignore and reject China's global civilization initiative, just as they refuse to join the Belt and Road Initiative.
Proper cooperation requires the replacement of today's Hobbesian thinking with Leibnizian thinking. While international trade and people-to-people exchanges are necessary, they alone cannot overcome the current obstacles. We still need to stand at a higher philosophical and historical height of the Global Civilization Initiative and work together to promote global cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, which is the true meaning of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Image source: China Daily
Producer: China Daily, China Watch Think Tank
Editor-in-charge: Song Ping, Wang Zhe
Editor: Zhang Zhao
Intern Li Jingwei also contributed
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