Community of Common Destiny

Community of common destiny for mankind, officially translated as community with a shared future for mankind[1][2] or human community with a shared future,[3] is a political slogan used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to describe a stated foreign-policy goal of the People's Republic of China.[4] The phrase was first used by former CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao and has been frequently cited by current General Secretary Xi Jinping.[5][6] As the term's usage in English has increased, "shared future" has become more frequently used than "common destiny," as the latter arguably implies a predetermined path.[7] The phrase was included in the CCP Constitution in 1997, and the preamble of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China when the Constitution was amended in 2018.[7]

"Community of Common Destiny" theme exhibition vehicle
Community of Common Destiny
Simplified Chinese人类命运共同体
Traditional Chinese人類命運共同體
Literal meaningmankind shared-destiny community
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Usage by the CCP
See also: Ideology of the Chinese Communist Party and Socialism with Chinese characteristics

The CCP has used this slogan to express its aim of creating a “new framework” of international relations which would promote and improve global governance.[8][5] Some Chinese analysts have hailed the expression as the first major amendment of China's foreign policy in more than four decades, shifting from being nation-oriented to focusing on the whole of humankind.[9] By 2023, the Community of Shared Future for Mankind had become China's most important foreign policy formulation in the Xi Jinping era.[10]: 6  As part of its effort to develop the Chinese Dream, China seeks to use to Community of Shared Future for Mankind as a mechanism to expand its network of foreign relationships.[10]: 6 

Chinese government officials have sought international recognition for the slogan and have argued that China will adhere to a peaceful development policy and has no intention to change the international order.[4] Government officials, especially diplomats, use the phrase to create a sense of a mission that is beneficial to other countries and not just China itself.[11]

Examples

The phrase “community of common destiny” first appeared in a report delivered by former CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao to the 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 2007, referring to shared blood and common destiny of mainland China and Taiwan.[12][13] In his 2012 report to the 18th National Congress, Hu broadened the expression by adding “for all mankind” to emphasize that "mankind has only one earth to live on, and countries have only one world to share" and called for the building of a “harmonious world of enduring peace and common prosperity.” Hu envisioned a new type of more equitable and balanced global development partnership that would stick together in times of difficulty, both sharing rights and shouldering obligations, and boosting the common interests of mankind.[14]

When Xi Jinping met with foreigners for the first time after taking office as General Secretary of the CCP (paramount leader) in November 2012, he said that the international community has increasingly become a community with shared future, with each having a stake in others.[15][16]

Xi used the slogan in an international arena at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in March 2013, and again in a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2017, which "won him high credits at home and abroad".[6]

Beginning in 2017, Chinese diplomats at the United Nations sought to have the phrase inserted into several UN General Assembly resolutions. Several other countries, including India and the United States, resisted this language, calling it inappropriate for multilateral resolutions to include the “political ideology” of one country.[17]

International opposition led to the removal of the catchphrase from most of the draft resolutions, but it survived in two 2017 resolutions authored by the Chinese delegation: one on "no first placement of weapons in outer space", aimed at preventing an arms race in outer space, and a second on "further practical measures for the prevention of an arms race in outer space."[18][19][20] Chinese officials subsequently cited the two UN resolutions in “an attempt to demonstrate that the concept has been broadly accepted by the international community.”[6] However, when similar resolutions were approved in the 2018 session of the General Assembly, the controversial language was removed.[21][22] Delegations from multiple countries subsequently banded together to oppose Chinese efforts to include the phrase in other multilateral documents.[17]

On March 11, 2018, the constitutional amendment adopted at the first meeting of the 13th National People's Congress of China added a sentence that promoted the building of a community with a shared future while developing diplomatic relations and economic and cultural exchanges with other countries.[23]

In August 2018, China's top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, wrote that “Building a community of common destiny for mankind is the overall goal of China's foreign affairs work in the new era” and requires a “new type of international relations.”[24]

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi used the phrase at the 2020 Munich Security Conference.[11]

Chinese state media has also cited the collective effort across the globe to address the COVID-19 pandemic.[25]

Usage by multi-lateral bodies

As a result of sustained Chinese government's efforts, in 2017 the phrase was incorporated by the United Nations into the resolution on the UN Commission for Social Development.[7] It has also been used by the UN Disarmament Commission, the Human Rights Council, and the UN General Assembly First Commission.[7]

The China–Arab States Cooperation Forum action plan following the 2020 meeting called for preserving the sovereignty and stability of the Arab states based on principles of non-interference and the Community of Shared Future for Mankind.[10]: 57 

Interpretations

According to academics Xu Jin and Guo Chu, the Community concept initially developed because of China's increasing international economic interests and has since broadened to become increasingly based on political and security understandings.[10]: 7 

The British journalist Bill Hayton has argued that the CCP's vision of a “community with a shared future” represents “an attack on the multilateral order of international organizations, alliances and shared sovereignty that has attempted to manage the world since 1945.”[26] Some have argued that Xi's community of common destiny for mankind would replace the established international order, grounded in free and sovereign nation-states that abide by commonly accepted international laws, with a unity of nations whose economic dependence on China leads them to defer to Chinese political demands.[27][28][29]

See also
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References
  1. "The Elements of the China Challenge" (PDF). United States Department of State (Wikisource). 17 November 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  2. "Xi urges BRICS countries to advance building of community with shared future for mankind". xinhuanet.com. Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved 2022-03-07.
  3. Xi, Jinping (16 October 2022). "Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive in Unity to Build a Modern Socialist Country in All Respects". Qiushi. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  4. Zhang, Denghua (May 2018). "The Concept of 'Community of Common Destiny' in China's Diplomacy: Meaning, Motives and Implications". Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies. 5 (2): 196–207. doi:10.1002/app5.231.
  5. Chan, Stella (August 25, 2021). "Community of Common Destiny for Mankind". China Media Project. Archived from the original on 2021-08-26. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  6. Gao, Charlotte. "'A Community of Shared Future': One Short Phrase for UN, One Big Victory for China?". The Diplomat. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  7. Zhao, Suisheng (2023). The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 240. doi:10.1515/9781503634152. ISBN 978-1-5036-3088-8. OCLC 1331741429.
  8. Ding, Jun; Cheng, Hongjin (December 2017). "China's Proposition to Build a Community of Shared Future for Mankind and the Middle East Governance". Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. 11 (4): 1–14. doi:10.1080/25765949.2017.12023314. ISSN 2576-5949.
  9. "The Rising Nepal: Community Of Shared Future For Mankind". The Rising Nepal. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  10. Shinn, David H.; Eisenman, Joshua (2023). China's Relations with Africa: a New Era of Strategic Engagement. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-21001-0.
  11. Mitter, Rana (2020). China's Good War: How World War II is Shaping a New Nationalism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 119–120. ISBN 978-0-674-98426-4. OCLC 1141442704.
  12. Kai, Jin (2013-11-28). "Can China Build a Community of Common Destiny?". The Diplomat.
  13. "Full text of Hu Jintao's report at 17th Party Congress". China Daily. October 24, 2007.
  14. "十八大报告全文英汉对照 Full text of Hu's report at 18th Party Congress". 2012-12-12. Archived from the original on 2018-10-08.
  15. 求是理论网. "人类命运共同体的价值观基础". Qiushi. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  16. "听，习总书记论改革开放". China Central Television. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  17. Mitra, Devirupa. "Explained: Why India Joined the West to Object to a Phrase in the Final UN75 Declaration". The Wire.
  18. "Seventy-Second Session of the General Assembly – UNODA". United Nations. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  19. "United Nations Official Document". United Nations. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  20. "United Nations Official Document". United Nations. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  21. "United Nations Official Document". www.un.org.
  22. "United Nations Official Document". www.un.org.
  23. "（两会受权发布）中华人民共和国宪法修正案-新华网". Xinhuanet. Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  24. Yang, Jiechi (2018-08-01). "求是 ["Seeking truth"]". Qiushi.
  25. "Xi charts course for world to meet challenges amid COVID-19". Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  26. Hayton, Bill (2 October 2020). The Invention of China. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-300-23482-4.
  27. Rolland, Nadège (March 13, 2020). "A 'China Model?' Beijing's Promotion of Alternative Global Norms and Standards". United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Archived from the original on 2020-04-27.
  28. Tobin, Liza (2018). The University Of Texas At Austin, The University Of Texas At Austin. "Xi's Vision for Transforming Global Governance: A Strategic Challenge for Washington and Its Allies (November 2018)". Texas National Security Review. doi:10.26153/TSW/863.
  29. Doshi, Rush (2021-06-25). The Long Game: China's Grand Strategy to Displace American Order. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-752791-7.

Further reading
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