Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.10, 2017

A Written Conversation on “Global Governance and Strategic Mutual Trust”

(Abstract)

Wu Xiaoming, Li Bin, Zhan Xiaomei, Wang Shimin and Men Honghua

The aim of establishing a community of shared future for mankind and promoting the reform of global governance is to make economic globalization become more open, more inclusive, more balanced and more multilaterally beneficial. May 27, 2017 witnessed the opening of the second session of the China Strategic Forum Symposium, co-sponsored by the Social Sciences in China Press and Tongji University. The symposium focused on in-depth discussion of “Global Governance and Strategic Mutual Trust.” Professor Wu Xiaoming from the School of Philosophy of Fudan University holds that Chinese approach to global governance, a constructive solution for a new world order and international relations, is premised on the transcendence of modernity and its logic, and aims at the prospect of a new type of civilization. It takes on a real significance in world history, because it is based on the fruits of modern civilization; more importantly, the socialism-oriented Chinese road towards modernization is reviving and rebuilding the great tradition of pacifism.  Professor Li Bin of the School of Government of Nanjing University believes that economic globalization represents the marketization of total production factors at the global level, but the lack of appropriate and effective global governance prevents economic globalization from achieving Pareto improvement; this is the fundamental cause of the “de-globalization” and “anti-globalization” trends emerged in recent years. Professor Li holds that the new global governance should be based on consensus, for which China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” is the optimal current program. Professor Zhan Xiaomei from Sun Yat-sen University’s School of Communication and Design and Professor Wang Shimin from the university’s School of Marxism hold that in the historical situation of “de-globalization” and “anti-globalization,” world history is moving towards a new era of globalization. The “Belt and Road Initiative,” as the embodiment of the Chinese approach, has promoted the construction of “a community of shared future for mankind” by “unswervingly advancing and guiding economic globalization.” The strategic mutual trust promoted by the initiative has been given a temporal and spatial dimension in the realm of the new globalization. It is through the synchronic aggregation of diachronic development of value connotations and value judgments that this temporal and spatial dimension has generated a developmental space for the practice of acceptance and recognition. Professor Men Honghua at the School of Political Science and International Relations of Tongji University holds that confronted with crises and changes in global governance, China should act as an intellectual leader, intelligent contributor, program provider and positive actor to deepen research on the new globalization and global governance and develop the Chinese approach in terms of ideas, theories and strategies for global governance, with special effort and attention to the reconstruction of the key areas of national governance, East Asian regional governance and the international financial order so as to create favorable international circumstances for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the new era of globalization.