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In the long pendulum of history, if the world’s “great change not seen in a century” is still in formation and can hardly be perceived by all, the abrupt COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 has undoubtedly accelerated the process. The pandemic has dramatically transformed the global political and economic landscape, and reflected partially through the unprecedented four meltdowns in U.S. stock market and the recent negative price of U.S. oil futures. The climbing number of novel coronavirus infections has triggered world-wide anxiety and a series of crisis that almost paralyzed the world.
While exclaiming COVID-19 as a shared nightmare of mankind, people are also frequently remarking recent events that followed as “unprecedented”and “not seen in the history.” These events intertwined each other and drastically complicated the global situation, impacting people’s perception, while at the same time pushing people to reflect deeply upon the traditional global paradigm and probing a more sustainable development plan for the future.
The novel coronavirus knows no borders, and no one can simply be a bystander in the face of the pandemic. However, people’s reflection and response to the pandemic do make a significant difference for future prospects. Back to the 14th century, when China, under the Mongolian control, was still going through the cycle of feudal dynasties, in Europe people bravely separated from the past and started to reflect on their values and rights. They criticized the paralyzing religious consciousness and finally awakened during the Renaissance, creating the Western civilization that later led the world.
When coping with the pandemic, China has stood side by side with the rest of the world, devoting arduously to the value of “a community of shared future for mankind” by actively promoting international collaborations and solidarities and evoking people’s awareness of a “shared community.” As the first battlefield of the pandemic, China has made great sacrifice national-wide in exchange for a periodic victory, and built the first defense line on confronting the outbreak. As soon as the domestic situation was temporarily under control, China has begun to share its valuable “know-how” with the rest of the world in a selfless manner. By decidedly embracing its collective and humanitarian ideals and spirits, China’s contribution to the global pandemic fighting has gained wide recognition and appreciation from countries and international organizations across the globe.
Nonetheless, in stark contrast to China’s accomplishment in handling the pandemic and providing effective solutions and plans, some countries, afraid of the changes, have chosen to disregard people’s livelihood and instead adopting a“domestic-first” policy led by unilateralism in response to the wide-spread virus. Wrongly upholding their individualistic values, those countries turned a blind eye to the importance of multilateral cooperation and negotiation. Even more, they even attempted to politicize the epidemic, scapegoating China for their own irresponsiveness and fault toward the domestic outbreak. Stigmatization and big lies have become their malicious tools to weaken China’s influence in the global stage.
But cooperation and solidarity are in fact the only way out for the world. Confronting the virus outbreak, the idea of a “shared community” has imbedded deeply into people’s heart, refreshing the world’s impression toward China and also elevating China’s influence. Even though some countries showed reluctance to admit China’s rising influence, there is no doubt that in the reflection of global governance and new world order, China’s new global value and model have become an integral part of the world’s future development plan.
The interaction and collision of culture and thought always accompany with transformation between the old and new systems. As the womb of ideas, think tank thus needs to carry an even greater historical obligation during the period of systematic transition. Facing the intricate international environment and the clash of ideas, think tanks are endowed with the important task of exploring ways to elaborate China’s ideals and stories, especially to explicate the experience of combating the pandemic in a foreign-friendly manner.
In fact, on the construction of China’s discourse power, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University of China (RDCY) has always been in the forefront. In the recent years, RDCY has played an active role in setting global agendas and shaping China’s voice in the global stage. In an advocacy video for the “Think Tanks React” event participated in by multiple global prominent think tanks, Wen Wang, the executive dean of RDCY, called think tanks and scholars “to always be the light that kindles the world during darkness.” The video was broadly circulated on foreign social media.
As the pandemic spreads across the continent and the situation continues to worsen up, RDCY, together with 100 Chinese scholars in early April launched an open letter to the people of the United States that was published in the world eminent journal The Diplomat , advocating for global cooperation to protect our community of shared future for mankind and for firmly rejecting any attempts to politicize and stigmatize the pandemic. The letter attracted extensive resonance in the world. Politicians and celebrities from 11 countries have all expressed their support in various ways. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Chunying Hua, Chinese Embassy in the United States, CGTN, and the editor in chief of Global Times Xijin Hu among other influential figures all twitted to endorse the letter.
Only one day after the letter went public, nearly 100 former U.S.government officials, experts and scholars also signed an open letter launched by the Asia Society of America, affirming China’s great achievement in combating the pandemic and calling on the Trump Administration to cooperate with China and make joint effort to overcome the outbreak. A few days later, 165 former political leaders and scholars from more than 70 countries signed a letter to governments of the G20 Nations, calling for global solidarity to fight the outbreak.
In addition, thanks to its global contacts, RDCY maintains frequent communication and exchange of ideas with politicians and celebrities from other countries and actively seeks and promotes international experts and foreign friends to voice out their ideas. For instance, when the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and other heated events took place, foreign dignitaries and experts from RDCY’s international network also shared their views on China’s achievement and practices through commentary articles and videos.
After the pandemic broke out, many foreign political leaders and prominent experts including Danilo Türk, former president of Slovenia, Zlatko Lagumdzija, former president of the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sergei Glazyev, former advisor to the president of the Russian Federation, William Jones, Washington Bureau Chief for the Executive Intelligence Review, and John Ross, former director of economic and business policy of London all expressed their appreciation to China’s courage and strength to combat the pandemic and offered constructive analysis and discussions on China’s vision of a community of shared future for mankind and China’s national governance capability.
Based its main content on foreign views about China’s fight against COVID-19, this book compiles many foreign former politicians’ and experts’interpretation and analysis toward the value of a community of shared future for mankind, China’s governance capability, and China’s way of development.The articles were initially released when the 70th anniversary of the founding of PRC, the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up, as well as the Hong Kong problem took place. After the outbreak, many foreign experts used China’s practices and decisions to combat COVID-19 as a lens to investigate China’s institutional advantage and expressed admiration for China’s strength and responsibility amid the crisis. It is commonly believed that China has reacted promptly to effectively contain the threat of the virus and that China’s remarkable organization and emergency response have again set a good model which should be learned by the rest of the world.
At the same time, many foreign experts also expressed great confidence in China’s economic recovery and believed China has proven its commitment toward a community of shared future for mankind through concrete actions and undertakings when facing the virus. According to them, it is only when the international community stays hand in hand, can the world defeat this shared enemy of human beings. Most of the writings have been disseminated online in Chinese and English both domestically and abroad through People's Daily, China Daily , CCTV and China.org.cn., arousing wide attentions and heated discussions in the international community.
What the international community needs most in the face of the pandemic is firm confidence, concerted efforts and a united response. As the author of Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari stated, human beings have to make a choice at this very moment: Shall we go down the path of global solidarity or shall we remain isolated from each other? At this most urgent moment, we sincerely hope by introducing the insights of experts, we can let more people better understand the authentic China, recognize the vibrant strength a community of shared future for mankind has provided for China’s development, and can ultimately lead people to pursue the future hand in hand.