Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China is advocating a new type of international relationship and endeavors to cultivating a "win-win" attitude to replace the old "zero sum" concept in world affairs.  

Xi started to publicly elaborate on his vision from September 2015, when he gave an important speech at the UN General Assembly on the occasion of its 70th session. Focusing on the need for international cooperation, he presented a new objective: the building of a "community with a shared future for humanity."

In the view of the Chinese president, seven presuppositions are necessary for the achievement of this goal. The first is the establishment of partnerships in which countries treat each other as equals, engage in mutual consultation and show mutual understanding. 

The second is the commitment to multilateralism on the basis of dialogue rather than confrontation. The third is a security framework featuring fairness, justice, joint contribution and shared benefits. 

The fourth is the abandonment of a Cold War mentality and the fostering of a new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security where the UN role will be central.

The fifth is the promotion of an open, innovative and inclusive development that benefits all. 

The sixth is increased inter-civilization exchanges to promote harmony, inclusiveness and respect for differences. And the seventh is the building of an ecosystem giving priority to nature and green development.  

In the aftermath of his landmark 2015 UN speech, Xi had the opportunity to further develop his vision in various public fora. In mid-January 2017 he was the keynote speaker at the Davos World Economic Forum and explained that the community of shared future should be a natural result in a world where countries have extensive converging interests and are mutually dependent. 

Speaking at the U.N. Office in Geneva a few days later, he reiterated China's proposal of building a human community of a shared future respecting the principles of equality and sovereignty. 

Last October, Xi also emphasized the importance of collaboration between China and other nations in promoting peace and development for all while presenting the new CPC central leadership to the press and laying down a roadmap until 2022.  

At the beginning of December, he also passed on this message to numerous participants at the opening ceremony of CPC's Dialogue with world political parties in Beijing. 

There are two main reasons why the resonance of Xi's global vision has proved so powerful. The first is its ambitious, but realistic content that can unite people of different cultural and religious backgrounds to seek a common target. And the second is its ongoing contradiction with the "America First" policy of President Donald Trump. 

Trump attempted to persuade the world community meeting in Davos the other day that "America First does not mean America alone," but several questions remain unanswered and skepticism has not faded away. 

In contrast, China again managed as the center of international attention during the 2018 World Economic Forum. One year after Xi's historic presence in the Swiss resort, Liu He drew a full house to his presentation. According to CNBS the impact of Xi's 2017 speech championing globalization still lingered. 

Subsequently, the New York Times published a story entitled: "At Davos, the real star may have been China, not Trump." In so doing, the American newspaper concentrated on how leaders of other countries welcomed the Belt and Road Initiative and Chinese investment in general. Forbes magazine followed a similar approach in covering the Davos forum. 

In a nutshell, China is gradually acquiring more supporters and followers as long as Xi is envisioning a shared future for humanity. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the theme of the 2018 Davos Forum was: "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World." 

The insistence on peace, prosperity, multilateralism and openness cannot but work in China's favor by inspiring the younger generation across the globe. 

George N. Tzogopoulos is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/GeorgeNTzogopoulos.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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