Let the torch of multilateralism light up humanity's way forward

04:46

Let the torch of multilateralism light up humanity's way forward. This is the title of the special address that Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered at the World Economic Forum's Davos Agenda virtual meeting.

President Xi reminded us of the courage and resolve the international community displayed in fighting the coronavirus and that even though the pandemic is far from over, the world will emerge even stronger from this crisis.

And there is only one way to emerge stronger from this test of our times – through multilateralism and cooperation.

Unfortunately, in recent years, there have been certain voices within the international community that have questioned the shared prosperity, peace and rise in global living standards that multilateralism brought us.

It almost seems like these voices have taken multilateralism for granted, making it the scapegoat for their own inability to resolve internal problems. The voices against multilateralism forget what humankind has witnessed and experienced in the days of full-blown protectionism and unilateralism. Those days were not that long ago. Indeed, one of the major themes of the Davos Agenda meetings is to intensely focus on cooperation.

In his special address to Davos, President Xi spoke of four major tasks facing our international community, namely the need to step up coordination to promote growth that is stronger, more sustainable, balanced and inclusive and to walk away from ideological prejudice so that, as an international community, we can coexist peacefully.

President Xi Jinping also said that difference in itself is no cause for alarm. What does ring the alarm is arrogance, prejudice and hatred.

The third task is to close the divide between developed and developing countries because all countries should benefit from the opportunities of development, and forth, the task of coming together to tackle global challenges affecting the future of every single global citizen. No global problem can be solved by any one country alone.

Accomplishing these four tasks are important if, as an international community, we want to come out of these trying times stronger. President Xi Jinping said to face the complex problems of our world, we need to uphold multilateralism, which means remaining committed to openness and inclusiveness instead of being closed or excluding others.

It means being committed to international laws and rules instead of seeking one's own supremacy, commitment to consultation and cooperation rather than conflict and confrontation, and finally, a commitment to keeping up with the times instead of rejecting change.

In upholding multilateralism, President Xi Jinping said China, for its part, will continue to work with the international community on COVID-19 to make sure that vaccines are truly a public good accessible and affordable to everyone.

He said China would continue to follow through on opening-up China's economy to drive the global recovery and growth, continue to promote sustainable development by transitioning the country to a greener energy mix faster and advance innovation to boost high-quality development, while at the same time understanding that science and technology are means to benefit all of humanity rather than barriers used to ring-fence another nation's development. President Xi said China will also continue to promote a new type of international relations where countries reject a zero-sum mentality to focus on cooperative relations based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

Summing up President Xi Jinping's speech, I believe its core messages are for the international community to rise above our differences, celebrate our global diversity and embrace what we can accomplish as a global community together. That's the essence of multilateralism and cooperation.

China has called on the world to build a community with a shared future for humankind, for we are at a critical juncture. In just over a decade, our world has witnessed a global financial crisis, the aftershocks of which the world has never fully recovered from, a pandemic that could widen inequality and leave a lot of scarring to a generation of people, and long-term challenges such as climate change and strengthening inclusiveness that require our collective wisdom to solve.

So, indeed, let the torch of multilateralism light up humanity's way forward because what unites our common aspirations as an international community far outweighs what divides us.