Xiconomics: China strives to push for peace and development in stormy times

Initiatives for common good

While managing steady and high-quality growth within its border, China has always been ready to join others in promoting common prosperity for the whole world.

At the General Debate of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly in 2021, Xi put forward a Global Development Initiative (GDI), which emphasizes openness, coordination and sharing.

Together with the Belt and Road Initiative, the GDI comes as another endeavor by Beijing to boost inclusive and common development around the world.

Over the past few years, the China-Laos Railway unlocked the landlocked country and connected it to markets as far away as in Europe. China-Europe Freight Trains travel across the Eurasian continent, transporting goods and sustaining global supply chains despite disruptions from the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

At the Boao Forum last week, the Chinese president further elaborated on his vision for building peace and sustainable development, quoting an ancient Chinese philosopher: "Stability brings a country prosperity while instability leads a country to poverty."

Security is the precondition for development, both for a country and the world, especially in an era of globalization.

To improve global governance in this regard, Xi proposed a Global Security Initiative, calling for joint efforts to maintain peace and stability worldwide. "We humanity are living in an indivisible security community," Xi said.

"China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development and always be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, and a defender of the international order," Xi noted.

His appeals have been warmly embraced.

Surakiart Sathirathai, former deputy prime minister of Thailand, said that the Global Security Initiative reflects Xi's global view and governance philosophy.

By shaping a fair and rational global security governance system, the world will be more stable, which is conducive to greater development and cooperation, Sathirathai said.

"Looking into history, it is safe to say that China will successfully navigate the current challenges to register sustained growth," said Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar.

Through China-proposed initiatives, "China is galvanizing like-minded countries to promote alternative and liberalized economic and political systems that serve the collective interest of all countries," he said.