Valdai Club

After Donald Trump took office, he emphasized the priority of the United States, adhered to trade protectionism, and had serious trade frictions with economies such as China, the European Union, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and Russia. Extending the “retreat group” activities and withdrawing from the international agreements and mechanisms such as the Paris Agreement of the international community on climate change, UNESCO, the United Nations Global Compact on Immigration, and the UN Human Rights Council, bringing global governance extremely adverse effects exacerbate the global governance deficit. It created a lot of uncertainties for today’s world.

Meanwhile, the center of gravity of international politics and economy is changing. Asia overcame Europe and North America as the top continent in term of economy. The economic vitality of Asia has attracted the attention of the whole world, and the security problems in Asia have become particularly prominent. The security issue in Asia involves two levels. At the level of the international system, there are structural contradictions between Rising China and the United States. At the subregional level, there are mainly specific controversial issues, such as territorial disputes and nuclear issues.

The existence of contradictions and problems between countries is a normal phenomenon, and the key is how to treat and solve these problems. There have been many new changes in the contemporary world, and countries are deeply interdependent. Interdependence does not mean that there is no contradiction between nations, but the way in which questions are asked and the problems are solved must change. This requires the state to learn from each other. Specifically, the United States must learn to share power, China must learn to take responsibility. Regional countries need to learn properly manage differences and avoid intensifying contradictions.

From the perspective of China, several aspects of China's diplomacy will not change in the changing world. First of all, China will continue to adhere to the path of peaceful development. China's development benefits from a peaceful environment. China's sustainable development requires peace and stability. Second, China will continue to reform and open up. This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up. The success of the Chinese economy has benefited from reform and opening up. Opening to the outside world has enabled China to adapt to the globalization process, to develop itself, and also to promote the common progress of regional countries. Third, China will continue to promote the construction of a global partnership network. Today's diplomacy has become a network diplomacy, and multi-level and multi-dimensional communication has become an important feature of the relationship between countries. Non-alignment and non-confrontation, continuing to compile a network of partnerships at different levels is the direction of Chinese diplomacy.