Valdai Club

China advocates for the equal and orderly multipolarisation of the world and inclusive, universally beneficial economic globalisation. Equal and orderly multipolarisation entails insisting on the equality of all countries regardless of their size, the genuine promotion of democracy in international relations and opposition to hegemony and power politics.

The great historical significance of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression goes beyond the grand decisive battle between justice and evil, light and darkness, progress and reaction in the world war against fascism, Wang Yiwei writes.

Europe is struggling to adapt to a new multipolar world, but to be able to turn around, it has to radically change its self-perception and modus operandi, stepping out of the West-dominated path of arrogant and obsolete order planning. With the rise of the Global South, the arrival of the AI revolution, and especially the return of Trump, the inner workings of Europe’s understanding of the world order actually reveal fears of different outcomes for the future evolution of that order, Wang Yiwei and Tan Yannan write.

Europe is at a crossroads: How can it cope with the grave security challenges posed by the (potential) collapse of Ukraine and the return of Donald Trump? In the short term, enhancing defence autonomy is a top priority on the agenda; in the long run, Europe should change its thinking pattern and look for a suitable ultimate solution to the conflict.

It is up to European countries, including Russia, to talk through a future European security structure: even though strategically Russia can rely on its Asian partners, it cannot separate itself from Europe geographically. If Russia intends to promote Greater Eurasia eastward smoothly, European stability should be taken into consideration: cooperation with the Belt and Road Initiative, whose route goes to west, is also a major part of Greater Eurasia.

Countries around the world are placing high hopes on the new COVID-19 vaccines in their joint efforts to fight the COVID-19 epidemic, while continuing to face “deficits” in vaccine production capacity and global distribution issues. As a developing country, China has offered to provide its vaccines as public goods to the rest of the world, particularly to people from less developed countries, emphasising the concept of building a global health community for mankind, write Wang Yiwei & Chen Chao.

China’s internal market reform and China-EU cooperation concerning the reform of the open economy and the global governance mechanism will remain important issues with respect to bilateral economic and trade cooperation. The Europeans may worry that the agreement between China and the US will harm their interests. However, both sides have stated that China hasn’t promised the US any exclusive advantages and everything was done according to WTO rules.

The agreement between China and the USA is a good thing for the world. As the biggest economies in the world, the joint initiatives, such as the protection of intellectual property rights, bank regulation, etc., will promote economic reform globally, and lay the foundation for a new round of WTO reform and negotiations on the rules of trade.

Although Europeans succumbed to US pressure and at the NATO summit agreed to acknowledge the Chinese challenges to the alliance, it will not substantially affect Chinese economic projects in Europe. However, China and Russia, two countries once regarded as enemies by NATO, may cooperate to meet the challenges of all parties.