As world leaders gathered for the general debate of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, CGTN published an article about how the China-prosed Global Governance Initiative helps promote a more just and equitable global governance system.
For the first time in its 24 years of World Trade Organization (WTO) membership, China announced on Tuesday that it will no longer seek any new special and differential treatment in current and future negotiations, a decision hailed by the WTO as “a pivotal moment.”
The shift marks China’s latest major action to implement the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month.
The GGI charts the right course and provides a key pathway for building a more just and equitable global governance system, said Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the general debate of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday.
China is ready to work with all parties to take coordinated and effective actions to solve more practical problems and promote world peace and development, said Li.
Chinese solution to global governance deficits
The China-proposed GGI comes as deficits in global governance continue to grow, marked by under-representation of the Global South, erosion of authoritativeness of the UN, and a collective inability to effectively address global challenges.
“Global governance has come to a new crossroads,” said Xi while announcing the proposal during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in north China’s port city of Tianjin on September 1.
Xi highlighted the five core principles of the GGI: adhering to sovereign equality, abiding by international rule of law, practicing multilateralism, advocating the people-centered approach, and focusing on taking real actions.
Shortly after being proposed, the GGI has been welcomed and endorsed by many of the international community, including Russia, Malaysia, Slovakia, Nicaragua, Cuba and Nauru, as well as international bodies like the UN.
The GGI proposed by President Xi is rich in connotation, with its core concepts aligning closely with the values upheld by the United Nations, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a meeting with the Chinese premier on Wednesday.
The initiative effectively addresses the strong calls from the international community for reforming and improving the global governance system, said Guterres.
The GGI is the fourth landmark initiative proposed by Xi over the past several years, following the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative.
The GGI now completes the set of China’s four global initiatives that collectively and transparently state, without ambiguity, the nation’s intent for engaging with the world, said Robert Lawrence Kuhn, a U.S. expert on China and chairman of the Kuhn Foundation.
The Global Development Initiative focuses on cooperative economic projects, the Global Security Initiative on dialogue for discarding conflicts, and the Global Civilization Initiative on exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, Kuhn told CGTN. “But it is the GGI that most clearly states how China believes our turbulent world should be run and how China sees its role in doing so.”
As part of its ongoing contribution to improving global governance through concrete actions, China announced the AI+ International Cooperation Initiative at a high-level meeting on the Global Development Initiative on Tuesday.
The new initiative calls on all countries to proactively carry out AI+ campaigns in public well-being, technological advancement, industrial application, cultural prosperity and talent cultivation according to each country’s conditions, among others.
China’s approach to global governance is to advocate for joint action rather than dictating rules for the world, said Tian Dewen, a senior researcher at the Institute of Global Governance and Development of Renmin University of China.
China will never act unilaterally, but will consistently promote the principle that global issues must be addressed through consultation among all nations, Tian said.
