Xiconomics: How Xi's economic philosophy promotes global governance

BEIJING -- "The right way forward for humanity is peaceful development and win-win cooperation," Chinese President Xi Jinping told the 2022 World Economic Forum (WEF) virtual session in mid-January, offering China's solutions to global challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Different countries and civilizations may prosper together on the basis of respect for each other, and seek common ground and win-win outcomes by setting aside differences," he added.

Xi's remarks elaborated on "Xiconomics," or the economics philosophy of the Chinese president, demonstrating China's commitment to building a harmonious world, promoting common development and enhancing the common interests of mankind.

OPENING WIDER

"We need to learn from comparing long history cycles, and see the change in things through the subtle and minute. We need to foster new opportunities amidst crises, open up new horizons on a shifting landscape, and pool great strength to go through difficulties and challenges," Xi said in his special address, giving insight into a world battered by both the COVID-19 pandemic and sluggish economic growth.

In the past two years, under the guidance of Xi's economic thought, China has struck a fine balance between pandemic control and economic development.

In 2020, China has emerged as the only major economy with positive growth. In 2021, its gross domestic product saw a year-on-year increase of 8.1 percent, contributing around a quarter to world economic growth and beating most market expectations. The country has also played a crucial and irreplaceable role in supporting the global supply chains.

Alexander Petrov, a professor at St. Petersburg State University, said China's success has proved that in a socialist market economy, it is possible to coordinate the efficiency of economic development and social governance, which is needed for global economic recovery in the post-pandemic era.

China has once again become one "driving force of the global economy," said Jochen Goller, president and CEO of BMW China, who spoke highly of China's concerted efforts and strong resilience in both successfully fighting against COVID-19 and boosting economic recovery.

China's steady growth has served as a stabilizer for the world economy amid the pandemic. It has been implementing a development philosophy featuring openness and cooperation, which helped strengthen global solidarity for economic recovery.

"Countries around the world should uphold true multilateralism. We should remove barriers, not erect walls. We should open up, not close off. We should seek integration, not decoupling. This is the way to build an open world economy," Xi said, urging countries worldwide to "make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial for all, and to fully unleash the vitality of the world economy."

Humphrey Moshi, director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam of Tanzania, said that "China has been on the front line of encouraging multilateralism among global countries, and it has been doing that through cooperation on the principles of a win-win situation."

"As a staunch supporter of globalization, China has been actively participating in and promoting international cooperation against COVID-19, providing medical equipment and COVID-19 vaccines to many countries," Moshi said.

Xi's proposal to enhance interconnectivity and promote common development provides an opportunity for cooperation among developing countries, Pholsena said.

According to the World Bank, BRI transport projects could, by 2030, help lift 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty and 32 million people out of moderate poverty globally.

"The more we study the BRI and witness its continuous advancement, the more we can appreciate the vision and the wisdom of President Xi's economic thought on world development," said former Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf.

DEVELOPMENT FOR GOOD

To tackle global challenges and seek sustainable development, the Chinese president has been promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Mankind was presented with two choices -- one is vicious competition or even armed conflict for power and self-interest, which may well lead to a disastrous crisis, Xi said when addressing the CPC (the Communist Party of China) in Dialogue with the World Political Parties High-Level Meeting in 2017.

"The other is for us to go along with the tide of the times and rise to challenges through global collaboration," he said. "This, in turn, will create favorable conditions for building a community with a shared future for mankind."

For Khalid Taimur Akram, executive director of the Center for Global and Strategic Studies in Islamabad, the notion of building a community with a shared future for mankind bears significance for today's global development.

China has provided a platform for all to turn this vision into reality, as the international community is searching for ways to advance cooperation and resolve differences, Akram said.

In his speech in September 2021 at the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly via video, Xi said "we must revitalize the economy and pursue more robust, greener and more balanced global development. Development holds the key to people's well-being."

He then urged countries around the world to "work together to steer global development toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated and inclusive growth," and proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI) to this end.

Speaking highly of the GDI, Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Liberata Mulamula said the pandemic serves as a reminder that the world is a community and no country should be left behind.

Since Xi brought up the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind in 2013, China has been enriching it to reflect the hope of people from all countries for a better world.

"We should follow the trend of history, work for a stable international order, advocate common values of humanity, and build a community with a shared future for mankind. We should choose dialogue over confrontation, inclusiveness over exclusion, and stand against all forms of unilateralism, protectionism, hegemony or power politics," Xi said at the WEF meeting in January.

The notion of a community with a shared future is the right path for human development, which could help reduce global inequality, said Ronnie Lins, director of the China-Brazil Center for Research and Business.

The Chinese president's philosophy is of profound theoretical significance, said Maxim Rybachuk, leading researcher at the Central Economic Mathematical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"We are talking about development concepts such as inclusive growth and dual circulation that have benefited both the Chinese people and people in other countries," Rybachuk said.