A time to reflect on China's goals for the world

Students in the United States cannot be said to have received a complete education if they are not taught how to be responsible citizens in their local communities and around the world. In fact, no student, regardless of country, can enter the so-called real world unless he or she understands and affirms the need to respect people from all parts of the globe. And, yes, being respectful also means accepting the decisions made by each nation relating to its domestic wellbeing. In other words, when they become adults, they must allow foreign governments to forge their own paths and they must not interfere in those choices.

Sovereign states are just that, and they should not be restrained in pursuing their self-identified best options. Yes, nations may and should publicly debate governing principles, but that ought to be the extent of involvement with another country's agenda.

Seventy years ago, former Chinese premier Zhou Enlai unveiled the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, as he was receiving an Indian government delegation. What he articulated then remains an essential part of China's interactions with other nations today. Other nations should consider how those principles would advance prospects for win-win cooperation and peace.

The principles lay out guarantees for mutual respect of each nation's territorial integrity and sovereignty; commitments to nonaggressive actions; assurances of noninterference in each country's internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.

The Chinese nation values these five principles so highly that they were included in the preamble to the country's Constitution. Moreover, multiple nations across the globe that have attained independence over the past 70 years, finally freeing themselves from the oppression of colonialism, have gravitated to these ideas. Able to chart their own domestic and international agendas, these now free nations do not want global powers imposing their values (or demands) where they are not wanted.

In 1970, the United Nations adapted the five principles into Resolution 2625, which, in part, acknowledges that "States shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations". A few paragraphs later, the resolution includes this important reminder: "All peoples have the right freely to determine, without external interference, their political status and to pursue their economic, social, and cultural development, and every State has the duty to respect this right."

Thus, when Chinese leaders urge governments near and far to not interfere in China's domestic issues, they are doing so in direct accordance with the UN.

Of course, global powers often do just the opposite: Interference is an unmistakable part of the DNA of certain nations. For example, one US scholar has uncovered more than 80 examples between 1946 and 2000 of Washington seeking to undermine elections in other nations. Those efforts took place in at least 60 different countries representing every corner of the globe.

Interference continues today. In a recent article in China Daily, Ishida Ryuji, a scholar at Shanghai Jiaotong University, examined the decades' long effort involving the US and Japan to limit China's economic and diplomatic ascendancy. He wrote: "Today, renewed containment is driven by fears of the rise of emerging countries such as China. While one side seeks to deter what it perceives as 'threats', for the other side, it represents independence and economic development."

There is a fundamental friction between encouraging other nations to adopt democratic/capitalist norms and doing everything possible to ensure that they do. For example, Ryuji challenges Western powers to explain why "developing countries should not pursue(their preferred) economic development … and (why) they should (not) abandon socialist systems."

The so-called Global South continues to examine its domestic and global pursuits, and many such nations have sought integration with the Belt and Road Initiative. The Center for Economics and Business Research estimates that the BRI will boost global GDP by$7 trillion each year beginning in 2040. Note that key elements of the Five Principles weave their way through the BRI, perhaps most notably seeking cooperation that benefits all parties.

Keep in mind that while the US continues to disparage the BRI, it has twice attempted to form partnerships akin to it. As I wrote in China Daily a couple of months ago, one such effort already appears doomed and a second faces headwinds as it seeks to get off the ground. The US is proud of its democratic history, and it ought to be. It should allow other nations to be equally proud of their histories. One way to do that is to affirm respect for each nation's territorial sovereignty; commit to nonaggressive actions and noninterference in another country's internal affairs; seek equality and cooperation; and focus on peaceful coexistence.

The author is department head and associate professor in the Communication and Organizational Leadership department at Robert Morris University.