Draw a new picture of world modernization
Author: Hong Xianghua (researcher and deputy director of the research department of Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought Research Center, the supreme leader of the Central Party School [National School of Administration]); Yang Runcong (Associate Professor, School of Marxism, China Geo University)
In today’s world, changes in the past century have accelerated, and the peace deficit, development deficit, security deficit and governance deficit faced by mankind have increased. Realizing world modernization is the only way to solve world problems. In his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the third "Belt and Road" international cooperation summit forum, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader pointed out that "world modernization should be the modernization of peaceful development, mutually beneficial cooperation and common prosperity", which pointed out the direction for the people of the world to work together to realize world modernization.
Realize the world modernization of peaceful development.
Peaceful development is the basis for promoting the progress of human civilization. Marx and Engels creatively put forward the concept of "free association", and pointed out that this is a "more advanced social form with everyone’s all-round and free development as the basic principle". Only by "getting rid of people’s dependence" and "material dependence" can we realize everyone’s free and all-round development in the true sense and usher in a real peaceful world. However, some western countries are keen to piece together "small circles", fight a "new cold war", and commit themselves to pursuing hegemonism and power politics around the world, which poses a great threat to world peace and development. Practice has proved that security is the premise of development, and human beings are an inseparable security community. To realize the world modernization of peaceful development is by no means to realize the security and development of only one country and one region, let alone to undermine the security and development of other countries for the sake of one country’s security and development, but a kind of linkage security and development, which is the common security and development of all countries in the world. Therefore, it is necessary to achieve common destiny by eliminating the barriers between civilizations and abandoning national prejudice, so that "development" can truly become the theme and "peace" can truly become the norm, providing new possibilities for the evolution of human civilization and the development of world civilization.
In recent years, with the rise of emerging market countries and developing countries, the international economic power balance has undergone profound changes, but the global economic governance system centered on the West has not been adjusted accordingly. At present, mankind is in a period of great development, great change and great adjustment. The international situation is intertwined with chaos and change, and the instability and uncertainty of the world are obviously enhanced. The increasingly connected world calls on all countries to work together to meet global challenges. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader profoundly pointed out: "The essence of multilateralism is that international issues are discussed and handled by all, and the future and destiny of the world are jointly controlled by all countries." "We must adhere to true multilateralism, practice the concept of global governance of joint construction and sharing, mobilize global resources, meet global challenges, and promote global development." To practice true multilateralism, big countries should set an example, abandon the cold war mentality and zero-sum game, oppose any form of hegemonism, power politics and ideological confrontation, take into account the legitimate concerns of other countries while pursuing their own legitimate interests, safeguard the fair order of the world, promote the building of a community of human destiny, and provide a solid guarantee for the peaceful development of world modernization.
Realize the world modernization of mutually beneficial cooperation.
Mutually beneficial cooperation is the common expectation of people all over the world. The global expansion of market economy makes history gradually move from "regional history" to "global history", which opens a new stage of economic globalization. In the past 10 years, the "One Belt, One Road" initiative has adhered to the principle of mutual cooperation, mutual benefit and mutual benefit, and has achieved a series of tangible results, helping many developing countries to accelerate the pace of modernization. It can be said that the realization of mutually beneficial cooperation in world modernization conforms to the historical trend of economic globalization, the requirements of the era of global governance system reform, and the strong desire of people of all countries to live a better life.
In recent years, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, the global industrial chain supply chain is facing an impact, and economic globalization is facing a countercurrent. But in the long run, economic globalization is still a historical trend, and division of labor and cooperation among countries and mutual benefit and win-win are still long-term trends. Marx and Engels pointed out that "the bourgeoisie, because it has opened up the world market, has made the production and consumption of all countries worldwide" and "the more thoroughly the original closed state of all ethnic groups is eliminated due to the increasingly perfect production methods, exchanges and the natural division of labor between different ethnic groups, the more history will become world history". Marx and Engels profoundly revealed the essence of economic globalization, and pointed out that economic globalization is the objective requirement of the development of social productive forces and the only way for the development of human society, not artificially created by any person or country. Realizing the world modernization of mutually beneficial cooperation is to engage in constructive dialogue, carry out multilateral cooperation, learn from each other’s strengths and develop together, and build a new type of international relations with mutually beneficial cooperation as the core. This is the common call of the overwhelming majority of people in the world and the only way to build a common and prosperous world. At the crossroads of the process of human modernization, all countries, big or small, must abandon selfish interests, actively cooperate, unite and do their best to effectively deal with all kinds of urgent and dangerous global problems. This is the simplest and most effective way to solve the current common problems, and it is also a powerful guarantee to deal with future challenges and shocks.
Realize the world modernization of common prosperity.
The common prosperity of the world is an inevitable choice based on the development of the times and the general trend of human progress. Since the 21st century, under the leadership of the United Nations, the international community has formulated and implemented the Millennium Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which has pushed 1.1 billion people out of poverty, 1.9 billion people have access to safe drinking water, and 3.5 billion people have access to the Internet. However, due to regional politics and differences between the North and the South, problems such as unbalanced development, governance dilemma, digital divide and fair deficit also exist objectively. In this regard, the General Secretary of the Supreme Leader profoundly pointed out that "the world has become a global village with you and me, and the economic and social development of all countries is increasingly interrelated and influencing each other. Promoting interconnection and accelerating integration and development has become an inevitable choice for promoting common prosperity and development". Therefore, in seeking common ground while reserving differences, we should find common interests and common values among different countries, maintain the stability of the international social order, and build a common and prosperous modernization in the world.
The modernization of common prosperity transcends the narrow community of interests and the illusory community. Marx believes that the "community" of the bourgeoisie is an "illusory community" and cannot truly represent the actual interests of the overwhelming majority of the people. This "illusory community" relies on its advantage in the field of international finance, disregarding the objective law of historical development and the responsibility and morality of realistic development, and rashly starts unilateralism, trade protectionism and other actions, which makes the "black swan" incidents occur frequently around the world, and the peace deficit and governance deficit increasingly hinder the progress and development of human society. The proposal of "modernization for common prosperity" fully draws on Marx’s view of "true community", and promotes the construction of a community of human destiny in the practice that is more in line with "common destiny of mankind", in the concept that is more in line with the value of human multi-civilization, and on the more practical road of human development, so as to realize the world modernization of common prosperity.
"What kind of world to build and how to build it" is a constant proposition in the development of human society. The modernization of common prosperity is exactly from the perspective of all mankind, with the common destiny of all mankind as the care direction, seeking a new hope for building a new society with win-win cooperation in the future. Therefore, all countries in the world should conform to the trend of the times and the voice of the people, practice the concept of civilization of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and tolerance, respect the diversity of world civilizations, and work together to build a common and prosperous world modernization.
Guangming Daily (November 02, 2023, 07 edition)