Community of Common Destiny

{{See also|Ideology of the Chinese Communist Party|Socialism with Chinese characteristics}}

The CCP has used this slogan to express its aim of creating a “new framework” of international relations which would promote and improve global governance.{{cite journal|last1=Ding|first1=Jun|last2=Cheng|first2=Hongjin|date=December 2017|title=China's Proposition to Build a Community of Shared Future for Mankind and the Middle East Governance|journal=Asian Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies|language=en|volume=11|issue=4|pages=1–14 |doi=10.1080/25765949.2017.12023314 |issn=2576-5949|doi-access=free}} Some Chinese analysts have hailed the expression as the first major amendment of China's foreign policy in more than four decades, shifting from being nation-oriented to focusing on the whole of humankind.{{cite web |title=The Rising Nepal: Community Of Shared Future For Mankind |url=http://therisingnepal.org.np/news/22680 |access-date=2018-11-26 |website=The Rising Nepal |language=en |archive-date=2020-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806195426/http://therisingnepal.org.np/news/22680 |url-status=dead }} By 2023, the Community of Shared Future for Mankind had become China's most important foreign policy formulation in the Xi Jinping era.{{Cite book |last1=Shinn |first1=David H. |title=China's Relations with Africa: a New Era of Strategic Engagement |last2=Eisenman |first2=Joshua |date=2023 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-21001-0 |location=New York |author-link=David H. Shinn}}{{Rp|page=6}} As part of its effort to develop the Chinese Dream, China seeks to use to Community of Shared Future for Mankind as a mechanism to expand its network of foreign relationships.{{Rp|page=6}}

Chinese government officials have sought international recognition for the slogan and have argued that China will adhere to a peaceful development policy and has no intention to change the international order. Government officials, especially diplomats, use the phrase to create a sense of a mission that is beneficial to other countries and not just China itself.{{Cite book |last=Mitter |first=Rana |url= |title=China's Good War: How World War II is Shaping a New Nationalism |date=2020 |publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-98426-4 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=119–120 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv322v52h |jstor=j.ctv322v52h |oclc=1141442704}}

The phrase "community of common destiny" first appeared in a report delivered by former CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao to the 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 2007, referring to shared blood and common destiny of mainland China and Taiwan.{{Rp|page=170}}{{Cite news |date=October 24, 2007 |title=Full text of Hu Jintao's report at 17th Party Congress |url=https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-10/24/content_6204564_11.htm |work=China Daily |access-date=November 23, 2020 |archive-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620164355/https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-10/24/content_6204564_11.htm |url-status=live }} In his 2012 report to the 18th National Congress, Hu broadened the expression by adding “for all mankind” to emphasize that "mankind has only one earth to live on, and countries have only one world to share" and called for the building of a “harmonious world of enduring peace and common prosperity.” Hu envisioned a new type of more equitable and balanced global development partnership that would stick together in times of difficulty, both sharing rights and shouldering obligations, and boosting the common interests of mankind.{{Cite web |date=2012-12-12 |title=十八大报告全文英汉对照 Full text of Hu's report at 18th Party Congress |url=http://www.fjfao.gov.cn/wsbs/ggfwpt/fyzl/ssyy/201212/t20121212_1141709_10.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008174828/http://www.fjfao.gov.cn/wsbs/ggfwpt/fyzl/ssyy/201212/t20121212_1141709_10.htm |archive-date=2018-10-08}}{{Primary source inline|date=July 2023}}

When Xi Jinping met with foreigners for the first time after taking office as General Secretary of the CCP in November 2012, he said that the international community has increasingly become a community with shared future, with each having a stake in others.{{Cite news |last=求是理论网 |title=人类命运共同体的价值观基础 |url=http://www.qstheory.cn/zxdk/2013/201304/201302/t20130207_210895.htm |access-date=2018-10-08 |website=Qiushi |archive-date=2019-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190917061944/http://www.qstheory.cn/zxdk/2013/201304/201302/t20130207_210895.htm |url-status=dead }}{{Cite news |title=听，习总书记论改革开放 |url=http://news.cctv.com/2018/04/17/ARTI4bMhkxlYm0tGLarTdU5W180417.shtml |access-date=2018-10-08 |website=China Central Television |archive-date=2018-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801180841/http://news.cctv.com/2018/04/17/ARTI4bMhkxlYm0tGLarTdU5W180417.shtml |url-status=live }}

Xi used the slogan in an international arena at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in March 2013, and again in a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2017, which "won him high credits at home and abroad".

International opposition led to the removal of the phrase from most of the draft resolutions, but it survived in two 2017 resolutions authored by the Chinese delegation: one on "no first placement of weapons in outer space", aimed at preventing an arms race in outer space, and a second on "further practical measures for the prevention of an arms race in outer space."{{Cite web |title=Seventy-Second Session of the General Assembly – UNODA |url=https://www.un.org/disarmament/meetings/firstcommittee-72/ |access-date=2018-10-08 |website=United Nations |language=en-US |archive-date=2018-10-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008181921/https://www.un.org/disarmament/meetings/firstcommittee-72/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=United Nations Official Document |url=http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/C.1/72/L.53 |access-date=2018-10-08 |website=United Nations |archive-date=2018-10-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008181930/http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/C.1/72/L.53 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=United Nations Official Document |url=http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/C.1/72/L.54 |access-date=2018-10-08 |website=United Nations |archive-date=2018-10-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008181928/http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/C.1/72/L.54 |url-status=live }} Chinese officials subsequently cited the two UN resolutions in “an attempt to demonstrate that the concept has been broadly accepted by the international community.” However, when similar resolutions were approved in the 2018 session of the General Assembly, the controversial language was removed.{{Cite web |title=United Nations Official Document |url=https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/73/31 |website=www.un.org |access-date=2020-11-23 |archive-date=2020-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130125317/https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/73/31 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=United Nations Official Document |url=https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/73/30 |website=www.un.org |access-date=2020-11-23 |archive-date=2021-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126144619/https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/73/30 |url-status=live }} Delegations from multiple countries subsequently banded together to oppose Chinese efforts to include the phrase in other multilateral documents.{{Cite news |last=Mitra |first=Devirupa |title=Explained: Why India Joined the West to Object to a Phrase in the Final UN75 Declaration |work=The Wire |url=https://thewire.in/world/explained-un75-declaration-xi-jinping-phrase-india-object |access-date=2020-11-23 |archive-date=2020-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130062409/https://thewire.in/world/explained-un75-declaration-xi-jinping-phrase-india-object |url-status=live }}

On March 11, 2018, the constitutional amendment adopted at the first meeting of the 13th National People's Congress of China added a sentence that promoted the building of a community with a shared future while developing diplomatic relations and economic and cultural exchanges with other countries.{{Cite news |title=（两会受权发布）中华人民共和国宪法修正案-新华网 |url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2018lh/2018-03/11/c_1122521235.htm?baike |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317022155/http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2018lh/2018-03/11/c_1122521235.htm?baike |archive-date=2018-03-17 |access-date=2018-10-08 |website=Xinhua News Agency |publisher= |language=zh}}

In August 2018, Yang Jiechi, wrote that "Building a community of common destiny for mankind is the overall goal of China's foreign affairs work in the new era" and requires a "new type of international relations."{{Cite news |last=Yang |first=Jiechi |date=2018-08-01 |title=求是 ["Seeking truth"] |url=http://www.qstheory.cn/dukan/qs/2018-08/01/c_1123209510.htm |website=Qiushi |access-date=2020-11-23 |archive-date=2021-05-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515045246/http://www.qstheory.cn/dukan/qs/2018-08/01/c_1123209510.htm |url-status=live }}

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi used the phrase at the 2020 Munich Security Conference.

The term is frequently used in conjunction with diplomatic initiatives and is also associated with the Belt and Road Initiative.{{Cite web |last=Mardell |first=Jacob |date=September 20, 2024 |title=PRC Partnership Diplomacy in the New Era |url=https://jamestown.org/program/prc-partnership-diplomacy-in-the-new-era/ |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=Jamestown Foundation |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last1=Curtis |first1=Simon |title=The Belt and Road City: Geopolitics, Urbanization, and China's Search for a New International Order |last2=Klaus |first2=Ian |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300266900 |location=New Haven and London |publication-date=2024 |doi=10.2307/jj.11589102 |jstor=jj.11589102}}{{Rp|page=35}}

In a speech at the United Nations in 2017, Xi described that principles underpinning the common destiny for humankind as: (1) bolstering the UN as the highest authority in international affairs, (2) equality of sovereignty among countries, which according to Xi entails non-interference with countries' internal affairs and equal rights and opportunities for all countries to participate in international organizations, and (3) democratization of international relations, which Xi contrasted with "hegemonism of one country" or "joint governance by several parties."{{Rp|page=171}}

Beginning in 2017, Chinese diplomats at the UN sought to have the phrase inserted into several UN General Assembly resolutions. Several other countries, including India and the United States, resisted this language, calling it inappropriate for multilateral resolutions to include the political ideology of one country. As a result of sustained Chinese government's efforts, in 2017 the phrase was incorporated by the United Nations into the resolution on the UN Commission for Social Development. It has also been used by the UN Disarmament Commission, the Human Rights Council, and the UN General Assembly First Commission.

The China–Arab States Cooperation Forum action plan following the 2020 meeting called for preserving the sovereignty and stability of the Arab states based on principles of non-interference and the Community of Shared Future for Mankind.{{Rp|page=57}}

As part of a group of cooperation agreements announced during a December 2023 visit by Xi to Vietnam, China and Vietnam issued a joint statement to support building a community of shared future for humankind.{{Cite news |last1=Guarascio |first1=Francesco |last2=Vu |first2=Khanh |last3=Nguyen |first3=Phuong |date=December 12, 2023 |title=Vietnam Boosts China Ties as 'Bamboo Diplomacy' Follows US Upgrade |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/chinas-xi-visits-vietnam-after-biden-seeks-boost-ties-2023-12-12/ |access-date=December 15, 2023 |archive-date=December 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213040214/https://www.reuters.com/world/chinas-xi-visits-vietnam-after-biden-seeks-boost-ties-2023-12-12/ |url-status=live }}

According to academics Xu Jin and Guo Chu, the concept initially developed because of China's increasing international economic interests and has since broadened to become increasingly based on political and security understandings.{{Rp|page=7}}

The British journalist Bill Hayton has argued that the CCP's vision of a "community with a shared future" represents "an attack on the multilateral order of international organizations, alliances and shared sovereignty that has attempted to manage the world since 1945."{{cite book |last=Hayton |first=Bill |title=The Invention of China |date=2 October 2020 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-23482-4 |location=New Haven and London |page=37}} Some have argued that Xi's community of common destiny for mankind would replace the established international order, grounded in free and sovereign nation-states that abide by commonly accepted international laws, with a unity of nations whose economic dependence on China leads them to defer to Chinese political demands.{{Cite web|last=Rolland|first=Nadège|date=March 13, 2020|title=A 'China Model?' Beijing's Promotion of Alternative Global Norms and Standards|url=https://www.uscc.gov/hearings/china-model-beijings-promotion-alternative-global-norms-and-standards|url-status=live|work=United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427054537/https://www.uscc.gov/hearings/china-model-beijings-promotion-alternative-global-norms-and-standards |archive-date=2020-04-27 }}{{Cite journal|last=Tobin|first=Liza|date=2018|others=The University Of Texas At Austin, The University Of Texas At Austin|title=Xi's Vision for Transforming Global Governance: A Strategic Challenge for Washington and Its Allies (November 2018)|url=https://tnsr.org/2018/11/xis-vision-for-transforming-global-governance-a-strategic-challenge-for-washington-and-its-allies/|journal=Texas National Security Review|language=en|doi=10.26153/TSW/863|doi-broken-date=29 March 2025 |doi-access=free|access-date=2021-09-05|archive-date=2022-08-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813212508/https://tnsr.org/2018/11/xis-vision-for-transforming-global-governance-a-strategic-challenge-for-washington-and-its-allies/|url-status=live}}{{Cite book |last=Doshi |first=Rush |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K4k4EAAAQBAJ |title=The Long Game: China's Grand Strategy to Displace American Order |date=2021-06-25 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-752791-7 |language=en}} Historian Steve Tsang states that the concept presumes a vision of tianxia over and above the liberal international order.{{Cite book |last1=Tsang |first1=Steve |author-link=Steve Tsang |title=The Political Thought of Xi Jinping |last2=Cheung |first2=Olivia |date=2024-01-09 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-768936-3 |edition=1 |language=en |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197689363.001.0001}}

Academic Jeremy Garlick writes that the framing of the concept conveys the idea that China can help develop and lead regional groupings of countries which do not depend on the United States or the West for their funding or organization.{{Cite book |last=Garlick |first=Jeremy |title=Advantage China: Agent of Change in an Era of Global Disruption |date=2024 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-350-25231-8 |pages=}}{{Rp|page=36}} In this view, the concept signals a shift towards a more active role for China in world affairs.{{Rp|page=36}}

Academic Chuchu Zhang writes that the concept allows other countries and local bodies in those countries to interpret the concept according to their own developmental priorities, such as economic growth generally, infrastructure development, or regional security.{{Cite book |last=Zhang |first=Chuchu |title=China's Changing Role in the Middle East: Filling a Power Vacuum? |date=2025 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-032-76275-3 |series=Changing Dynamics in Asia-Middle East Relations series |location=Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY}}{{Rp|page=81}}

{{wikisource|A Global Community of Shared Future: China's Proposals and Actions}}

• Ideology of the Chinese Communist Party
• Beijing Consensus
• Global Security Initiative
• Belt and Road Initiative

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite journal |first = Lingliang |last = Zeng |title = Conceptual Analysis of China's Belt and Road Initiative: A Road towards a Regional Community of Common Destiny |journal = Chinese Journal of International Law |date=19 August 2016 |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=517–541 |doi=10.1093/chinesejil/jmw021 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Hong |last2=Zhang |first2=Yŭuan |title = Building a community of shared future for humankind -- an ethnological perspective |journal=International Journal of Anthropology and Ethnology |date=6 November 2018 |volume=2 |issue=1 |doi = 10.1186/s41257-018-0015-1|doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last=Smith |first = Stephen N. |title=Community of common destiny: China's "new assertiveness" and the changing Asian order |journal=International Journal: Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis |date = 5 September 2018 |volume=73 |issue=3 |pages=449–463 |doi=10.1177/0020702018790278 |s2cid=149532472 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Chengcheng |last2=Yuan |first2=Jianhong |title=Construction of Culture Soft Power and a Community of Shared Future |journal=Revista de Cercetare si Interventie Sociala |date=December 2018 |volume=63 |pages=54–69 |url=https://www.rcis.ro/en/section1/151-volumul-632018decembrie/2488-construction-of-culture-soft-power-and-a-community-of-shared-future.html |access-date=2019-04-24 |archive-date=2019-04-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190424054136/https://www.rcis.ro/en/section1/151-volumul-632018decembrie/2488-construction-of-culture-soft-power-and-a-community-of-shared-future.html |url-status=live }}
• {{cite journal |last=Yu |first=Lei |title=China's Expanding Security Involvement in Africa: A Pillar for 'China-Africa Community of Common Destiny' |journal=Global Policy |date=November 2018 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=489–500 |doi=10.1111/1758-5899.12585 |s2cid=158187080 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Zhang |first=Denghua |title=The Concept of 'Community of Common Destiny' in China's Diplomacy: Meaning, Motives and Implications |journal=Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies |date=May 2018 |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=196–207 |doi=10.1002/app5.231 |doi-access=free |hdl=1885/255057 |hdl-access=free }}

{{refend}}

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{{Xi Jinping}}

{{Foreign relations of China}}

Category:Xi Jinping

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