Beijing, 5 July, 2023 (GNP): China’s President Xi Jinping revealed a comprehensive blueprint for a new global governance system centered around the implementation of Global Development and Security Initiatives.
In a significant speech, President Xi Jinping presented the new development at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit on Tuesday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and other leaders of member countries joined the virtual Summit to address the collective security and trade imperatives.
Emphasizing the development of a new global governance system, President Xi called for strategic communication, and dialogue to foster cooperation and bridge differences among nations.
“We should keep in mind the overall and long-term interests of our region and make our foreign policies independently,” Xi told leaders of the Eurasian security and political group including India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Moreover, President Xi shed light on the significance of independent foreign policies that prioritize the overall long-term interests of the region. He urged members of SCO, including Iran, to refrain from ideological and confrontational approaches. “We must be highly vigilant against external attempts to foment a new Cold War or camp-based confrontation in our region,” President Xi cautioned.
During the virtual summit, President Xi also highlighted the need to address the threats of hegemonism and power politics pointing towards Washington DC.
“China stands ready to work with all sides to implement the Global Development Initiative, keep to the right direction of economic globalization, oppose protectionism, unilateral sanctions, and the overstretching of national security, and reject the moves of setting up barriers, decoupling, and severing supply chains,” Xi stated.
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Additionally, advocating for local currency settlement, increased cooperation on sovereign digital currency, and the establishment of an SCO development bank, President Xi and his Russian counterpart proposed minimizing the influence of the US dollar on the region’s economy.
Meanwhile, Dr. Talat Wizarat, a Karachi-based foreign policy expert commended President Xi’s address saying “The existing world order is based on promoting conflict and arms trade implemented by the United States and others. In his address, Xi is proposing an alternative that rests on the idea of mutual development, peace, and security.”
Furthermore, President Xi addressed the importance of nontraditional security challenges such as digital, biological, and space security. He called for strengthened mechanisms for law enforcement and security cooperation.
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On Xi’s latest proposal, Wizarat said, “China’s big-ticket infrastructure development programs, such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), are pulling many into Beijing’s orbit. It’s a model that offers development opportunities, and many developing countries are now prioritizing their national and economic interests. Hence, they naturally gravitate to Beijing’s proposed development model.”
“You can’t blame China for creating a debt trap. More and more countries are trapped in a vicious financial cycle of borrowing from Western lenders, such as the Washington-based International Monetary Fund,” Wizarat claimed.
Regarding Washington’s reaction to the Chinese leader’s address, Wizarat said, “Xi’s comments will be viewed with a great deal of suspicion, doubt, and even more.” However, the United States needs to come out of the Cold War mentality and learn to work with China not against it, she added.
