Professor Sergei G. Luzianin speaks during an international think-tank symposium held in Beijing on Thursday. 

Editor's Note: 

The story is an abstract of the speech made by Professor Sergei G. Luzianin, head of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, during an international think-tank symposium held in Beijing on Thursday. 

Eurasian Dimension of the ‘Common Destiny’

Chairman Xi Jinping’s idea on building the community of shared destiny contains several new approaches to comprehension of the global and regional development and security. At the global level, having taken important foreign-policy steps including the One Belt, One Road initiative,Chinawas able to launch a new, Eurasian wave of globalization based on the principle of mutual benefit and co-development. In future, the Eurasian version of the updated globalization within the OBOR initiative can replace the deadlocked Western (American) globalization model of the 1990s. The OBOR initiative and the project of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) offer the opportunity to activate the processes of economic integration, openness and liberalization through the recently established Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.China’s intensified diplomatic activeness clearly signals to the world that it intends to facilitate building of the closer community with shared destiny along the Asia–Europe vector.  And, as known, Eurasia is the vastest and the world’s most populated region, and in the last hundred years it was connected with almost all the events that caused important influence on the entire world. Frequent regional conflicts and economic problems have become the negative factors preventing this mainland from playing the more important role in contributing to political stability and economic growth on the whole planet. In the current complicated situation, Eurasia finds itself at the new crossroads, and all Eurasian countries should have a better understanding of the opportunity to unify within the framework of the ‘shared destiny’ concept and, by taking joint efforts, stand counter to the risks of the continuing economic recession as well as properly settle the conflicts and problems so that to evade the past mistakes.  

While promoting the OBOR initiative in all spheres (economic, transport, investment, etc), the Chinese leadership actually has unified the economic steps being taken by empoweringChinaon the ground and at sea in one track. Such synthesis enables the PRC to maneuver in the vast geographic diapason – from the Eurasian space to southern seas and the Northern Sea Route. Acting gradually and mildly, China is renovating the global governance system (the UN, IMF, WTO) as well as together with Russia develops and expands the BRICS and SCO.

Chinese Dream and Community of Shared Destiny

Chairman Xi Jinping offered to the Chinese society and international community his idea of the ‘Chinese Dream’, which suggests a different interpretation of Chinese people’s personal motivation as an alternative to the established ‘American dream’.

Juxtaposition of these two ‘dream’ options reflects the more profound confrontation between the ideological values of the PRC and US. Probably, there are two versions of ‘dream’ existing in China. In the first one, the emphasis is made on attainment of social justice and well-being through the counter-corruption measures, as well as on environment protection, democratization, and mid-level wealth. The second one is designed mainly for the foreign Chinese consumers – i.e., the worldwide net of overseas Chinese communities including millions of Chinese people being the patriots of their motherland and loyal to the Great China revival idea. 

'Soft Power' of the PRC and Community of Shared Destiny

Using its ‘soft power’ in the foreign policy and different ways to assert its positive international image is becoming the ever clearer expressed long-term strategy for the PRC. Broad use of the potential of China’s cultural affinity with the neighboring countries has become a special feature of the PRC diplomacy. Beijing has set sights on building the new type of the regional integration, which suggests formation of the Asian community based not only on ties in the spheres of trade, energy and infrastructure, but also on similar factors of histories and cultures. The key theoretical basis for such integration is served by the number of new socio-cultural and image-building concepts, such as the ‘Community of Shared Destiny’, ‘Chinese Dream’, ‘Asian-Pacific Dream’, and ‘New Type of Great-Power Relations’, all of which are aimed at consolidation of confidence between China and its Asian neighbors as well as at sculpturing of China’s updated image.

Translation from Russian: Tamara Karganova