Interview: Xi's speech at UN aims to build new world -- U.S. academic

Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the UN headquarters on Monday is very important and his concept of a "new type of international relations" is designed to terminate traditional interstate relations which were pursued to maximize one's own interest at the expense of others, a U.S. academic said Tuesday.

"The new type of international relations is aimed at building a new world of mutual cooperation and mutual benefit," Peter J. Li, an expert on international relations at the University of Houston, said in an interview with Xinhua.

"In other words, China aims to foster the rise of a community of shared future. And this shared future has to be pursued with a high level of sensitivity to the needs, concerns, interests and aspirations of all the members of the international community," said Li, a tenured professor of East Asian Politics Department at the University of Houston.

Li said that by advocating the concept of a new type of international relations, Xi is in fact reassuring the world that China, despite its growing political, economic and military capabilities, is in no position to go after exclusive interests at the expense of the rest of the world, particularly the less developed nations.

Interstate conflicts of various scale have characterized modern international relations. The 20th century was full of armed conflicts on regional and global scales. Superpower rivalry and distrust triggered not only the Cold War between the two major blocs but also instability around the world, he said.

As for Xi's proposal of constructing a "community of shared future for mankind," he said that it indicates China's mission to help create a world beneficial to all, and it in particular calls on the more developed economies to be more conscious of their responsibilities and be more attentive to the needs of the less developed countries.

He stressed that, to build this community, both the less developed and the developed economies have important roles to play.

"In my opinion, the less developed nations, while removing political and institutional obstacles to development at home, should also participate in amending the established international economic order so that it will become more friendly to the developing nations," he said.

"For the developed nations, adopting policies for technological transfer, financial incentives and market access for the developing nations can be important tools for constructing the community of shared future."

He believed that, as the beneficiaries of the past economic growth, the developed nations have a moral obligation to help end inequality in the world economy.

With regard to President Xi's remarks that China will always vote for developing countries in the United Nations, Li said that as the only developing country in the UN Security Council, China has since 1971 made it clear that its vote belongs to the developing countries.

"This pronouncement is partly a sign of China's gratitude to the developing countries that supported China's UN membership in 1971, and it is more a reflection of Beijing's long-standing position that China belongs to the Third World or the developing world and would fight for an equitable and just world for these countries," Li said.

"This pronouncement is particularly significant today when China is no longer considered a developing country," he said, adding that "with the help of this pronouncement, President Xi Jinping wants to tell the world that China will share its development experience with the poor countries."

Commenting on the four features of development, namely equitable, open, comprehensive and innovation-driven, Li said that this highlights China's consistent position and new thinking of the Chinese leadership.

Economic growth has to fairly benefit the general public, particularly the most vulnerable part of the population, and this is why an equitable development is of great importance within a country, Li said.

In international economic relations, only when the under-developed and the majority of the developing world benefit, can development be truly equitable, he added.

Li stressed that an open economy that allows uninterrupted flow of information, technology, goods, services and capital across national borders best promotes development, and China's own experience in the last three decades has fully demonstrated that opening up to the outside world has helped China's economic take-off.

"We know China's open policy as a development strategy was adopted in 1978, and this policy has succeeded in turning China from a poor country into the world's biggest manufacturer, a top exporter, and a major engine of the global economy," he said.

"The Chinese people are the world's biggest group of the beneficiaries of an open development model. By the end of the 1990s, more than 500 million Chinese had been lifted out of poverty. This breathtaking accomplishment could not have been made without the open policy," he said.

Also importantly, development has to be comprehensive. Not only must development be balanced among the different economic sectors, it has to include development of human resources, development of intangible heritage, and development without damaging the natural environment, he said.

Li believed that the inclusion of innovation-driven development showcases the new thinking and futurist outlook of the Chinese leadership.

"China is again at a historical crossroads. No economic growth can be sustained based on a production model that is resource exhaustive, labor intensive, and energy wasteful," he said.

"Phasing out the old production by adopting new technologies, new products and new production models is the way out for the Chinese economy and that of most other countries as well," he stressed. Endi