Commentary: China breathes life into global governance reforms

President Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged closer cooperation to pursue reforms to the global governance system, renewing China's pledge to help build a more reasonable and just international order and advance world peace and development.

"We must actively participate in global governance. We will take on more international responsibilities, and in so doing we will try our best but not overreach," Xi said at a study session attended by members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

With these as guiding principles, China has in recent years offered a number of new ideas about how to build a better world and extend benefits to more people, and has taken concrete actions to turn the ideas into results.

China has proposed a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation and creating a community of common destiny for mankind, while advocating shared, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security.

At the recent G20 Hangzhou summit, development was given a significant position in coordination of global macro policy for the first time. Green finance was included on the G20 summit agenda for the first time and the first global framework for multilateral rules governing investment was laid out, leaving a Chinese imprint on G20 history.

China does not just talk the talk.

The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has made greater-than-expected achievements, involving more than 100 countries and international organizations, while the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a multilateral financial institution spearheaded by China, has approved its first four loans to fund projects in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

China is now the second largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping and the largest contributor of troops among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. It has set up funds to boost South-South Cooperation.

The country has also been actively involved in setting rules in affairs concerning the oceans, polar regions, cyberspace, outer space, nuclear security, anti-corruption and climate change.

With its ideas and actions, an increasingly proactive and responsible China has strived to help address unreasonable and unjust aspects of the global governance system and, by doing so, has received international recognition.

The international community has cried out for changes to the present global governance structure, which has failed to keep up with the times.

But the reforms are not a one-man job. Every party involved should be committed and turn constructive proposals into consensus through discussion and then into reality through concerted action.

The reforms are complex and take time. For now, it is wise to prioritize feasible and widely-accepted tasks, for example, spreading the gains of the Hangzhou summit to more countries and regions, making the G20 a long-term governing mechanism, implementing the Belt and Road Initiative and improving regional cooperation mechanisms.

China will continue to work with other countries to build more consensus, expand win-win cooperation, and ensure smooth progress of global governance reforms. Endi