Commentary: Building a better world through shared responsibility

by Xinhua writers Liu Chang, Shang Jun

BEIJING, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

In his keynote speech at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos one year ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping quoted English writer Charles Dickens to describe the challenges and the opportunities the world was facing then.

As this year's globalist gathering in the snowy Swiss town came to a close on Friday with U.S. leader Donald Trump touting his "America First" doctrine, the current situation worldwide has grown ever more complicated while the task of "creating a shared future" in this "fractured world" has become more demanding.

Across the globe, economic globalization has been losing momentum while protectionism and populism are rising. Lone-wolf attacks have emerged as the new face of terrorism. The issue of climate change has turned worse with last year being registered the second-warmest one ever recorded.

At such a trying time, leaders of the world's major powers not only bear the responsibility to foster better domestic development, but also have on their shoulders the work of building this world a better place for humankind.

At Davos, U.S. President Donald Trump seems to have insisted his country should come ahead of others. There, he has envisioned a "better world," where America is at the center, and benefits would be trickled down from Washington to the rest of the globe.

In his eyes, fair trade comes before free trade, and Washington holds the jurisdiction to tell fair trade deals from unfair ones.

Yet a basic fact of today's increasingly interconnected world is that the well-being of one nation depends on the well-being of others.

Thus, to go alone, or to come together? This is the fundamental question the world's major players need to answer.

Beijing believes it is in its own interests, as well as that of others, to jointly build a community with a shared future. Thus economic globalization needs to be refashioned instead of reversed, and trade protectionism should be repudiated instead of revered.

The Chinese leader has, with tremendous insight, diagnosed that many of the world's conflicts and crises are the symptoms of economic destitution and sullen social advancement. Therefore, China has been encouraging the world to join it in promoting mutually beneficial development via the Belt and Road Initiative.

Xi's idea was widely echoed at this year's Davos forum by many of his global colleagues from both developed and developing nations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the globalist assembly against isolationism and called for cooperation and rejection of protectionism while French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a strong defense of globalization.

With such a broad global consensus to stick together for the common good, all nations can, as Xi told the Davos conclave last year, "create a better world and deliver better lives for our peoples" as long as they "work hand in hand to fulfill our responsibilities and overcome difficulties." Enditem