The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind Are of the Same Lineage

Seventy years ago, in the face of the grievous catastrophe of hot war and the divisive confrontation of the Cold War, Chinese leaders for the first time put forward in their entirety the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which have withstood the tests of international vicissitudes and become open, inclusive, and universally applicable basic norms for international relations and fundamental principles of international law. Seventy years later today, confronted with the major question of “what kind of world to build and how to build it,” China has given the answer of the times: building a community with a shared future for mankind. Building a community with a shared future for mankind has expanded from a Chinese initiative into an international consensus, and has been transformed from a beautiful vision into rich practice. It represents the best inheritance, promotion, and elevation of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence under the new circumstances. From the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, Chinese diplomacy is of the same lineage while advancing with the times, demonstrating China’s firm determination to adhere to the path of peaceful development and its global vision of making new and greater contributions to humanity, and reflecting the positive interaction between China and the world.

70年前，面对热战的惨痛浩劫和冷战的分裂对峙，中国领导人首次完整提出的和平共处五项原则，经受住了国际风云变幻的考验，成为开放包容、普遍适用的国际关系基本准则和国际法基本原则。70年后的今天，面对“建设一个什么样的世界、如何建设这个世界”的重大课题，中国又给出了构建人类命运共同体的时代答案。构建人类命运共同体已经从中国倡议扩大为国际共识，从美好愿景转化为丰富实践，是新形势下对和平共处五项原则最好的传承、弘扬与升华。从和平共处五项原则到构建人类命运共同体理念，中国外交一脉相承又与时俱进，展现了中国坚持走和平发展道路的坚定决心和为人类作出新的更大贡献的世界情怀，体现了中国与世界的积极互动。

Responding to the Demands of the Times in World Development

顺应世界发展的时代要求

In the historical process of modern human society, how to handle relations between states, jointly safeguard world peace and security, and promote the development and progress of all humanity has always been a major proposition that all countries have tirelessly explored. From the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to building a community with a shared future for mankind, this reflects the demands of the times in world development after the Second World War.

在近现代人类社会发展的历史进程中，如何处理国与国之间的关系、共同维护世界和平与安宁、促进全人类发展与进步，始终是各国不懈探索的重大命题。从和平共处五项原则到构建人类命运共同体，体现了第二次世界大战以后世界发展的时代要求。

The formation of the modern world system originated from the global expansion of Western capitalism, thereby creating an unequal structure centered on the major capitalist powers, with the vast colonies and developing countries as the periphery. The ultimate goal of this structure was to serve the capital accumulation and political domination of the central states. This not only left the vast colonies and developing countries in a long-term dependent position, unable to achieve autonomous development, but also the uneven political and economic development among the central states caused periodic and frequent wars. The two world wars were the inevitable result of this unequal system, while the national independence movements and South-South cooperation were resistance and transformation against this system. Faced with the exclusion by the central states of the old world system and the threat of Cold War camp confrontation, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence advocated by the Chinese government not only embodied the common needs of the vast number of newly independent developing countries to safeguard their legitimate rights and improve their external environment, but also reflected the universal needs of the world’s people who had suffered the grievous calamities of two world wars, providing correct guidance for the coexistence of states with different social systems and for establishing a new international order.

近代世界体系的形成源自西方资本主义的全球扩张，并由此形成了以资本主义大国为中心、以广大殖民地和发展中国家为外围的不平等结构。这种结构的终极目标是为中心国家的资本积累和政治统治服务。这不仅导致广大殖民地和发展中国家长期处于依附地位难以实现自主发展，而且中心国家政治经济发展不平衡造成周期性战争频发。两次世界大战就是这种不平等体系的必然结果，而民族独立运动和南南合作则是对这种体系的反抗和改造。面对旧有世界体系中心国家的排斥和冷战阵营对抗的威胁，中国政府倡导的和平共处五项原则不仅体现了获得独立的广大发展中国家维护合法权益、改善外部环境的共同需求，也体现了经历过两次世界大战惨痛遭遇的世界人民的普遍需要，为不同社会制度的国家相处和建立国际新秩序提供了正确指导。

With the accelerated development of science and technology since the 21st century and the continuous expansion of international exchanges, the interdependence among countries has deepened day by day. However, at the same time, common challenges such as war and conflict, economic turmoil, resource depletion, ecological and environmental degradation, and the spread of diseases have continuously emerged. The peace deficit, development deficit, security deficit, and governance deficit are intertwined. The futures and destinies of all countries are increasingly linked, gradually forming a community of shared destiny where “you have me, and I have you.” Standing at a historical crossroads, whether to choose unity or division, openness or closure, cooperation or confrontation concerns the overall interests and future of humanity. In response, Chinese leaders have put forward the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, conforming to the demands of the times and the general trend of world development, gathering the greatest common denominator for the people of all countries to jointly build a better world. It has received high attention and widespread praise from the international community, showing strong vitality, and is of great significance for promoting unity and cooperation among all countries and jointly creating a bright future for humanity.

随着21世纪以来科学技术的加速发展和国际交往的不断扩大，各国间的相互依赖日益加深。但与此同时，战争冲突、经济动荡、资源枯竭、生态环境恶化、疾病传播等共同挑战不断涌现，和平赤字、发展赤字、安全赤字和治理赤字相互交织，各国前途和命运更加紧密地联系起来，日益成为“你中有我、我中有你”的命运共同体。站在历史的十字路口，是团结还是分裂，是开放还是封闭，是合作还是对抗，关乎人类整体利益和前途命运。对此，中国领导人提出构建人类命运共同体理念，顺应时代要求与世界发展大势，汇聚各国人民共建美好世界的最大公约数，受到国际社会高度重视和广泛赞誉，显现出强大生命力，对于推动各国团结合作、共创人类美好未来具有重要意义。

Reflecting the Internal Needs of China’s Own Development

体现中国自身发展的内在需要

The founding of New China washed away the century of humiliation since modern times, when China was subjected to arbitrary bullying. The Chinese people have since stood up. Safeguarding national sovereignty and security and developing the national economy became new historical tasks. Faced with the challenges posed by power politics and Cold War confrontation, China needed other countries to recognize and respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity; it needed a peaceful external environment, especially in its neighboring regions, to concentrate on socialist modernization. Against this backdrop, Chinese leaders for the first time put forward in their entirety the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. These were incorporated into the joint declarations between China and India and between China and Myanmar, jointly advocating the establishment of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as the basic norms guiding relations between states. In the development of post-World War II international relations, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence have gained recognition from an increasing number of countries, providing important support for China to gain international recognition and improve its external environment.

新中国的成立，洗刷了近代以来任人宰割的百年屈辱，中国人民从此站起来了。维护国家主权与安全、发展民族经济成为新的历史任务。面对强权政治和冷战对抗带来的挑战，中国需要其他国家承认并尊重中国的主权和领土完整；需要和平的外部环境，尤其是周边环境集中精力进行社会主义现代化建设。在此背景下，中国领导人首次完整提出互相尊重主权和领土完整、互不侵犯、互不干涉内政、平等互利、和平共处五项原则，并将其纳入中印、中缅联合声明，共同倡导将和平共处五项原则确立为指导国家间关系的基本准则。在二战后的国际关系发展中，和平共处五项原则得到了越来越多国家的认同，为中国争取国际认可、改善外部环境提供了重要支撑。

For all countries, fully utilizing world resources and markets is an effective way to accelerate their own development. With the exploration and advancement of socialist modernization, especially reform and opening up and accession to the World Trade Organization, China’s foreign exchanges have continuously expanded and deepened. The strategies of “bringing in” and “going global” have developed in parallel and promoted each other, and overseas interests have continuously expanded. Faced with the severe challenges brought by the world entering a new period of turbulence and transformation, how to safeguard foreign economic exchanges and protect the security of overseas interests has become an urgent task for China in the new era. Unlike the West, which uses military force to expand and protect overseas interests, China adheres to the path of peaceful development, upholds the principle of non-interference in internal affairs politically, and actively explores new methods that conform to China’s diplomatic traditions, recognized international law norms, and the trends of world development. The vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind proposed by China not only reflects the objective trend of deepening interdependence between China and the world but also provides scientific guidance for safeguarding China’s foreign exchanges and the security of its overseas interests. By jointly building a community of shared interests, a security community, and a community of shared responsibility, China’s overseas interests can receive multi-faceted support while ensuring foreign exchanges.

对所有国家而言，充分利用世界资源和市场是加速自身发展的有效途径。随着社会主义现代化建设的探索推进，尤其是改革开放和加入世界贸易组织，中国对外交往不断扩大和深化，“引进来”与“走出去”并行发展、相互促进，海外利益不断扩展。面对世界进入新的动荡变革期带来的严峻挑战，如何维护对外经济交往、保护海外利益安全成为新时期中国面临的迫切任务。与西方以武力拓展和保护海外利益不同，中国坚持走和平发展道路，政治上奉行不干涉内政原则，积极探索符合中国外交传统、公认国际法准则和世界发展趋势的新方式。中国提出的构建人类命运共同体理念，不仅体现了中国与世界相互依存日益加深的客观趋势，而且为维护中国对外交往和海外利益安全提供了科学的指导。通过共建命运与共的利益共同体、安全共同体和责任共同体，在确保对外交往的同时，中国的海外利益能够得到多方支持。

Demonstrating the Continuous Enhancement of China’s International Contribution Capacity

彰显中国国际贡献能力的不断提升

As a responsible major country, China has always been committed to promoting the progress of human endeavors. In modern times, Western countries, relying on their gunboats and economic and technological advantages, occupied the center of the world system, while colonies and developing countries were located on the periphery, serving their capital accumulation and political domination. The development of national liberation movements and the advancement of South-South cooperation were precisely aimed at breaking this unequal world system and its order. Like the vast number of developing countries, modern China was located on the periphery of the world system. The founding of New China meant that one-quarter of the world’s population achieved independence and liberation, which in itself was a tremendous contribution to the cause of human progress and, at the same time, greatly inspired the fighting spirit of other oppressed peoples in the world. After the founding of New China, supporting the independence and development of developing countries was regarded as an important international obligation, for which it provided substantial material and moral support. With the success of the national independence and liberation movements after World War II, the Western colonial system collapsed. The newly independent developing countries aspired to safeguard national sovereignty and develop their national economies. The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence proposed by China embodied the common demands of the vast number of developing countries and became universally accepted norms of international relations.

作为一个负责任的大国，中国一直致力于推动人类事业进步。近代以来，西方国家凭借坚船利炮和经济科技优势占据了世界体系的中心，而殖民地/发展中国家则位于边缘地带，为其资本积累和政治统治服务。民族解放运动的发展和南南合作的推进，就是要打破这种不平等的世界体系及其秩序。同广大发展中国家一样，近代中国位于世界体系的边缘。新中国的成立，意味着占世界四分之一的人口实现了独立解放，本身就是对人类进步事业的巨大贡献，同时，极大地鼓舞了世界其他被压迫民族的斗争信心。新中国成立后，将支持发展中国家的独立和发展作为重要的国际义务，为此提供了大量的物资和道义支持。随着二战后民族独立和解放运动的成功，西方殖民体系土崩瓦解。获得独立的发展中国家渴望维护国家主权、发展民族经济。中国提出的和平共处五项原则体现了广大发展中国家的共同要求，成为普遍接受的国际关系准则。

With the continuous advancement of Chinese-path modernization and the steady enhancement of comprehensive national strength, China’s international influence is gradually expanding, and it is increasingly moving toward the center of the world stage, possessing both the will and the capacity to make greater contributions to international peace and development. The concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind not only embodies China’s worldview, values, and order outlook, effectively responding to various versions of the “China threat theory” abroad, but also demonstrates China’s goal pursuit and sense of responsibility in committing to international peace and development. Among the major powers in today’s world, China is the only one that has never engaged in foreign aggression or seized colonies. Among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, China is the largest contributor of peacekeeping troops; in terms of contributions to world economic growth, China’s contribution rate has long remained above 30%, ranking first among all major powers, and it has become the main trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions; in addressing global climate change, China’s emission reduction efforts are ahead of all other major powers. Faced with the common challenges of a “peace deficit,” “security deficit,” “development deficit,” and “governance deficit” in today’s world, China has timely proposed the Global Security Initiative,

随着中国式现代化建设的不断推进和综合实力的不断增强，中国的国际影响力逐渐扩大，日益走近世界舞台的中央，有意愿、有能力为国际和平与发展作出更大贡献。构建人类命运共同体理念不仅体现了中国的世界观、价值观和秩序观，有力回应了国际上各种版本的“中国威胁论”，而且展现了中国致力于国际和平与发展的目标追求和责任担当。在当今世界大国中，中国是唯一一个从未进行对外侵略抢占殖民地的大国。在联合国安理会五大常任理事国中，中国是派遣维和部队最多的国家；在对世界经济增长贡献方面，中国的贡献率长期保持在30%以上，居所有大国之首，已成为140多个国家和地区的主要贸易伙伴；在应对全球气候变化方面，中国的减排贡献走在所有大国的前面。面对当今世界面临“和平赤字”“安全赤字”“发展赤字”“治理赤字”的共同挑战，中国适时提出全球安全倡议、全球发展倡议、全球文明倡议，为变乱交织的世界注入确定性和方向，成为构建人类命运共同体的引领者。目前，构建人类命运共同体已经从中国倡议扩大为国际共识，从美好愿景转化为丰富实践，体现出中国国际贡献能力的不断提升。

Advancing the continuous improvement of global governance

推进全球治理不断完善

The development of globalization has promoted interactions among countries, but has also intensified the outbreak of contradictions and the spread of risks, making the future and destiny of all countries increasingly closely linked. To address the various challenges facing the world today, advancing the reform of global governance is the fundamental path to solving the problems.

全球化的发展促进了各国间的交往，也加剧了矛盾的爆发和风险的扩散，使各国前途和命运日益紧密地联系起来。应对当今世界面临的各种挑战，推进全球治理改革是解决问题的根本路径。

How to ensure and balance the development rights of all countries is the core issue of global governance. Every country has the right to development, but relying solely on domestic resources and markets is insufficient; it is necessary to make full use of the world's resources and markets. At the same time, economic and technological development must continuously break through existing economic and political spaces in order to achieve the optimal allocation of resources on a larger scale, which is the driving force of economic globalization. However, under given economic and technological conditions, resources are always limited, and the international community is in a state of anarchy, leading to varying degrees of competitive relations among countries. As the most important actors in the modern international system, states are the primary responsible parties for the security and welfare of their nationals within their territorial boundaries. The imbalance between the spatial segmentation of political responsibility and economic globalization has intensified the complexity of national development competition.

如何确保和平衡各国的发展权是全球治理的核心问题。每个国家都有发展的权利，但仅靠国内资源和市场是不够的，需要充分利用世界的资源和市场。与此同时，经济技术的发展也要不断突破既有的经济政治空间，以在更大范围内实现资源的优化配置，这是经济全球化的原动力。然而，在一定的经济技术条件下，资源总是有限的，而国际社会又处于无政府状态，由此导致国家间存在不同程度的竞争关系。作为现代国际体系中最主要的行为主体，国家是其领土范围内国民安全与福利的首要责任人。政治责任的空间分割与经济全球化之间的不平衡加剧了国家发展竞争的复杂化。

After the end of the Cold War, the United States attempted to extend the Western liberal international order it dominated to the whole world in order to maintain its own unipolar hegemony. This approach not only encountered resistance from many non-Western countries but also triggered increasingly serious domestic problems, giving rise to a series of issues such as political polarization, populism, protectionism, and de-globalization. The result has been an increase in the trust deficit among countries, making it difficult to effectively mobilize more countries to jointly address global challenges. In this regard, some scholars have pointed out that the liberal international order advocated by the United States is dominated by the United States itself and takes regime type as its primary principle, making it unable to adapt to the reality of diverse regime types among countries, as well as the trends of multipolarity in the international configuration and democratization of international relations.

冷战结束后，美国试图将其主导的西方自由国际秩序扩展至全球，以维护自身的单极霸权。这种做法不仅遭到了许多非西方国家的抵制，而且引发了日益严重的国内问题，催生了政治极化、民粹主义、保护主义和逆全球化等一系列问题，其结果是加大了国家间的信任赤字，难以有效地动员更多国家共同应对全球性挑战。对此，有学者指出，美国倡导的自由国际秩序是以美国自身为主导、以政权类型为首要原则，无法适应各国政权类型多样化的现实以及国际格局多极化和国际关系民主化的趋势。

Fundamentally, every country has the right to choose a political model and development path suited to its own national conditions. Whether or not the political model and development path are the same, ensuring the security and welfare of its own people is their common goal. In this regard, the first thing countries should do is to respect each other and coexist peacefully. On this basis, they should achieve win-win cooperation through extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, rather than drawing lines based on ideology and values to engage in camp confrontation, and even less should they practice hegemonism and neo-colonialism under the guise of freedom and democracy. Historically, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence have provided basic principles and norms for global governance, helping to transcend differences in values and ideology, mobilize more countries to participate in global governance on the basis of mutual respect, and safeguard world peace and development. Today, when the future and destiny of all countries are increasingly closely linked, the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind has provided practical principles and goal guidance for advancing the reform of global governance, helping to jointly build a better future for humanity.

从根本上来讲，每个国家都有权选择适合本国国情的政治模式和发展道路。不管政治模式和发展道路是否相同，确保本国人民的安全与福利是其共同的目标。对此，各国首先应该做到的是相互尊重、和平共处，在此基础上通过共商共建共享实现合作共赢，而不是以意识形态和价值观划线搞阵营对抗，更不是以自由民主之名行霸权主义和新殖民主义之实。从历史上来看，和平共处五项原则为全球治理提供了基本的原则规范，有助于超越价值观和意识形态差异，在相互尊重的基础上动员更多国家参与全球治理，维护世界和平与发展。在各国前途命运联系日益紧密的今天，构建人类命运共同体理念又为推进全球治理改革提供了实践原则和目标引领，有助于共建人类美好未来。

Source: *Chinese Social Sciences Today*, October 24, 2024

文章来源：《中国社会科学网》2024年10月24日

Online Editor: Jing Mu

网络编辑：静穆