Understanding Chinese initiatives through its civilizational prism

The Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative unveiled by China, are by nature the Chinese public goods in response to the waning global governance. All three initiatives are a response to the common challenges confronting humanity under the prevailing global order. Like the Belt and Road Initiative, they uphold inclusivity and the sharing of the fruits of development.

This is clearly demonstrated in the sharing of the development dividends among the partnering countries of the Belt and Road Initiative and the GDI. The GSI, meanwhile, envisions a new indivisible security architecture that calls for common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security characterized by a model of mutual respect, openness and integration. And the GCI is an inclusive model of civilizational co-existence and mutual interaction that is in stark contrast with the theory of a clash of civilizations. All these initiatives have elevated China's active participation in the world affairs to a new height in its pursuit of good global governance.

In the face of China's rising influence, the United States' juxtaposition appears somewhat contradictory and perplexing. On the one hand, the reigning superpower feels its primacy threatened day by day, with its "anguish of displacement" apparent to the world. Its hegemony leaves no room for any potential challenge, much less from a country with a different culture and polity. On the other hand, China is expected to play a bigger international role in "bailing out" the world, in many instances in the wake of the catastrophic effects caused by others. A case in point, the climate change is an exigency on which the US anticipates a bigger contribution, if not sacrifice, to be made by China.

All in all, the prevailing spectrum of global woes and challenges has pointedly revealed the governance deficit under the waning of the Pax-Americana. Under such dire circumstances, any new initiatives intended to enhance the global governance in the interest of humanity should not be viewed negatively as a challenge to the existing order, but should instead be embraced with confidence. The reigning superpower must learn to live with the new reality of a multipolar world and new paradigm of international relations.

In the face of the emergence of new centers of power, any brutal bid to stifle fair competition vis-a-vis these emerging powers only reveals the lack of self-confidence and the lack of fair play spirit on the part of the superpower. This is not commensurate with the status of global leader that the superpower proclaims to be.

Under the geopolitical prism of the US, China's offer of public goods in the various initiatives is seen as a "charm offensive "intended to draw more countries, notably the developing Global South, into the orbit of its partnership diplomacy.

From the US' perspective rooted in its belief in its Manifest Destiny, the unipolar superpower is destined to expand its sphere of influence and spread its model of democracy and capitalism across the entire world, albeit brutally and at the expense of others' sovereignty and territorial rights in many instances. The so-called "ideological divide" between Western democracy and non-democracy is merely a convenient tool Washington resurrected from the old toolbox of the Cold War. It is a tool for stoking clashes in its pursuit of hegemonic dominance.

In reality, having been cognizant of the multipolarity of global dynamics and cultural diversity, China's ideal of shared growth and co-existence underpinning the GDI, GSI and GCI is a more realistic and prudent approach to addressing the current deficit in global governance. This wisdom has its origin in the various Chinese philosophical thoughts which constitute the rich heritage of the Chinese civilization.

From the Chinese perspective, in its pursuit of a shared future for humanity, economic collaboration and infrastructural connectivity embodied in the Belt and Road Initiative are merely the key means to address the economic disparity among nations, in addition to enhancing understanding through human connectivity; while both the GDI and GSI constitute the two pillars for nurturing peace and harmony.

In pursuit of development, the Chinese wisdom imbued in the GDI portrays a much bigger picture than the notion of "prosper-thy-neighbors" which many might be familiar with. The wisdom of "collaboration and harmony for all nations" is not just an endeavor embracing near neighbors in the name of good neighborliness, but rather it is a global endeavor embracing humanity.

In the same context, perhaps the myth that the Belt and Road Initiative brings about so-called debt traps, can be demystified by the understanding of the Chinese philosophical wisdom which may remain incomprehensible to those who are prepared to weaponize anything and everything for geopolitical gain.

The element of inclusiveness has an entrenched spot in the Chinese civilizational philosophy which encapsulates "harmony in diversity". This has shaped the Chinese global view for ages. It could only be appreciated in the right perspective if we really stay true to our commitment to striving for a better world.

The author is chairman of the Centre for New Inclusive Asia in Kuala Lumpur. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.