By Jun Sheng

Great truths are simple and will bring great changes through practice. The contemporary value and significance of the community with a shared future for mankind are further magnified in the global public health crisis.

“Mankind is a community with a shared future. Solidarity and cooperation is our most powerful weapon for defeating the virus.” Since the COVID-19 broke out, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been paying close attention to the pandemic situation at home and abroad and attaching great importance to international anti-epidemic cooperation. During the G20 extraordinary virtual Leaders' Summit, the 73rd World Health Assembly and other international occasions, President Xi always expressed confidence in defeating the pandemic, vowed to support other countries’ anti-epidemic efforts, and called for mutual help and concerted efforts to ride out this tough period. When having phone talks or meeting with foreign leaders and heads of international organizations, he has made clear China’s position to engage in the global fight against the coronavirus actively and initiated to converge a strong global synergy toward that end.

China’s actions to fight the pandemic have embodied its conviction of a shared future for the world. Recognizing the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind and jointly tackling the COVID-19 challenge has become a consensus which has been continuously reinforced through mutual help and assistance between China and foreign countries.

In fulfilling its international obligations, China has worked closely with the WHO and relevant countries, and proactively shared pandemic and virus information as well as anti-pandemic practice experience with the international community. China has provided material and technical assistance within its capacity to more than 100 countries and international organizations, setting an example of responding to a global challenge through solidarity and coordination. As the pandemic has dealt a massive blow to the world economy, China has joined the international community in advancing globalization and firmly safeguarding the WTO-centered multilateral trading system, to facilitate the economic recovery worldwide. China’s muscular actions have driven deeper home to the international community that enhanced solidarity, cooperation and multilateralism are vital in the global combat against COVID-19.

In the face of the pandemic, the Chinese approach of “building a community with a shared future for mankind” that teems with Chinese wisdom has given the world valuable confidence and motivation to wade through this “darkest moment” and defeat the virus in the end.

Chinese people have a tradition of putting themselves in others’ shoes and thinking for the big world. In the global fight against the pandemic, Chinese scientists have selflessly shared their anti-virus experience, Chinese enterprises actively provided assistance, and non-government groups helped foreign countries in various ways...The Chinese know too well that mankind have a shared future, and only joint anti-virus combat can safeguard the human health and welfare to the most substantial extent. A French scholar said that China’s adherence to peaceful development and win-win cooperation stems from its tradition and humanitarian spirit. Building a community with a shared future for mankind is an important initiative proposed by China to protect human peace and well-being, and one of the most important philosophies in human history.

Pines and cypresses grow stronger and lusher after wind and coldness. The value of the “community with a shared future” is further highlighted when the human world faces the same risks and challenges.

The world is going through profound changes never seen in a century, with entangled factors threatening human peace and development. Major infectious diseases like novel coronavirus, unconventional security issues such as climate change, terrorism, cyber security, and environmental pollution - all of these challenges should be addressed by the international community together. Living in the same global village, all countries are interconnected and interdependent, particularly under the unusual circumstance of the COVID-19 outbreak, the worldwide spread of which has made people more keenly realize how pertinent the vision of “community with a shared future for mankind” is nowadays. Resolving the current and future global issues by building such a community is an inevitable choice.

No winter lasts forever, every spring is sure to follow. Mankind will defeat the COVID-19 in the end, but more public health emergencies will be likely to emerge in the future. No country should put its own interests above those of human society. This is the common sense and consensus that constitutes the foundation for the vision of “a human community with shared future”. Eyeing the common interests of people in all countries, the vision advocates that countries should work together to ensure that everyone is free from deprivation, and has access to development and lives with dignity, regardless of differences in national strength, development level and social system. It aims to build an equitable and reasonable international order and a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation, continuously strengthen the forces advocating peace and development, and bring benefits to all.

From a China-proposed theory to a global practice in reality, the concept of community with a shared future for mankind has emanated potent vigor and vitality. Its profound values and significance in the new era will enable it to withstand the test of practice and time.

As Friedrich Engels noted, “There is no great historical evil without a compensating historical progress.” These words remind us to draw lessons from this pandemic-triggered disaster and the global anti-virus fight. Today no country is able to cope with the various challenges faced by humanity alone, nor can it retreat to be a self-isolated islet. Only by building the community with a shared future for mankind and pressing ahead with joined hands and mutual help can we forge a strong synergy to defeat the virus and walk into a brighter future together.