(From L to R) Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attend the 2023 BRICS Summit at the Sandton Convention Center in Johannesburg on Aug. 24, 2023. (Phill Magakoe/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s no secret that Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping has implemented grandiose initiatives aimed at China’s displacing the United States as the world’s only superpower.
From the beginning of his elevation to general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Mr. Xi has formulated ever more megalomaniacal initiatives aimed at elevating China over all other nations of the world, including the Belt and Road Initiative, Global Security Initiative, Global Development Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative. The titles are an element of the ongoing psychological warfare being waged in pursuit of a new world order dominated by the CCP. Still, the underlying activities associated with each of those grand plans are both real and nefarious.
Tying them all together are periodic pronouncements by Mr. Xi, which are trumpeted in state-run Chinese media. For example, there’s the recent reprise of his vision for a “global community with a shared future.” What does it all mean? Let’s examine the topic.
China Daily Parrots Xi
In conveying the supposed intentions of these initiatives in October 2022, state-run media outlet China Daily propagated the soothing notion that “economic, financial, infrastructure development and capacity-building cooperation, along with investment cooperation, are important components of the platforms established by China as frameworks for cooperation with various regional forums and programs such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the China-Arab Cooperation Forum and the China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States Cooperation Plan.”
The communists seem to love the word “cooperation” (the word was used six times in the above quotation!), but the reality is that for all such hifalutin words used by Mr. Xi and his stenographers in Chinese media, communist definitions differ greatly from common understanding. The standard definition of “cooperation” is “working or acting together for a common purpose or benefit.” However, the CCP means “cooperate on our terms”: We will debt-trap you to obtain control over your natural resources and transportation infrastructure, global security will bow to Chinese leadership, international development will come with inextricable Chinese strings, and global civilization will conform to the authoritarian model led by Beijing.
In April, China Daily repeated Mr. Xi’s claim of China’s supposed “commitment to peaceful development” in unspecified corners of the world through an undefined concept of “joint global action.” The Uyghurs and Tibetans know from direct experience what the communists mean by “peaceful development.” For them, “peaceful development” came at the point of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) bayonets and reeducation (concentration) camps as the CCP continues to commit genocide on these minority populations to this very day.
Filipinos are also learning about what Mr. Xi means by “peaceful development” as the PLA Navy continues to push the Chinese territorial envelope in the South China Sea with the aid of the Chinese Coast Guard.
As The New York Times reported on Sept. 26, “China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, some of it thousands of miles from the mainland and in waters surrounding Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.” The Chinese summarily placed a floating barrier near Scarborough Shoal to deny Filipino fishing boats access to an area where they had legal fishing rights.
The NY Times also reported that “Manila has been prevented [by the PLA Navy] from fully exploring oil and gas deposits within an area that an international tribunal in The Hague ruled in 2016 to be part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.” This follows years of Chinese construction of military facilities on disputed islands in the South China Sea.
Apparently, the communists believe in the aphorism that “might makes right” and pursue their strategic objectives unless/until a sufficient opposing force is applied. The Philippines removed that sea barrier on the southeast side of Scarborough Shoal on Sept. 25.
The grounded Philippine navy ship BRP Sierra Madre, where Philippine Marines are stationed to assert Manila's territorial claims at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands, in the disputed South China Sea, on April 23, 2023. (Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images)
What About That ‘Shared Future’ Business?
Mr. Xi introduced the vision of a “global community with a shared future” in a speech to the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 2013. Since then, he has made periodic references to it, including more “Xi Speak” at the opening of the 20th Party Congress last fall. The phrase itself is meaningless gobbledygook because, as inhabitants of Earth, all human beings share a future simply by existing.
On Sept. 26, China’s State Council Information Office issued a white paper that detailed what the communists mean, titled “A Global Community of Shared Future: China’s Proposals and Action.” This release was accompanied by usual puff pieces from state-run media, including this concurrent statement from Xinhua: “[The] vision aligns with the prevailing global trends, resonating with the call for international cooperation and contributing to a more just and equitable global order.”
The strategy is to expand Mr. Xi’s various initiatives to create Chinese-led economic blocs among developing nations in the global south that conform to Beijing’s concept of a global community with a shared future. By expanding Beijing’s economic leverage in the global south and elsewhere via the Belt and Road and Global Development initiatives, China is far advanced in influencing policies favorable to the CCP by member nations in existing international organizations, such as the U.N. General Assembly, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank and through Chinese-dominated trade-related organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
A perfect example of the insidious nature of CCP influence-peddling in international organizations was its founding of a U.N. forum in 2020 called the “Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative.” According to the Financial Times, that forum already has 70 members and has held its first “ministerial-level meeting.” A Chinese goal is very likely to gain an open endorsement by the U.N. General Assembly for the group.
China’s “shared future” vision is a self-licking ice cream cone. In deciphering Xinhua’s statement above, the “prevailing global trends” are advanced by China’s various initiatives, which are largely bought and paid for by its continuing trade surpluses with other nations.
The “calls for international cooperation” in recent months are from two different quarters. Chinese officials routinely call for international cooperation in resolving contentious issues but never seem to adhere to decisions made by international bodies that go against their goals. The Scarborough Shoals agreement is a good example of Beijing’s ignoring an international tribunal ruling. The real groundswell of calls for international cooperation has been among China’s neighbors, who are alarmed at the belligerence being exhibited by the PLA in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, along the India–China line of actual control, and elsewhere. That’s the “prevailing global trend that calls for international cooperation,” not what Xinhua claims.
The phrase “a more just and equitable global order” apparently doesn’t apply to indigenous minorities in China, as Tibetans, Uyghurs, Falun Gong adherents, and other persecuted peoples can attest. Who in their right mind looks forward to a world dominated by the CCP, which metes out arbitrary “justice” without any consideration for fairness, equitability, and what’s morally right?
Concluding Thoughts
As usual, Beijing’s public statements can’t be trusted at face value. All of what they convey to be beneficial to others, in fact, masks the CCP’s efforts to gain control and achieve a hegemonic position in the world on its terms, not in friendly cooperation with other nations.
Regarding Mr. Xi’s grandiose statements about his visions (nightmares?), such as a “global community with a shared future,” let the buyer beware!
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Stu Cvrk retired as a captain after serving 30 years in the U.S. Navy in a variety of active and reserve capacities, with considerable operational experience in the Middle East and the Western Pacific. Through education and experience as an oceanographer and systems analyst, Cvrk is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he received a classical liberal education that serves as the key foundation for his political commentary.
