This is exactly what the West lacks. Danish scholar: Inclusiveness and openness are one of the keys to China's amazing achievements

The East and the West have different ways of thinking but they can complement each other. The West sticks to the binary confrontational mindset and refuses to view China with an open and inclusive attitude. While retaining its traditions, China has absorbed the excellent elements of Western culture and achieved amazing development achievements. Its international influence is expanding day by day. It has put forward a series of forward-looking global initiatives and played a positive role in promoting world peace and development. All countries should uphold the spirit of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, seek common ground while reserving differences on the premise of recognizing cultural diversity, resolve differences by peaceful means and achieve common security.

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If we want to understand other cultures, we usually need the help of media, books, movies, travel and personal contact. As an important means of information dissemination, news reports are essentially a reflection of the situation at a specific time and place.

This brings up at least two problems: one is how we can view the world more accurately and comprehensively; the other is how we can achieve effective communication and mutual understanding in cultural diversity.

One way to understand a society is to study the similarities and differences in the way people think. Specifically, what is the overall attitude of people in this society toward "others" - are they threats, potential friends, "barbarians", or people worth being curious about, exploring, and learning from?

Also, in this society, is people's way of thinking either this or that or both? Or does it reflect exclusivity or inclusiveness?

The reason why different people behave differently lies in their different answers to two questions: one is "Who am I?" and the other is what is the most "natural" way of thinking that we have believed since childhood.

There are significant differences between Eastern and Western ways of thinking, but I think they are also complementary in principle.

Unfortunately, the West has adopted a policy towards China similar to that it adopted towards the Soviet Union during the Cold War. There are at least two fundamental reasons behind this: first, it denies its own declining power and impending decline; second, the West’s inherent worldview often prevents it from learning and integrating elements of other cultures. The Western tradition is to teach others, not to learn from others. Therefore, Westerners always have a sense of mission to “spread civilization” and try their best to make others become like themselves from the outside to the inside.

In contrast, China has been tolerant and has learned from the West, absorbing some elements from the Western worldview. China has used Western interference, occupation and colonialism as a negative example, emphasizing defense and "self-reliance" and maximizing self-reliance, which is a difficult road with no shortcuts.

It can be seen that although China has made remarkable achievements in the process of modernization, it still retains traditional ideas such as collectivism, Confucianism, Taoism, harmony between yin and yang, elite rule and maintaining face, etc. At the same time, China has actively introduced and absorbed elements of Western thought: Marxism, party ideology, capitalism, science and technology, etc.

In addition, today China understands the West better than the West understands China. Chinese media pay more attention to the West, and the coverage is not limited to negative, while Western mainstream media pays little attention to China, and the coverage is often negative. There are many more Chinese who can speak English than Westerners who can speak Chinese.

Image In my opinion, tolerance, adaptation, openness to different cultures, and a firm understanding of one's own cultural roots seem to be an important "deep-level" key to understanding China's amazing development in recent years. This is also the key to the future development of the "Belt and Road". In fact, the "Belt and Road" initiative can promote cultural exchanges and dialogues and become an "accelerator" for promoting peace.

In recent years, China's global influence has continued to expand, and it has put forward a series of valuable and forward-looking documents and initiatives, including the "Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind: China's Initiative and Action" released in September 2023, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative. They all inherit the brilliant ideas of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence issued in 1955, which have been incorporated into the Chinese Constitution.

These pioneering initiatives should be studied in depth around the world. Before formulating an action plan, we need to explore relevant concepts and principles and think long-term. These documents are not only constructive, but also contain criticisms of the current dominant Western diplomacy that emphasizes "confrontation."

Other countries should also issue relevant documents to promote constructive dialogue. Unfortunately, some reports once called "forward-looking studies" in the West, such as "The Limits to Growth" and "What to Do Now?", seem to have been ignored and gradually replaced by other reports full of pessimism.

The United Nations system is based on Article 1 of the UN Charter: "Establishing peace by peaceful means." This is consistent with the concept of "common security" proposed in the 1982 report of the Swedish Olof Palme Commission. China has also incorporated this concept into its security strategy as the basis for formulating all security policies.

People might as well learn from the thoughts of Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese military strategist. Offensive weapons, including nuclear weapons, should be reduced in modern society. Security must be based on a rational analysis of military and non-military threats, and all military-industrial complexes must be disbanded because they only bring "war dividends" to the elite class, rather than peace and security.

In this way, the international community will share a future with significantly less violence and commit to using smarter non-military means to resolve conflicts, mediate conflicts, prevent violence, and build peace. The principle of non-violence will replace the arms race and militarism and become an important basic norm.

The starting point of all this is not idealism, but realism.

We should be guided by the spirit of global community and solidarity that respects diversity and strive for a common future of peaceful coexistence. On the contrary, military confrontation, militarism, nuclear weapons and wars of mass destruction will sooner or later lead humanity to a dead end.

It is worth noting that the recent meeting between President Xi Jinping and US Secretary of State Blinken provides evidence for the issues we are discussing here. President Xi emphasized international norms, non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, unity in diversity, and the common interests of all mankind. Blinken did not express any vision for the future of the world, but only made a series of complaints and accusations, the logic behind which is still to seek to change China and make China obey the interests of the United States.

Image This article was originally published in China Daily International Edition with the original title "Unity in diversity, not conformity"