China, one of the world’s most influential powers, held its most significant political meeting last week. The 19th CPC National Congress marks a milestone in the country’s development as the new ruling guideline of the party, “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” was written into the Party Constitution. The new Constitution places emphasis on building “the community of shared future for mankind” and addresses President Xi’s “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).” They are the most notable diplomatic achievements of China in the past five years.

Prior to this, the Party Constitution has had no comprehensively renewal of the section on foreign policy for twenty years. In that light, what is the significance of those two strategic proposals, what has been achieved so far, and what can we expect in the future?

Building “the community of shared future for mankind” is a significant international strategy proposed by President Xi. Despite global economic growth, the past five years witnessed political instability as economic isolationism, political separatism and terrorism were on the rise. In the context of globalization, those issues challenge all of us. How should we as human beings think of our future and the future that lies ahead of us? As an answer to those profound questions, “the community of shared future” is a timely response that provides a much-needed account for the outlook of the integrating globe. It points out that the future of mankind is essentially dependent on each other, and this dependence requires the communal effort of every country on the planet. To establish this community, President Xi has issued a call to “make sure that all countries respect one another and treat each other as equals… seek win-win cooperation and common development… pursue common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security… and ensure inclusiveness and mutual learning among civilizations.”

BRI, also known as “the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road,” is a crucial step towards realizing the community of shared future for mankind, and probably the most ambitious strategy China has ever launched, which is slated to provide much-needed infrastructure development and financial coordination for the 65 Eurasian and African countries involved. The initiative aims at promoting the connectivity and cooperation between those countries. As of the end of 2016, China has reportedly invested more than $50 billion in its BRI partners, and the total volume of trade between China and other BRI countries has exceeded $3 trillion. Chinese firms have also established more than 50 economic and trade zones in more than 20 countries.

To secure the enormous amount of investment needed for the project, China has proposed to found the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), established the Silk Road Fund (SRF), and invested in the Silk Road International Bank in Djibouti. Like BRI, AIIB is widely supported by the international community as the bank currently has 56 member states with capital investments exceeding $100 billion. For perspective, that is equivalent to roughly half of the capital possessed by World Bank. According to PhoenixTV, AIIB has provided $1.7 billion in loans for 9 BRI countries, and SRF has invested $4 billion.

Huge investment have led to rapid and successful implementation of the first BRI projects. The first physical platform of the Silk Road Economic Belt, the China-Kazakhstan logistic cooperation base, was opened in May of 2014. Several cross-continental rail lines went into operation until the beginning of 2017, including the Yiwu-London rail line, the Addis Ababa-Djibouti electrified rail line, and the Lanzhou-Minsk rail line. Other infrastructure projects, including the Belgrade-Budapest high-speed railway and the Moscow-Kazan railway, are currently under construction.

In lieu of these achievements, the 19th CPC National Congress enshrined “community of shared future” and BRI into the Party Constitution, which has profound implications for China’s diplomacy under President Xi Jinping. It is a step that legitimizes the ideas and practices behind the two initiatives. It also sends a powerful signal to the world about the credibility of China’s policy consistency, at a time when the United States is demonstrating anything but. Finally, the two enshrined initiatives lay the groundwork for what will come as China’s diplomacy in the “New Era,” whose characteristics are manifested in four perspectives.

Perspective one, China has started its transition from a “big nation” (大国) to a “strong nation” (强国). Its foreign policy guidelines have clearly shifted from the “keep a low profile and bide one’s time” of the past (韬光养晦), to “strive for achievements” (奋发有为). This will likely translate to a far more assertive Chinese foreign policy in the near future. It also means that China will have to assume a much larger mantle of responsibility both domestically and globally. China’s recent economic growth has been unprecedented. In 2016 Chinese foreign investment amounted to $175 billion, twice the size that it was in 2012. China has also become the world’s largest export economy, and is set to surpass the United States by 2029 in terms of nominal GDP. The expansion of Chinese interests overseas will mean that the government has to bolster its efforts to safeguard its citizens and investments, which will in turn lead to a need for greater political representation. Given the power vacuum created by the lack of foreign policy vision of the Trump administration, this transition is almost inevitable.

Perspective two, a Chinese concept of “community of shared destiny” is needed to tackle the perils of current global political system. Countries around the world now face common threats from climate change to global economic recessions. President Xi said “no country alone can address the many challenges facing mankind… nor retreat into self-isolation.” Admittedly, previous globalization and the flow of capital have deepened inequality and exacerbated exclusive development, but President Xi offered a dual-track solution to these problems. Although he emphasized his commitment to “supporting multilateral trade institutions,” he also pledged to “increase aid to the least developed countries” and “expand the representations and voices of developing countries in international affairs.” These remarks suggest that China will heed its actions to avoid the old model of colonialism while promoting convergence of mutual interests and responsibility, through which a “community of shared future” can be forged. 

Perspective three, China’s development of the past 30 years bears notable differences from the Western model commonly dubbed as the “Washington Consensus,” including democratization, free market and privatization of state-owned enterprises. The key to China’s economic success boils down to the combination of the market and state (with the state playing a crucial role), the merit-based selection of bureaucracy and the overarching emphasis on political stability. These offered a “Chinese approach” to “countries and nations who want to sprayed up their development while preserving independence.” The “Chinese wisdoms” provide a philosophical guideline on incorporating development theory (in China’s case, Marxism) with the country’s socio-economic conditions. As President Xi noted, “a political system cannot be judged in abstraction without regard for its social and political context, its history and its cultural traditions.” This implies that China’s political systems are never thought of as “universal,” nor as “imitating the China model an indispensable part of the justice.” Hence the concerns over China “selling” the so-called “China Model” are unwarranted. Empirically, China upholds its longstanding policy of non-interference. Its foreign aid has never included terms to suppress the political-economic systems to the recipient states. China no longer sees benefits from ideological expansions, nor does it have the wherewithal to promulgate Chinese systems the way Soviet Union promoted communism.

Perspective four, the elevated status of diplomatic personnel in decision-making body signals an improvement of inter-agency coordination and coherence. One of the most notable personnel changes made the Party Congress was the promotion of State Councilor Yang Jiechi to the Politburo. Traditionally, the Foreign Minister and the State Councilor are located in the Central Committee, while their uniformed counterparts (vice chairman of the Central Military Commission) almost always hold the seats in the Politburo. In the past, this has led to the sidelining of the Foreign Ministry institutionally, and severely weakened its ability to influence China’s top leadership. There are plenty of examples where the rhetoric of the Foreign Ministry have failed to match up with the policies pursued by hawkish elements of the government. In an interview with the BBC, Zeng Jinghan explained how the Foreign Ministry had a hard time in “coordinating actions by local governments, the military, and state-owned petroleum enterprises during the South China Sea fray.” Xi’s moves to strengthen the Foreign Ministry will undoubtedly provide a more unified and authoritative channel to represent the official policy of the government as China seeks to play a greater role on the global stage.

The 19th CPC National Congress underscored a degree of continuity in China’s foreign and domestic policies. More importantly, it set the stage for China to assume a global leadership role and fill the vacuum left by the United States as it retreats into isolationism. In an era with uncertainties and opportunities, China now stands at a crucial crossroad. It must decide if it will pursue the methodology and mindset of a traditional rising power, squandering its power prioritizing self-interests above all else, or that of a responsible stakeholder, contributing positively to the global order and progress of mankind. The world expects the latter.

Han Guo and Zhan Zhou are research assistants at the Institute for China-America Studies.