A Community of Shared Future for Mankind——The Contemporary Development of the Social Foundations Theory of International Law

In the traditional understanding,the social basis of the emergence and existence of international law can be summed up as an international society in which interstate conflict and cooperation and interests and contradictions coexist.In recent years,the term“international community”has been widely used in national practice and academic discourse.Many scholars believe that the development of interstate relations indicates that the international community is being transformed into a global international community.The concept of“a community of shared future for mankind”reflects China’s new understanding of the social foundations of international law.It introduces Chinese traditional culture into global governance,develops Marxist theory on the community,is concerned both for mankind as a whole and for individuals,highlights the ultimate issues of the international community,and emphasizes the international community’s union of diversity and interdependence.The idea of“a community of shared future for mankind”is of great significance for the theory and practice of international law;it reflects the emergence of methodological holism,the response of international law to the questioning of its legitimacy,and the trend toward hierarchical systematization in international law.The concept of“a community of shared future for mankind”is of great value to China’s participation in the reform of the global governance system.It will help promote appreciation of the relations between China and the world,enhance China’s international discourse power and discourse force,and promote the rule of law in international relations that China advocates.

On the Two Main Lines of China’s Economic Reform

In the autumn of 1987,the State Commission for Restructuring the Economic System organized eight units including the Research Group of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences(CASS)to submit reports providing an outline economic reform plan for China for 1988-1995.The CASS Research Group recommended that enterprise reform and pricing and ownership reforms and their operational mechanisms should be carried out alongside each other in a two main lines approach.China’s deepening economic reforms have adhered to these two main lines throughout the last forty years.The first main line includes the revival and development of the individual economy,followed by the private economy,the introduction and utilization of foreign capital,and the reform of public ownership,including the state-owned system.In 1997,the 15th National Congress of the Party proposed the establishment of a socialist basic economic system with public ownership as the main body and simultaneous development of multiple forms of ownership.“Public ownership as the main body”is reflected in the dominance of public assets among total social assets and the fact that the state-owned economy controls the lifeline of the national economy and plays a leading role in economic development.The dominant role of public ownership has not changed in the forty years of reform and opening up.The second main line covers price reform,building a modern market system,reforming macro-control mechanisms and perfecting the macro-control and regulation system.From 1979 to 2017,our GDP grew at an average annual rate of 9.5 percent,while the CPI grew at an average annual rate of less than 5 percent:a perfect match.The two main line approach is in line with the provisions of economic reform in the new era proposed in the report at the 19th National Party Congress,which focuses on improving the property rights system and market-oriented factor allocation.There is no distinction of primary or secondary in the role of the two main lines;both are equally important.They are united in the establishment and improvement of the socialist market economic system.

China’s Opening Up: Idea, Process and Logic

China’s opening up since 1978 has been a historical process of continuous expansion and deepening.In the course of this process,Chinese policymakers and the mass of the people have gradually deepened their understanding of reform and opening up,and China’s relations with the world,especially its role in the world,have been constantly adjusted.At the beginning of reform and opening up,China adapted to and was integrated into the international economic system;it then became engaged in participating in and improving that system,and then became an advocate and leader in the reform of the international system.Moreover,in practice,an incremental series of coherent open economic policies and theories with Chinese characteristics that facilitate an open economy have come into being.Under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory of reform and opening up,China’s practice of opening up to the outside world is not only a good fit with China’s traditional trade theory,the Huainanzi/Sima Qian Theorem,under which people benefit by exchanging their surplus goods for those that they lack,but is also explicable in terms of modern economic trade theories.With the entry of socialism with Chinese characteristics into the new era and profound changes in the international environment,China still needs to open further to lead and promote mutual and shared openness for all countries in the world,so as to create good international conditions for promoting the construction of a shared future for mankind and building a world of lasting peace,universal security,common prosperity,openness,inclusiveness,cleanliness and beauty.