The concept of community of human destiny leads the progress of human civilization.

　　Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader has proposed to build a community of human destiny on many important occasions at home and abroad, and elaborated its rich connotation and practical path. The concept of the community of human destiny clearly answers the major propositions such as where the world is going, where the rising China is going, and how China conducts its diplomacy under the new situation. It is one of the major innovations of contemporary China’s diplomatic theory and one of the latest achievements of China Marxism. The concept of the community of human destiny transcends the mainstream western theory of international relations, contains great theoretical significance and practical value, and will surely promote the lofty cause of human peace and development.

　　Inheriting and developing the essence of Marxism and Chinese traditional culture

　　Any major theoretical innovation is not water without a source or a tree without a root, but is often developed on the basis of inheriting the essence of predecessors’ thoughts and combining new realistic conditions and concrete practice. The concept of community of human destiny is a theoretical innovation based on inheriting the essence of Marxism and Chinese traditional culture.

　　Inherited and developed the community thought of Marx and Engels. Marx and Engels clearly put forward and systematically explained the idea of community. They established the communist society, which is the goal of the proletariat, as a "free association". In this community, the individual is a "world-historic and experienced individual" and a "free man" who develops freely and comprehensively and therefore has rich personality. Marx and Engels’ thought of community laid a solid theoretical foundation for the concept of community of human destiny.

　　Inherited and developed the ideas of several generations of central leading collective of our party on international order. Since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening up, the Communist Party of China (CPC) people have attached great importance to the issue of international order when dealing with the relationship between China and the outside world, and put forward a series of ideas and propositions with great influence. For example, the five principles of peaceful coexistence, the establishment of a new international political and economic order based on the five principles of peaceful coexistence, and the joint efforts to promote the construction of a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity, and so on. It is on the basis of inheriting these ideas and propositions that the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core proposed to build a community of human destiny in the face of profound changes in the international situation and the common aspirations of people of all countries, which effectively promoted the new development of China’s diplomatic theory of a big country with characteristics.

　　It has absorbed the ideological essence of "world view" and "harmony culture" in Chinese traditional culture. The "view of the world" in Chinese traditional culture has a long history, with nothing inside and nothing outside as its core principle, and harmony among all nations and world harmony as its ultimate goal. This "view of the world" is organically combined with "harmony culture" such as harmony but different, and harmony is precious, which constitutes the basic principle for Chinese to handle relations with the outside world. The concept of a community of human destiny has absorbed the ideological essence of "the view of the world" and "the culture of harmony" in Chinese traditional culture, and closely linked the Chinese dream, which is vital to China’s future and destiny, with the world dream, which is vital to the future and destiny of all countries in the world, so that all countries in the world can share China’s experience and make China an opportunity for the world.

　　New ideas, new ideas and new strategies leading China’s diplomacy

　　A scientific theoretical system often has its core category, which is used to control the related concepts in the theoretical system and ensure the self-consistency and logical connection between the concepts in the theoretical system. The community of human destiny can be said to be the core category of the diplomatic theory system of a big country with China characteristics, which leads the new ideas, new ideas and new strategies of China’s diplomacy since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

　　From the specific content. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has unswervingly followed the path of peaceful development, built a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation as the core, established a global partnership network, adhered to the correct concept of justice and interests, adhered to the concept of fair, open, comprehensive and innovative development, adhered to the common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept, and adhered to the concept of global governance through consultation, co-construction and sharing. The concept of community of human destiny organically integrates these new ideas, new ideas and new strategies, forming a theoretical system with complete structure, distinct levels, scientific content and strict logic. Guided by the concept of the community of human destiny, this theoretical system has clear goals, clear principles and specific paths, and all parts echo each other, support each other and are integrated.

　　From the perspective of coverage. The concept of community of human destiny involves many fields such as politics, economy, security, society, culture and ecology, and it is a further generalization and sublimation of political community, economic community, security community, social community and cultural community. The concept of community of human destiny closely connects the community concepts of interest community, responsibility community and action community at different stages of development. Among them, the interest community is the premise and foundation of building a community of human destiny, while the responsibility community and the action community are the requirements and means of building a community of human destiny.

　　From the perspective of space. The concept of the community of human destiny organically unifies the construction of the community of destiny at three different levels: peripheral, regional and bilateral. First of all, the periphery is the foundation of our country’s development and prosperity, and building a community of peripheral destiny is a priority for China’s diplomacy. Secondly, the region has special value in international relations, and it is an important node connecting China and the world. Building a community of destiny between China and a specific region has a leading and exemplary role in building a community of human destiny. Such as China’s active initiative and building a community of Asian destiny. Thirdly, bilateral relations are the basic form of international relations and the basic content of China’s foreign relations. China has built a bilateral community of destiny with Pakistani, Kazakh, Laos and other countries, laying a solid foundation for building a community of destiny between China and specific regions.

　　A beautiful vision of maintaining world peace

　　Looking at human history, it is not difficult to find that if an idea about the future world does not have a peaceful attribute, but contains factors that induce conflicts and even wars, it will be eliminated by history. Only with the purpose of maintaining peace and the distinct nature of peace can such a vision have a wide influence and effectively promote the development and progress of human society. The community of human destiny is such an idea with distinct peaceful attributes.

　　The concept of the community of human destiny recognizes the difference and diversity of the world, and pursues the unity of the world on this basis, which embodies a rational judgment of pursuing the value of harmony but difference and reaching the same goal by different routes. Specifically, the community of human destiny means that countries and regions with different historical and cultural traditions, different social systems and different levels of development, on the basis of mutual trust, should help each other in the same boat, watch each other and share weal and woe on fundamental issues related to survival and development. This requires all countries and regions to establish and accumulate mutual trust through peaceful means, that is, non-violent cooperation, and oppose hegemonism and power politics.

　　In January 2017, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader solemnly pointed out in his speech at the UN headquarters: "For thousands of years, peace has been integrated into the blood of the Chinese nation and engraved into the genes of the China people." "Hundreds of years ago, even when China was strong enough to account for 30% of the world’s GDP, it never invaded and expanded abroad." Therefore, peace is the fundamental attribute of China’s development and China’s diplomacy. China’s adherence to the path of peaceful development is a strategic choice based on the international environment, its own basic national conditions, social system and historical and cultural traditions, which is beneficial to itself, Asia and the world. There is no reason for China to change course and repeat the mistakes of the rise of great powers in history. China follows the path of peaceful development and earnestly hopes that other countries will follow the path of peaceful development together. Only in this way can the sunshine of peace truly shine on this beautiful planet where we live, and the beautiful vision of the community of human destiny can be truly realized.

　　Beyond the mainstream western theory of international relations

　　A history of the development of human thought is also a history of ideological transcendence. Without continuous ideological transcendence, human society can not keep moving forward. The concept of the community of human destiny reflects the transcendence of the mainstream western international relations theory since modern times in many aspects.

　　Since the formation of Westphalia system, international relations have entered a modern stage dominated by western powers. Correspondingly, the concepts of international relations, such as power politics, jungle law, balance of power, zero-sum game and hegemonic stability, have emerged one after another, profoundly affecting people’s understanding of the nature of international relations, especially its trend. After World War II, international relations entered a new stage of development. Based on the Charter of the United Nations, new concepts of international relations such as interdependence, democracy and peace, global governance, institutionalism, multilateralism and regionalism have emerged one after another, but these concepts generally reflect the will and interests of western countries. In the early 1990s, the Cold War, which was characterized by the bipolar confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union and the separation of the East and the West, ended, and the multi-polarization of the world, economic globalization and social informatization continued to develop. Expanding cooperation and common development became an urgent need of the international community, and international relations thus entered a new stage of competition and cooperation among countries. Under this background, the traditional concept of international relations with strong power politics is becoming more and more unsuitable, and it has a greater and greater negative impact on the development of human society. It is urgent to form a new concept in the field of international relations that matches the characteristics and requirements of the times. The concept of the community of human destiny is such a new concept, which points out the future development direction of international relations and even the whole human society.

　　For a long time, the mainstream western theories of international relations have always had an important influence on international relations. Western mainstream international relations theory takes traditional international relations as the research object and the practice of western countries in dealing with international relations as the realistic basis. Its narrow academic vision and the limitation of practical explanatory power have become the consensus of academic circles, and the call for innovative international relations theory is growing. The concept of the community of human destiny has surpassed the mainstream western theory of international relations. Specifically, this transcendence is mainly reflected in the following aspects: it transcends the realism that advocates power politics, because according to the basic logic of realism, human beings can’t cross the "Thucydides Trap" and can only constantly stage the tragedy of great power politics; It transcends liberalism, which advocates the international system, because according to the basic logic of liberalism, human beings cannot cross the "Gindelberg trap", and the rising powers will compete with the defending powers to escape international responsibilities, which may lead to the anomie and even collapse of the world order; It also transcends constructivism, because according to the basic logic of constructivism, human beings can only follow the so-called Hobbesian culture and Locke culture, and finally reach the world pattern that reflects the western value preference.

　　It is precisely because of these transcendence that the concept of the community of human destiny has been affirmed by international academic circles and is considered as a new concept of order, values and even a new philosophy. At present, the international community’s recognition of the concept of a community of human destiny is constantly improving. In February 2017, the fifty-fifth session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development clearly wrote the vision of "building a community of human destiny" in its resolution "Social dimensions of NEPAD". This is the first time that a United Nations resolution has been written into the concept of a community of human destiny, which reflects the support of the vast number of member States for this concept. United Nations Secretary-General Guterres also said that the United Nations "aims at practicing multilateralism to build a community of human destiny".

　　(The author is vice president and professor of China Institute of Strategic Studies, Tongji University)

　　People’s Daily (July 27, 2017, 07 edition)