On April 1, People’s Daily published an article by Zhang Yunling, Chair Professor of Shandong University. The excerpt of the article is as follows:
At present, the coronavirus is spreading globally, posing a huge threat to the lives and health of people around the world, and its impact on world development continues to expand. President Xi Jinping’s important speech at the Extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit, upholding the concept of “community with a shared future for mankind”, combined with China’s practical experience in fighting the pandemic, puts forward a series of important proposals on How to strengthen international cooperation in controling COVID-19 and stabilizing world economy. We must accurately judge the impact and challenges COVID-19 has brought to world development, seek opportunities in crises, and work together to defeat the COVID-19 outbreak.
In today’s world, the degree of inter-connection and interdependence among countries has increased unprecedentedly. Human beings live in the same global village and have increasingly become a community sharing the same destiny. This also means that the impact of various traditional and non-traditional security issues has greater and unpredictable impact on the whole world regardless of its occurring time and location. The far-reaching global impact of the COVID-19 is an example. No country can deal with the challenges alone, and no country can retreat to self-isolation. President Xi Jinping pointed out at the Extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit: “At such a moment, it is imperative for the international community to strengthen confidence, act with unity and work together in a collective response. We must comprehensively step up international cooperation and foster greater synergy so that humanity as one could win the battle against such a major infectious disease.” This epidemic will surely prompt countries in the world to realize more deeply and more truly that mankind has become a community with a shared future. We must think deeply about how to advance international security cooperation and advance the reform of global governance system. We must join hands and strive to build a community with a shared future for mankind.
From the perspective of public health, the existing international public health security governance mechanism still has some shortcomings. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the World Health Organization played an active role in information exchange, situation evaluation, and disease prevention and treatment. However, its governance methods also revealed some problems. To effectively curb the global spread of the epidemic, multilateral coordination must be strengthened, and it is even more urgent to formulate common international rules. The international community could take this global fight against the epidemic into an opportunity to implement the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind in the field of international public health security cooperation. It is an opprotunity to promote the establishment of a more complete and interconnected international public health security governance system, and enhance the ability of mankind to jointly respond to current and future international public health risks and challenges.
In the process of advancing international public health security cooperation and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, China, as a responsible major power, strives to provide more wisdom and strength for and has made many substantial contributions to the world. China’s experience in fighting the coronavirus can become an important public product and help other countries in the prevention and control of the epidemic. At the same time, China supports the United Nations and the World Health Organization to play a central role in improving international public health security governance, and helps them to better adapt to the new requirements of the global governance system reform in terms of ideology, institutional settings, and operating models.
The impact of COVID-19 on the world is profound. Mankind must not only deal with current problems, but also plan for the long-term issues of peace and development. Only when all countries act together and help each other, can they win this battle against major infectious diseases and improve global governance. This international public health security cooperation will surely become an important opportunity to build a community with a shared future for mankind and an opportunity to promote this concept and lead it to a new level.
(The author is member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Chair Professor at Shandong University)
Full Text Link:
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2020-04/01/nw.D110000renmrb_20200401_1-09.htm
