YANG JIAN

Vice president and researcher, Shanghai Institute for International Studies

GUIDING GLOBAL GOVERNANCE IN NEW FRONTIERS GUIDED WITH IDEA OF “ COMMUNITY OF SHARED DESTINY FOR MANKIND”

YANG JIAN

Vice president and researcher, Shanghai Institute for International Studies

Polar regions, deep sea, cyberspace and outer space are often collectively known as global new frontiers. They are “new” compared to the space that has long been inhabited and governed by the mankind. Thanks to technological advancement, the mankind has been able to access and utilize new space and resources in deep sea, polar regions and outer space. Cyberspace is a man-made virtual world based on information technology, connected to the real world, but goes beyond it to some extent. The development history of polar regions, deep sea, outer space and cyberspace was full of political, military and economic rivalry and game between world powers at the very beginning. These new frontiers, owned, developed and governed by the whole mankind, are where our common destiny lies and reflect our common interests and concerns.

CHINA’S ROLE IN THE GOVERNANCE OF NEW FRONTIERS

China has grown from a peripheral country into one of core players in the development and governance of new frontiers in the past decades. We have developed advanced scientific exploration systems for oceans, deep sea and polar regions and sound aviation industry and information technology industry. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program – also known as the Chang’e program, the Antarctic exploration by the Snow Dragon icebreaker, the launch of Jiaolong – a Chinese manned deepsea research submersible, and the Beidou Navigation Satellite System all have made significant scientific and technological contributions to the governance of new frontiers, and showcased China’s competency as a public goods supplier for the common security and welfare of the mankind.

Living in the global village with growing interdependence, countries have come to form a community of shared destiny for mankind. The above four new frontiers are typical areas of our common interests. At the High-Level Meeting on Building the Community of Shared Destiny for Mankind convened at the UN headquarters in Geneva on January 18, 2017, Chinese president Xi Jinping called on to “uphold principles of peace, sovereignty, universal benefits and common governance, turn deep sea, polar regions, outer space and cyberspace into new frontiers for collaboration, not an arena of games.”

China’s role in the governance of new frontiers has lived up to the international community’s expectation and demonstrated her sense of responsibility as a world power. As the world’s second biggest economy, China has the moral and cultural obligation as well as the economic and technological prowess to advocate the idea of building a “community of shared destiny for mankind”, which is vital for opening a new chapter in the governance of new frontiers.

PROMINENT ISSUES IN THE INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE OF NEW FRONTIERS

For centuries, western powers have been expanding their sphere of influence through wars, colonization and power struggles. Similar attempts for hegemony are also seen in international governance of new frontiers. In modern history, the expansion of their marine sovereignty was a byproduct of colonialism in the name of “Discovery of New World”; many European countries launched polar expeditions to claim their sovereignty on the South Pole; the exploration of the outer space wasat first dominated by the arms race between the United States and Soviet Union, two superpowers at that time.

The Third World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit aims to build a community of common future in cyberspace, November 16-18, 2016.

In cyberspace, the mindset of hegemony still prevails. In the 1990s, the United States, with developed network technologies, proposed to remove telecom barriers between countries and develop the Global Information Infrastructure based on U.S. routers, terminals and software to accumulate wealth. To promote global economic development and mutual understanding, world powers should lead by example and establish the universal code of conduct that “cyberspace shall not be turned into a battlefield”and “information technology shall not be employed as weapons”. But instead of advocating such values as “peaceful utilization, joint governance and sharing of fruits” in cyberspace governance, the U.S. government was the first to set up cyber combat troops and cyber armory and compile the guide to cyber war, contaminating the cyberspace with the arms race between world powers. The hegemony mindset and biased security concept of the U.S. government have directly tampered common security in new frontiers, leading to conceptual chaos and the lack of moral and ethical guidelines in international governance.

Another major issue to address is how to balance the interests of core players and those of the rest of the world in the governance of new frontiers, or in other words, how to realize “universal benefits”. Specifically, we need to eliminate the digital gap and promote fair development in cyberspace; benefit the whole mankind with technological advancements in outer space and deep sea; and resolve the conflict of interests between polar and non-polar countries.

GLOBAL CHALLENGES IN NEW FRONTIERS

In the era of globalization, many issues are no longer contained within national boundaries and challenges they pose are often too big and too complicated to be addressed by a single country. The discovery of new frontiers has presented intensive and pressing global challenges which bear direct implications for the common destiny of the mankind. We must advance international governance of the new frontiers and work together to respond to global challenges.

The outer space is limitless but human knowledge about it is still very limited. Threatened by the risk of being hit someday by celestial bodies from the outer space, human beings have never ceased to trying to prevent the Earthfrom clashes with asteroids or find a shelter in outer space. The moon landing, the Mars landing and the search for extraterrestrial life are all significant steps taken to shape the future of the mankind.

Climate change is the biggest crisis we face today. The North and South Poles are two indicators of global climate change. In North Pole, the temperature rises twice as fast as the average global temperature growth. The changes in ecosystems in polar regions and oceans have posed a serious threat to the living environment of the mankind. Melting glaciers, the rising sea level, ecological crises, ocean acidification and the convergence of atmospheric currents have caused frequent disasters. Since about 70% of the population and economic output are concentrated in coastal areas, the rising sea level will endanger cultural legacies of the past thousands of years as well as today’s economic growth.

Cyberspace has provided a technological platform for global economic operation and a venue for people across the world to bond with and share information with each other. As it undertakes more and more social functions, cyberspace has become a frequent target of organized crimes and hackers. It’s an international obligation to safeguard security and stability in cyberspace by preventing and punishing cyber-crimes, strengthening cyber-administration and promoting network openness.

The Governance of New Frontiers towards a “Community of Shared Destiny for Mankind”

The governance of new frontiers must take into account the following two points. First, many resources and assets found in these new frontiers are collectively owned by the mankind and in governance we must properly handle the relationship between “public property” and “private property”. Second, the exploration and development of new frontiers would not be possible without technological advancement. The outer space, polar regions, deep sea and cyberspace are out of reach for those not equipped with necessary technologies. In these new frontiers, scientific research and technological advancements shall aim to promote world peace and the well-being of the mankind.

We should try to get rid of the traditional international order based on power and politics, replace it with a new order based on new values, and build a demonstration area for harmonious human society in the governance of new frontiers. In his Geneva speech, Chinese president Xi Jinping also noted, “We are in a period of profound development, transformation and adjustments, coupled with emerging challenges and growing risks. In retrospect, peace and development have been the pursuit of the mankind in the past century.” He stressed that the Earth was our only home so far and we had no other choice but to cherish and protect it.

Today’s China, along with her pursuit of modernization and technological advancement, will have the chance to enrich the world civilization and contribute to global governance with her wisdom. The idea of building a “community of shared destiny for mankind”is nothing new. It finds echoes in ancient Chinese philosophies. For instance, Taoism advocates the handling of Man-Nature relationship by following the natural law and moderate utilization of natural resources instead of draining the pond to catch all the fish. Its central philosophy matches perfectly with the idea of sustainable development we cherish today. As to their world outlook, ancient Chinese saw the world as an interconnected holistic system rather than a combination of opposing individual forces. Hence the idea of building a“community of shared destiny for mankind” reflects the “unity of Heaven and Man” and “Harmony between Man and Nature” advocated by ancient Chinese philosophers, an application of traditional Chinese wisdom to address contemporary global challenges. The key is to balance the interests of the whole and of individuals, instant benefits and longterm benefits, pursue sustainable social development and value the mutual support of Man and Nature. This is exactly the core value we need to tackle global issues, in particular those pertinent to the governance of new frontiers.

China has launched the South Pole research programs for years. This is the forth Antarctic research station -- Taishan on the construction, January 24,2014.

In the future, countries including China and international organizations shall work together to build a governance system for new frontiers based on the idea of “community of shared destiny for mankind” and embody the idea through international cooperation.

A COMMUNITY OF SHARED DESTINY FOR MANKIND IN NEW FRONTIERS THROUGH INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

International cooperation is an effective way for the governance of new frontiers. Only by deepening international cooperation can countries across the world form a community of shared destiny for mankind in these new frontiers. International cooperation to this end covers institutional construction, scientific exploration, peaceful utilization and community construction.

The governance system should be marked with fair distribution of benefits, effective governance and advanced civilization. It requires us to advance international cooperation in institutional construction. In the National Cyber Security Strategy, the Chinese government proposes to “establish a multi-lateral, democratic and transparent international Internet governance system and jointly create a peaceful, safe, open, collaborative and orderly cyberspace through active and effective international cooperation.” China supports the UN’s leading role in establishing a universally accepted governance mechanism for new frontiers. The international community needs to expand international participation and utilization institutionally, enlarge and protect the participation and legitimate rights and interests of some developing countries in new frontiers so as to ensure fairness in international governance.

Peace holds the critical value for human common destiny and lays the foundation for international cooperation in new frontiers. China’s National Cyber Security Strategy lists peace as the top goal and priority tasks including preventing and curbing the abuse of information technology, the arms race in cyberspace and cyber conflicts. The white paper on China’s Space Activities in 2016 also highlights the importance of world peace for “community of shared destiny for mankind”: “All countries’ outer space activities should be beneficial to their economic development and social progress, and to the peace, security, survival and development of mankind.”International utilization and protection with “peace” as the basic value will allow these new frontiers to improve human wellness on a more extensive scale and a higher level.

Knowledge is the basis for human beings to explore, utilize and govern new frontiers. But current human knowledge about new frontiers is far from sufficient to meet the development needs and to make up for that shortage, scientists in different countries need to work with each other. Scientific projects such as moon landing and Mars landing are concerted efforts of the mankind to expand living space. But no country can afford scientific exploration sin the outer space, deep sea or polar regions given their extremely high costs and risks. In the Outer Space Treaty, the UN “hopes to promote extensive international cooperation in scientific and legal affairs regarding peaceful exploration and utilization of the outer space.” The Antarctic Treaty also specifies that “it’s in the interests of science and human progress to continue and further international cooperation based on the freedom of Antarctic scientific surveys.” In scientific explorations in these new frontiers, cross-border collaboration in responding to global challenges has significantly elevated the level of international governance.

To build a community of new frontiers, we need to participate in the longterm process of building a “Community of Shared Destiny for Mankind” on one hand and on the other, unite those having common goals and interests with us in the international community to support our governance plan towards a “Community of Shared Destiny for Mankind.” As to governance philosophy, we should coordinate with scientist groups, environmental protection groups and major international organizations, form an “epistemic community” for building a “community of shared destiny for mankind”and jointly advance international governance of new frontiers. As to the stance and interests, we should uphold the values of universal benefits and joint governance, and seek strong support from other developing countries for the goal of building a “community of shared destiny for mankind”. In space, polar and cyber activities, China makes special efforts to develop cooperation with other developing countries, serve bilateral and multilateral cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, and launch cooperating under the BRICS cooperation mechanism and the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) mechanism.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

New frontiers create a new stage for international competition and cooperation. China should proceed from the long-term benefits of the mankind, take into account common interests of different countries, and offer solutions of Chinese characteristics to effective governance of new frontiers. We should work with the rest of the world in institutional construction, peaceful utilization, scientific explorations and community construction to establish a fair, reasonable governance order and create a“community of shared destiny for mankind” in new frontiers. The application of Chinese wisdom to the governance of new frontiers will further spread the governance philosophy of “community of shared destiny for mankind” across the world.

10.19422/j.cnki.cn10-1398/d.2017.03.013