Panelists explore finding common ground in a turbulent world

Panelists and experts shared their views on global governance, economic globalization and the role of the Global South at a round-table conference on Thursday hosted by the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

Themed "Seeking Common Ground in a Turbulent World," the SIIS International Conference on Global Review and Outlook 2024 explored the challenges confronting the new Global South in building a peaceful, equitable and sustainable world.

"One of the important fundamental reasons behind this turmoil in the world today is that the existing international order is experiencing a paradigm shift or tectonic change," said Chen Dongxiao, SIIS president, in explaining the theme of the conference.

An exchange platform for Chinese and foreign experts through frank, honest and in-depth dialogue would afford a clearer and more accurate understanding of the world today, and where we are headed, Chen said.

Chen added that when we talk about international order today, it mainly includes two dimensions – the relationship between the legitimacy of the rules and norms on the one hand, and the distribution and exercise of power on the other.

"We will first ask ourselves in an increasingly multiple world, can we find a common ground, rebuild consensus on the legitimacy of the world's norms so that we can avoid falling into the bifurcation of the international system," Chen said, citing global interdependence and inter-connectedness in terms of national security or ecological security.

Chen also said there were possible impacts on the independent and interconnected world by ongoing breakthroughs in science and technology. Given the myriad challenges, Chen spoke of the critical importance of finding common ground through dialogue and visionary leadership, to best confront volatility in the fast-changing world.

During a panel session on "The multi-polarizing world: A process growing in complexity, diversity, and uncertainty?" Yang Jiemian, chairman of the Academic Advisory Council, SIIS, said that while the world is moving towards multi-polarization, there is a great difference between cherished goals in the future and the hard reality of the contemporary world.

Yang said he believed every and each actor in the international community must contribute to promoting multi-polarization, and major powers need to transcend geopolitical rivalry, with global and regional organizations remaining true to their original aspiration.

For individual actors, Yang said, practical efforts must be combined with multilateralism. Multilateralism has long existed as a similar signature concept in international relations, but this concept must be adapted, updated, and renovated in the foreseeable future. Yang cautioned that multilateralism should not become an excuse for certain forces to build confrontational and opposing blocks.

Un Kheang, Cambodia's secretary of state for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, explained why the Global South, an eclectic phrase encompassing countries with vastly different histories, economics, cultures, is a reasonable concept.

As a political construct, rather than a geological concept, the Global South is an imagined community promoting like-minded countries, with their leaders fired by aspiration for a common objective.

Kheang cited the roles of China's Global Civilization Initiative, Global Development Initiative, and Global Security Initiative as well as related mechanisms in addressing global security, fair trade, and disease, adding that for the Global South's success to build an inclusive and sustainable world is contingent on the commitment, and sincerity, to a shared community for mankind.

Irene Giner-Reichl, president of the Global Forum on Sustainable Energy, and a former ambassador of Austria to China, cited the need for new rules, new ideas, and new institutions in addressing challenges such as climate change, given the transition to renewal energy, a transition that means a new way of running national economies.

"We really don't know yet how to do this without creating conflict, without creating major geopolitical rivalries and without leaving regions, people, nations behind – and we don't want to leave anybody behind. That's the mantra of the sustainable development," Giner-Reichl said.

Panel sessions also addressed "How can we navigate the pressures of securitization and 'de-risking'?" and "Adhering to the new role of China's diplomacy in the era of turbulence and transformation."