People’s Daily article： China continues to play the role of a responsible big country

　　The world today is undergoing great development, change and adjustment, and the global governance system and the international order are accelerating. It is against this background that the "Gindelberg trap" has aroused widespread concern.

　　What is the "Gindelberg trap"

　　Charles king Delberg is a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the founders of Marshall Plan. He wrote in 1929— The book "World Economic Depression in 1939" holds that the root cause of the Great Depression in the 1930s was the lack of international public goods. After World War I, the United States replaced Britain as the most powerful country in the world, but the United States failed to take over the role played by Britain to play a leading role and provide international public goods, resulting in global economic recession and world war II. In short, the "Gindelberg trap" refers to the fact that in the process of global power transfer, if emerging powers cannot assume leadership responsibilities, it will lead to a shortage of international public goods, which will lead to global economic chaos and security disorder.

　　International public goods refer to those resources, services and policy systems with strong internationality and externalities, such as a free and open trading system, a stable and efficient financial market, and a security mechanism to prevent conflicts and wars. In general, major powers have greater responsibility for the supply of international public goods. Because the use of international public goods is not exclusive, the phenomenon of "hitchhiking" is more common, which makes international public goods often in short supply.

　　After Trump was elected president of the United States, he emphasized "American priority" and was unwilling to continue to provide international public goods for free. In this case, the international community pays more attention to whether China, as the world’s second largest economy, is able and willing to fill the responsibility deficit left by the United States and undertake the responsibility of providing international public goods. In particular, the ensuing international financial crisis, the war on terrorism and political turmoil have intensified people’s worries that the world will fall into disaster again and repeat the mistakes of history, and there are more and more discussions on the "Gindelberg trap".

　　The ability and willingness of the United States to provide international public goods are declining.

　　In the 21st century, under the impact of the protracted war on terrorism and the international financial crisis, the strength of the United States has declined relatively, and emerging economies such as China, Russian, Indian, Brazil and South Africa have risen rapidly. According to the statistics of UNCTAD, from 1990 to 2015, the proportion of developed countries in global GDP decreased from 78.7% to 56.8%, while the proportion of emerging market countries in global GDP increased from 19.0% to 39.2%. The balance of power makes it impossible for the United States and the West to dominate international affairs as in the past. This great change has enabled some western countries such as the United States to safeguard their vested interests and international status by reversing history.

　　First, adopt trade protectionism and emphasize the priority of national interests. From 2008 to 2016, the United States adopted more than 600 discriminatory trade measures against other countries, and as many as 90 in 2015 alone. Under the leadership of the United States, according to the data of the Global Trade Early Warning Organization, the discriminatory trade measures implemented by countries in 2015 increased by 50% compared with 2014. Under the influence of trade protectionism, global trade fell to a low point in the past 10 years in 2016.

　　The second is to adopt rule revisionism in an attempt to safeguard vested interests with institutional hegemony. The relative decline of strength makes the United States more dependent on international regulations and maintain its leading position in international affairs with institutional hegemony. While reducing the control cost and improving the control efficiency of multilateral mechanisms, the United States tries its best to reduce the benefits of competitors in the rules system and make it more difficult for emerging economies such as China to benefit from the rules system.

　　The third is to slip into political isolationism and evade international responsibility. After Trump took office, he withdrew from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and UNESCO, which repeatedly showed the tendency of isolationism. Just like the irresponsible military intervention in the past, the irresponsible contraction and evasion of international responsibilities by the United States have intensified the turmoil in international financial markets, the escalation of regional conflicts, the spread of terrorism and the prevalence of populism, bringing new threats and uncertainties to the world.

　　China shows the world the role of a big country.

　　Since the reform and opening up, China’s national strength has been continuously improved, laying a solid foundation for its participation in global governance. Since the outbreak of the international financial crisis, China has contributed more than 30% to the world economic growth and made important contributions to the prosperity and stability of the world. Today, in any field of global governance, it is difficult to succeed without China’s participation.

　　The world expects China to play a greater role in global governance and put forward China’s plan to deal with global challenges. As a responsible big country, China strives to turn its own development into an opportunity for common progress with other countries in the world with an open and inclusive attitude. In August, 2014, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader delivered a speech entitled "Watch and Help each other to create a new era for the development of China-Mongolia relations" in the National Hural of Mongolia, proposing that "China is willing to provide opportunities and space for common development for neighboring countries including Mongolia. We welcome everyone to take the train developed by China, take the express train or hitchhike." In August 2016, at the symposium on promoting the "Belt and Road" construction, he once again stressed that China welcomes all parties to take the express train and hitchhiking developed by China, and welcomes all countries and international organizations to participate in cooperation.

　　As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China firmly upholds the leading role of the UN in maintaining international peace and security, and China plays an important role in international peacekeeping operations and international humanitarian relief operations. China actively participates in the reform of financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and supports expanding the representation and voice of developing countries in international affairs; In emerging fields such as deep sea, polar regions, space and internet, China has taken the initiative to lead the formulation of international rules and played a constructive role in improving the global governance system.

　　In 2013, China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative. This initiative has been widely welcomed by the international community, has become one of the most dazzling Chinese programs in contemporary global governance, and has also contributed new important international public goods to the current "disorderly" world. In recent years, China has successfully held a series of landmark meetings with advanced concepts and practical measures, such as the APEC Leaders’ Informal Meeting, the G-20 Summit in Hangzhou, the Belt and Road International Cooperation Summit Forum, and the BRICS leaders’ meeting in Xiamen, which effectively promoted and led the reform of the global governance system.

　　Promote the building of a community of human destiny.

　　With the increasing global challenges facing mankind and the deepening interdependence among countries, the world has become a closely linked community of destiny, and it is imperative to adjust, reform and improve the global governance system accordingly. Only by adapting to the new requirements of international changes can the global governance system provide a strong guarantee for global development. To this end, China advocated building a community of human destiny.

　　As the largest developing country in the world, the development of China is closely linked with the improvement of the global governance system. It is an inherent requirement for China to build a modern socialist country to continuously enhance China’s international influence, appeal and shaping power in participating in global affairs. In promoting the reform of the global governance system, the reform advocated by China is not to reinvent the wheel, nor to start a new stove, but to innovate and improve, so that the global governance system can better reflect the changes in the international pattern and reflect the wishes and interests of most countries, especially emerging market countries and developing countries. The global governance system is jointly built and shared by the whole world, and it is impossible for any country to master it alone. Regarding how countries around the world participate in global governance, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader proposed: "All countries should become participants, contributors and beneficiaries of global development. One country can’t develop, other countries can’t develop, some countries can’t develop, and others can’t. Countries have different capabilities and levels, and under the same goal, they should bear common but differentiated responsibilities. " As a responsible big country, China actively promotes the building of a community of human destiny.

　　China is approaching the center of the world stage as never before. On the road of national rejuvenation, it is inevitable to encounter all kinds of "traps". We must be firm and confident, maintain our strength, do our best and do what we can, improve China’s international influence, appeal and shaping power by taking on corresponding international responsibilities, and promote the building of a community of human destiny. Only in this way can we, together with other countries in the world, solve the supply problem of international public goods in the global power transfer that is hard to be solved by western thinking, realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and "help others" and make greater contributions to the cause of peace and progress of mankind.

　　(Author Professor Gao Fei Foreign Affairs College)