THE COMMUNITY OF THE COMMON DESTINY OF MANKIND AND THE FATE OF RUSSIA

Moscow students were the first foreigners to hear about the concept of a "community of the common destiny of mankind". President Xi Jinping spoke about it, speaking at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in March 2013. Since then, the first listeners of the Chinese leader have become experienced diplomats, and the concept has been repeatedly deepened and expanded in the speeches of the author himself, as well as philosophers and political scientists of China. Misunderstood at first, the concept is now firmly embedded in the context of theoretical research and the real policy of the leading powers of the world.

During lectures to my students, at conferences and in talk shows on the main Russian TV channels, I often hear a request to explain not only the Chinese concept itself, but also its connection with the future of Russia. "Americans consider their country a "shining castle on the top of the hill" for the whole world. So may be the Chinese are building a "shining pagoda" instead. Isn't that right?" the host of a talk show has asked me recently.

Fortunately, familiarity with the theoretical innovations of the Chinese Communists and knowledge of the real situation in China allow me to adequately answer these and other questions. I usually begin to explain that in our world undergoing unprecedented changes, no country except China has put forward a long-term program for the development of mankind. Without such a program, without a single mutually acceptable goal, different nations are doomed to search, sometimes very painfuly, for their own development goals. They will inevitably, at best, spend precious time and resources on trial and error at short distances, which the rapidly changing ruling parties and their leaders see in front of them. In the worst case, collisions will occur when driving on opposite courses. Neither the United States nor Russia have long-term development programs even for their own nations, not to mention the whole of humanity.

Having proposed the concept of a "community of the common destiny of mankind", Beijing has taken on considerable work to comprehend the trends of global development based on the experience of developing its own nation of one and a half billion people, which makes up about a fifth of the world's population. At the same time, it assumed some responsibility for solving global political, economic, humanitarian and even military problems. Against the background of the failure of the globalism built by America with its hegemony and injustice against the majority of humanity, China proposes to build a new globalism on the modern principles of relations between countries and peoples, equality and mutual benefit.

The question arises, will China cope with such responsibility? What right do Chinese Communists have to formulate their vision of the future of humanity after the failure of another communist party called the CPSU? After all, she also had considerable forces of theorists of the "bright future of humanity", a powerful army and economy, headed the socialist camp and developing countries of the "socialist orientation". As a former cadre worker of the Ideological Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, I am well aware of the slogans like "Communism is the bright future of humanity" and "The Party solemnly promises that the current generation of Soviet people will live under communism!". In my opinion, the CPSU and the Soviet Union ruin can be explained by the gap between the words and deeds of the ruling party. Comparing the words and deeds of the Chinese Communist Party in the last decade, I do not see any gap. Eleven years ago, then-new CPC leader Xi Jinping put forward a long-term plan, "The Chinese Dream of a Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation." It was and remains the only long-term development program of a single country and was designed for as many as 37 years.

Like the long-term concept of the "Community of the common destiny of mankind", the Chinese Dream plan at first looked like just a sketch, it had few drawings and specific details. The only road sign indicated was the year 2021, the 100th anniversary of the creation of the CPC. Another century goal, the formation of the People's Republic of China in 2049, was declared the finish line. By the first milestone in 2021, it was promised to create a "middle-class society". Abroad, and in China itself, there were doubts about the reality of such a promise. After all, at that time there were 100 million people living below the poverty level alone! But already in 2020, China set an unprecedented world record – extreme poverty was eliminated on the scale of the entire Celestial Empire! This achievement alone would be worthy of being recorded in the most beautiful hieroglyphs in the history of Chinese civilization and in world history.

(At this point, I usually remind the audience that according to official data of the Russian State Statistical Service (Rosstat) in the 3rd quarter of 2023, the population with incomes below the poverty line amounted to 19.6 million people or 13.5% of the country's residents). But after all, in addition to the eradication of poverty for 10 years, there were other results of the implementation of the program "societiy of average prosperity". The per capita income of the entire population has doubled. China's GDP has grown 2 times. Is it worth reminding about thet efforts these achievements of the first 10 years of the implementation of the "Chinese Dream" plan were spent. In those years, I collected materials for several books about China ("Xi Jinping. Up the steps of the Chinese dream", "Xi Jinping: a New Era", "The New Silk Road. The main project of the 21st century") and made 3-4 trips around the country. I traveled all over the Chinese section of the Great Silk Road, visited the shining million-people cities and mountain villages, where people did not even have clean drinking water until recently.

In one of the villages in Gansu Province, built at public expense for migrants from arid areas under the poverty eradication program, I was treated to lunch by a young cadreeer worker sent on a two-year stint from Beijing. Unlike the locals, he commanded an exemplary putonghua and proudly talked about every dish on the table, which was made up only of products grown in the village. Looking at the young "commissar" I remembered the novel "How Steel was tempered"…

In fact, the entire Chinese nation has undergone "steel hardening" over the past decade. Faced with an unprecedented natural disaster called COVID, being the target of trade and technological sanctions by yesterday's partners in the West, feeling the cold breath of the "color revolutions" in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan, the Chinese did not give in to despondency. I think there were several reasons for this. The Chinese saw before them the long-term goal of the Great rejuvenation of their nation, and on the basis of more and more successes, they believed in the reach of this goal. The second reason is the confidence in the effectiveness of their socio–economic system called "socialism with Chinese characteristics". This model was created by the Communist Party through trial and error, theoretical and practical breakthroughs. The synergy of the socialist planned economy and the market economy with the guiding and regulating role of a stable political organization on a national scale is, in my opinion, main reason for the high speed on straight sections of the highway and stability on bends.

An important theoretical breakthrough in the field of Marxism and world political science of the 21st century was the discovery made by Xi Jinping. Speaking at the celebrations on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the CPC on July 1, 2001, he said: "Based on the continuation and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, promoting the coordinated development of material, political, spiritual culture, as well as the civilization of society and ecological civilization, we have formed a new Chinese model of modernization and created a new form of human civilization."

A few days later, at the World Forum of Political Parties, Xi Jinping made a very important clarification. "There is no commonly used formula for modernization and countries should look for optimal solutions. For its part, the Chinese Communist Party is ready to exchange and share experience with political parties of all countries."

Thus, the Chinese themselves reject the possibility of building a "shining pagoda on a hill", which will determine the development of many countries and the whole of humanity. The proof of this is the ten-year experience of implementing the Belt and Road initiative, which I call in articles and speeches the working model of the future "community of the common destiny of mankind". Even critics of this initiative agree that China does not put forward political or ideological conditions, offering assistance in the implementation of development projects. It is this difference from the aid models of the West and even the former Soviet Union that makes the Belt and Road attractive to dozens of countries, both developing and fairly developed.

The ten-year history of the "strategic partnership of a new era" under the leadership of President Putin and President Xi Jinping has also proved the acceptability for Russia of the concept of a "common destiny of mankind." Moving in their own ways, observing their own national interests, the two great nuclear  powers have never become an obstacle to each other, even in neighboring regions of the world, such as Central Asia. On the contrary, in the context of the intensification of the West's "cold war" against Russia and China, they are increasing the level of strategic partnership. At the same time, even China's tenfold superiority in GDP does not prevent equal and mutually beneficial cooperation in trade, infrastructure construction, science.

Moscow is not jealous of Beijing and its concept of a "common destiny of mankind" . Russia's own concept called "Greater Eurasia" does not contradict the Chinese concept at all. Cooperation between Russia and China in the SCO and BRICS is also devoid of competition and gives a synergy effect in the implementation of the concept of "the common destiny of mankind". The fate of Russia and the fate of China in the 21st century are intertwined. The common destiny of all mankind will depend on these two nations.