Interview: China-proposed vision for a shared future resonates in int'l community, says British expert

LONDON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, proposed by China, strikes a chord with the international community, Keith Bennett, a long-term China specialist and vice chair of Britain's 48 Group Club, has said.

"In the nearly 10 years since the vision was first publicly put forward, it has acquired a great deal of resonance in the international community. Many countries have expressed their appreciation and support for it," Bennett told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"It gets that kind of response because it speaks to what people feel," he said. People understand that multiple global issues, including climate change, terrorism and nuclear security, "can only be resolved by all countries working together, or they won't be solved at all," he noted.

"The idea of a community with a shared future for mankind strikes a chord with many countries and peoples, because people realize that there is a rather stark choice between a community with a shared future and a community with no future," he said.

As there are countries still sticking to the idea of a zero-sum game or winner-takes-all, Bennett lamented their lack of a spirit of sharing.

Noting that China also has detailed proposals to make the idea a reality, Bennett said, "If one looks at the Global Security Initiative and the Global Development Initiative, they're both examples of what's meant by a community with a shared future."

He also applauded China's role in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic due to its provision of personal protective equipment and vaccines.

"I've watched numerous interviews with heads of state, from countries in the Global South, or even in Europe, like Serbia, who said that if it were not for China, people would have had almost no vaccines," he said.

Bennett commended China, as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, for having made considerable contributions to the work of international peacekeeping.

"While other countries are sending military forces around the world to engage in wars, establish military bases in other people's countries and so on, China's military goes abroad to help preserve and defend peace," he said.