Humanitarianism, which originates from the Renaissance in Europe, incorporates a wide range of care, love and respect today. As a human-centered value, it is close to the people-first principle of traditional Chinese culture. To some extent, humanitarianism is aspiritual driving force for the construction of the human community with shared destiny.
In proposing the Belt and Road Initiative, China aims to seek common development with the other countries. China should provide timely assistance in times of emergency, especially natural disasters; and provide foresights for solving fundamental issues related to the common development of the human race.
Premier Li Keqiang vowed to provide US$100 million of humanitarian aid during the United Nations refugee summit in September 2016. In March, China promised to provide Kenya with 20,000 tons of humanitarian aid food. There are many such examples showing China’s commitment to international humanitarian aid.
The Belt and Road Initiative can solve the world’s imbalanced development. Poverty not only hampers a country’s social and economic development, but also is the root cause of regional conflicts, environmental degradationand terrorism.
Peace, harmony and a healthy development cannot be realized unless imbalances and inequality are resolved. The Belt and Road Initiative creates jobs in poverty-ridden countries, which can help improve the population’s livelihood.
Featuring joint participation, collective consultation and shared benefits, the initiative is a large-scale international cooperation which discards ideological differences and tolerates all kinds of beliefs, customs and economic systems, making the initiative a carrier for humanitarianism.
(The author Pan Zhigang is the executive director of the International Cooperation Center of the National Development and Reform Commission. The translator is Li Yang.)
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Belt and Road Initiative and humanitarianism
