New leadership reaffirms commitment to environmental, social, cultural and economic development

Many important ideas were presented during the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, but from a global perspective four messages are of particular interest. Those messages relate to dialogue, science, the planet and equity.

From a global perspective, the most important sentence during the 18th National Congress might have been when Xi Jinping ended his address to the media on Nov 16 with, "Just as China needs to learn more about the world, the world needs to learn more about China".

Regardless of what global challenges we talk about, dialogue must be at the center in the early 21st century. We now live in a situation when the world will face unprecedented global challenges like climate change, natural resource depletion, growing income differences, pandemics, terrorism, cyber crime and financial turmoil.

No country or group can solve these challenges on their own, but through dialogue and cooperation these challenges can be reduced, and turned into opportunities.

Dialogue is not the same thing as agreement on everything, but to respect and listen to the other voice. Too often foreigners still want to "teach" China things, especially in the area of global challenges. The truth is that Western countries have not solved any of the global problems. Though they have incrementally reduced the threat, very often they have only put aside the problems. Learning to listen to China and understanding the need to bring people out of poverty in a sustainable way is the first important step to ensure that we can focus on real solutions to global challenges.

As Xi noted, the challenge is also on the Chinese side, where many people, especially those with little experience of actually working with foreigners, think that China is so special that no one from the outside can understand it. It is true that China is special, but so are all countries in the world. No person, Chinese or foreigner, can fully understand China in all its aspects.

The arrogance of some foreigners, especially Westerners, should, however, not be used as an excuse for dismissing everyone outside China as not capable of understanding China. In the same way, people from China can help provide a fresh eye on the rest of the world, people from other parts of the world can provide important ideas and solutions that will have significant implication for how China will develop. So it is true that "China needs to learn more about the world".

Beside the clear signal regarding dialogue, the new leadership also continued and strengthened China's commitment to environmental considerations. Instead of approaching care for the planet as an add-on, it was made clear that environmental, social, cultural and economic development must be seen as equal and integral parts as we move forward.

With a scientific approach, China can provide important inspiration and guidance as the world is developing a framework based on science and equity, and also contribute to an economy for the planet and all people.

The author is the founder of the Sweden-based consultancy 21st Century Frontiers, which specializes in China's global media image research. The views expressed are not necessarily those of China Daily. Contact the writer at dennis@pamlin.net

(China Daily 11/23/2012 page7)