RUSSIA-Ukraine war has entered into its second week. Unfortunately, the third round of negotiations could not make any progress because of Ukraine's “ring of illusion”.
In this context, two different forces are now at war in which US-EU represents “colonialized psyche” and Russia holds “genuine concerns” of national security.
US-EU obsesses with “franchise of war” and proxies and Russia belongs to “true nationalism”.
It seems that concepts of security, actors of world order, principles of engagement, means of economic diplomacy and even war threat are going to further deteriorate.
Ultimately world will be further politicized and brutally polarized. Moreover, energy & food security is now directly in the line of fire.
Drastic fluctuations and upward push of oil prices have created panic in the world due to which the international economy is under pressure to perform.
Brussels, Washington, Kiev, Berlin and many other capitals have been feeling the heat because of an unprecedented surge in oil, gas and commodity prices.
US-EU unilateral socio-economic, geopolitical, geostrategic and banking and financial sanctions against Russia have produced havoc due to which hopes of regional as well as global economic prospects are docile.
Sudden increase in policy rates of US Federal Reserve Bank has crashed the money and stock markets around the globe.
Aviation, service, hotel and tourism sectors are prime targets of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Even currency markets have become endangered species. Russia-Ukraine war has started a new currency war at the international level due to which economic sustainability has been ruined.
Unilateral and aggregated banking & financial sanctions against Russia has badly damaged the efficacy and productivity of the international clearing and payment systems.
Thus Chinese concept of common/shared prosperity has greater “relevance”, “reliability” and “reminisce” value to resolve the ongoing conflict.
A western planned tactical move to expand NATO toward the East and encircle Russia from its backyard and the US schemed and sponsored franchised plot in the Black Sea has dangerous consequences even in Indo-Pacific Region.
On the contrary, President Xi Jinping’s holistic policies on common/shared prosperity, which calls for the people to share in the opportunity to be wealthy, have surged and gained immense popularity around the globe due to which “genies of geopolitics” and “witches of dirty power politics” are under pressure.
The just-concluded “NPC & CPPCE Session 2022” has once again reaffirmed the “strategic importance” of Xi's universal policy of shared prosperity to eradicate poverty, generate new jobs, maintain an equitable playing field, equal global economic system, holistic social system and last but not the least common prosperity for every individual in China and around the globe.
The ongoing Russian-Ukraine war is not just a war, it is a tussle between ideologies of destruction and development, shared prosperity and schemed vendetta, unilateralism and togetherness, disunity and unity, disharmony and harmony in which role of Xi concept of shared prosperity has a paramount role.
Chinese President Xi and CPC have been pursuing “common/shared prosperity,” pressing businesses, entrepreneurs, wealthy nations and, of course, multinational companies to help narrow the stubborn wealth gap that could disseminate spirits of cooperation, not unwanted conspiracies, coordination, not undesired spells of contradictions and last but not the least, collaboration not vicious circles of conflicts around the globe.
Unilateral economic sanctions against Russia are a double sword that may be counterproductive for the melting down of the global economy.
Time and again, China says its policies aimed at narrowing the widening wealth gap between East & West for which it has poured billions of funds and started two megaprojects of the century namely One Belt & One Road Initiative (BRI) and its flagship project CPEC in Pakistan.
Both have been derived from the noble concept of Chinese President shared prosperity.
It has now become an icon of common universal prosperity, economic stability, sustainability, social development, narrowing of income gaps, and ultimately persuasions of equitable socio-economic policies to control COVID-19, poverty, unemployment and human discrimination around the globe.
In this regard, technology giant Alibaba, which in recent years has seen its global profile rise, has now committed $15.5bn (£11.4bn) to help promote common prosperity initiatives in China, and set up a dedicated task force.
It is a beneficiary of the country’s economic progress and produces feel-good gestures at the international stage too.
Another technological tycoon Tencent has pledged $7.75bn to the cause. China’s President’s concept of common prosperity/shared prosperity is not all about robbing the rich.
It is about restructuring society and building up the middle class.
It is all about social mobility, just the distribution of resources and means of production in China and around the globe.
In the just-concluded NPC & CPPCE Session 2022 the Chinese economic leadership agreed that China must pursue a goal of “common prosperity” where citizens and people of the world share in the opportunity to be wealthy as the main objective for the next stage of its development.
Now common prosperity/shared prosperity have been described as a means to “properly deal with the relationship between efficiency and fairness.
The catchphrase refers to neither affluence shared by everyone both in material and cultural terms, not the prosperity for just a few nor an absolute equal distribution, and should be advanced step by step around the globe.
But Russian-Ukraine war has reaffirmed that the imposition of unilateral sanctions against Russia will be backlashed.
Shared prosperity is central to promoting well-being as China strives to achieve its second centenary goal of fully building a modern socialist country.
The idea of common prosperity was first mentioned in the 1950s, by founding father Mao Zedong.
President Xi Jinping’s common prosperity has surged in the last ten years.It applies to society’s spiritual and cultural life.
It extends economic good to rural and urban areas while rural infrastructure and rural living conditions, in particular, need to be improved around the globe.
To conclude, the Russia-Ukraine war has further widened “psychological gaps” between the West and Russia and China.
It has further polarized two poles of the world. It seems that the world is going to be divided into the US-led European Union and Russia, China, Iran and many other countries.
European Union, US and NATO should understand the important security concerns of Russia and should immediately its eastward expansion otherwise clouds of war will shower rains of destruction, disharmony and disconnection.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged all conflicting parties to behave and give peace a chance.
He also stressed the need to have reconciliation from the extreme positions to engage in meaningful dialogue.
Chinese President’s common prosperity/shared prosperity is the way forward to eliminate extreme tendencies in international relations because common economic prosperity is the ultimate benchmark for our collective survival.
Dr Mehmood-ul-Hassan Khan is Director, the Centre for South Asia and International Studies (CSAIS) Islamabad, Regional Expert: China, CPEC & BRI.
