Ecological Civilization Is a New Path of Civilization Imbued …
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It was based on this outlook that the Western world rose up and dominated the
globe after the fifteenth century; it was also based on this outlook that it embarked
on the environmental governance path of transferring its own pollution to other
countries. If we in contemporary times continue to follow this outlook, the energy
and environmental crisis will never be defused. The crisis we are facing today is
essentially one of civilization outlook. To address the contemporary energy and
environmental crisis at source, what we need is a new “mutualistic outlook on world
civilization.”
This new civilization outlook needed in the new era is found in the east.
Throughout its 5000-year civilization, China upholds the Confucian philosophy of
benevolence and ethics characterized by “Do not do onto others what you do not
want others do onto you,” and the civilization outlook aimed at world peace. It hasn’t
abandoned this traditional outlook even after it shifted from the track of ancient
agricultural civilization to the track of western industrial civilization. Both the capitalist revolution led by Sun Yat-sen that upheld “the whole world is one community”
and the new democratic revolution led by Mao Zedong that aimed to liberate the
whole mankind represent the continuation and development of the Chinese civilization outlook for world peace. In the report of the 18th National Congress of the CPC,
China pledged to “contribute our share to global ecological security,” which is an
embodiment of its mutualistic civilization outlook on environmental governance.
With China’s rise in the twenty-first century, the “China threat theory” has gained
ground among western developed countries, which obviously view China’s rise from
their colonial civilization outlook. As far as the development of human civilization
is concerned, the world needs China’s rise to defuse the contemporary civilization
crisis because only China’s rise can ensure that the eastern country’s mutualistic
civilization outlook for world peace will become the global mainstream, and the
world will move from the US-dominated unipolar civilization to a new civilization
of diversity and co-existence. In this sense, the rise of the Chinese nation is by no
means a threat to world civilization, but a blessing for it to walk out of the crisis.
2. Chinese wisdom and Chinese approach that follow the trend of the time
are recognized and commended in the world
The ecological civilization strategy rooted in Chinese wisdom proposed at the 18th
National Congress of the CPC was soon recognized by the United Nations. In
February 2013, the 27th session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) decided to promote China’s philosophy of ecological
civilization, indicating the international community’s recognition and endorsement
of this Chinese concept.
When delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Paris Conference on
Climate Change on November 30, 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping first announced
to the world a new plan based on eastern wisdom for addressing climate change. He
proposed three guidelines for resolving the climate issue. First, the Paris Conference
should reject the narrow-minded mentality of “zero sum game” and adopt the new
mentality that “Do not do onto others what you do not want others do onto you,” so
as to create a future of win-win cooperation, with each country making contribution
583
It was based on this outlook that the Western world rose up and dominated the
globe after the fifteenth century; it was also based on this outlook that it embarked
on the environmental governance path of transferring its own pollution to other
countries. If we in contemporary times continue to follow this outlook, the energy
and environmental crisis will never be defused. The crisis we are facing today is
essentially one of civilization outlook. To address the contemporary energy and
environmental crisis at source, what we need is a new “mutualistic outlook on world
civilization.”
This new civilization outlook needed in the new era is found in the east.
Throughout its 5000-year civilization, China upholds the Confucian philosophy of
benevolence and ethics characterized by “Do not do onto others what you do not
want others do onto you,” and the civilization outlook aimed at world peace. It hasn’t
abandoned this traditional outlook even after it shifted from the track of ancient
agricultural civilization to the track of western industrial civilization. Both the capitalist revolution led by Sun Yat-sen that upheld “the whole world is one community”
and the new democratic revolution led by Mao Zedong that aimed to liberate the
whole mankind represent the continuation and development of the Chinese civilization outlook for world peace. In the report of the 18th National Congress of the CPC,
China pledged to “contribute our share to global ecological security,” which is an
embodiment of its mutualistic civilization outlook on environmental governance.
With China’s rise in the twenty-first century, the “China threat theory” has gained
ground among western developed countries, which obviously view China’s rise from
their colonial civilization outlook. As far as the development of human civilization
is concerned, the world needs China’s rise to defuse the contemporary civilization
crisis because only China’s rise can ensure that the eastern country’s mutualistic
civilization outlook for world peace will become the global mainstream, and the
world will move from the US-dominated unipolar civilization to a new civilization
of diversity and co-existence. In this sense, the rise of the Chinese nation is by no
means a threat to world civilization, but a blessing for it to walk out of the crisis.
2. Chinese wisdom and Chinese approach that follow the trend of the time
are recognized and commended in the world
The ecological civilization strategy rooted in Chinese wisdom proposed at the 18th
National Congress of the CPC was soon recognized by the United Nations. In
February 2013, the 27th session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) decided to promote China’s philosophy of ecological
civilization, indicating the international community’s recognition and endorsement
of this Chinese concept.
When delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Paris Conference on
Climate Change on November 30, 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping first announced
to the world a new plan based on eastern wisdom for addressing climate change. He
proposed three guidelines for resolving the climate issue. First, the Paris Conference
should reject the narrow-minded mentality of “zero sum game” and adopt the new
mentality that “Do not do onto others what you do not want others do onto you,” so
as to create a future of win-win cooperation, with each country making contribution