一是从世界文明发展的纵轴看。在人类发展史上,各种文明兴衰更替,生息演进。中国和欧洲都是古代文明发祥地,都为人类文明的发展进步做出过重要贡献。世界文明始终是在多元文明的碰撞、交汇与融合中发展前进,今天的世界文明不是由某一种文明派生而来,也不会被某一种文明长期主导。符合历史规律、有益人类进步的文明成果将留芳千古,有悖时代发展潮流的将沉入历史的泥沙。
The horizontal axis records the evolution of human civilization. The world history is a chronicle of the rise and fall of great cultures and powers. But mankind as a whole grows ever stronger. Home to ancient civilizations, both China and Europe have also contributed our enormous share to the development of humanity. That said, the world has never been, nor will it ever be, dominated by an individual civilization for good. That’s why today, we simply cannot trace up entire human civilization to a single root. The world today is the result of centuries of clashes, exchanges, melting and converging of different cultures and civilizations. History will make the choice of our legacy and dispose of matters inconsistent with the trend of times.
二是从国际格局发展的横轴看。今天我们所处的时代,经济全球化发展迅猛,各国相互依存不断加深。评估一个国家的综合实力和发展潜力,要将更多的权重放在其为全人类生产创造物质和精神财富的能力及贡献上。这就解释了为什么当前世界政治经济格局经历着重大而深刻的变化。不论是G20的出现和发展,还是世界经济、贸易、金融体系的变革,都从不同侧面体现了全球产业格局的变化和新兴经济体作用上升。有人把这种变革说成是力量转移,我认为这是促进国际体系朝着更加公正合理的方向发展。
The vertical axis records the changes in international order. Greater interdependence is the prime feature of our globalised world today. Under such a context, the overall strength and development potential of a country is increasingly defined by its capacity and contribution to promoting the welfare of the world. The emergence and empowerment of the G20 and the reforms of world economic, trade and financial system all suggest that the global industrial structure is changing and roles of emerging countries are strengthening. Instead of calling this process “power shift” as some people do, I would rather say that we are on the track towards a more fair and just international order.
三是从一国自身发展的垂直轴看。每一个国家、每一个民族的发展都历经起伏,在探索实验中曲折前行,不会永远一帆风顺。中国通过长期的艰苦奋斗和30多年的改革开放,才真正找到了适合自己的发展道路,并仍在前进的道路上不断自我完善。欧洲在上世纪经历两次大战的创伤后,才找到和平的处方,而走过半年多世纪的一体化道路依旧崎岖不平。我们既不应静止地看待一个国家,随意为他国贴上某种标签,也不应用自己的标准去衡量另一个国家,更不应以本国的发展模式和政治体制强加于人。
The third axis, the depth axis, marks the development path of individual countries. For any nation, the road to development cannot be all the way straight ahead. We all share moments of pride. But there are also times when we slipped. The important thing is that we learned our lessons and improved ourselves. China has worked hard and experimented through more than three decades of reform and opening up to finally lay our feet on a suitable development path. And we are not done perfecting ourselves to meet new challenges. Europe has gone through the ordeal of two World Wars before finding the right prescription for peace, and fifty years into integration, the journey towards a united Europe remains a bumpy ride. When looking at other countries, it’s important that we do not evaluate them using one’s own standards or impose one’s own political system and development model. We must abandon static perspectives and reject the habit of willfully pinning someone a political tag.