The Presidents of Russia and China signed a joint declaration on May 20 during Russian President Putin’s state visit to China on the principles of a new multipolar world order and “a new type of international relations.”
The statement is based on a series of similar declarations from 1997, 2005, 2017, and 2022, all of which highlight the needed and ongoing shift in the world away from neo-colonialism and hegemonism and toward a community of nations in which every country’s rights and development are respected and the voice of each is heard as an equal.
The May 20 declaration, “Joint Declaration of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the Establishment of a Multipolar World and a New Type of International Relations” notes that “the attempts of a number of states to unilaterally manage global affairs, impose their interests on the entire world, and limit the possibilities for the sovereign development of other countries, in the spirit of the era of colonialism, have failed.” The document points to the dawning of a new era in which fundamental interests of all nations are respected “without dividing the world into opposing regions and blocs.”
The declaration also addresses the urgent need for a new security architecture: “[T]he security of one state cannot be achieved at the expense of the security of another. All sovereign states have an equal right to security,” the statement reads. “It is necessary to pay due attention to the rational security concerns of all countries, focus on cooperation on security issues, reject bloc confrontation and zero-sum game strategies, oppose the expansion of military alliances, hybrid wars, and proxy wars, and promote the creation of a renewed, balanced, effective, and sustainable global and regional security architecture.”
In order to improve the global governance system, the declaration calls for reform of the UN and other multilateral institutions to reflect the voice of developing nations in the international system.
“All human civilizations are valuable,” the statement reads. “All countries must advocate for a view of civilization based on equality, the mutual exchange of experiences, and dialogue.”
