China-CEEC cooperation charts a path toward inclusive global governance

Editor's note: Zheng Haizhen, a special commentator for CGTN, is an assistant researcher at the Department for Global Governance and International Organization Studies, China Institute of International Studies. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Recently, the Seventh Local Leaders' Meeting of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) was held in Jinan, Shandong Province, attracting around 400 guests from 44 countries. Focusing on areas such as the digital economy and modern agriculture, participants explored new opportunities for cooperation. Under the theme "Shaping the Future Together," the event was not only a high-level dialogue that marked a vivid extension of China-CEEC cooperation from macro-level strategy to grassroots practice, but also an important window into China's efforts to advance high-standard opening up and participate in global governance.

China-CEEC cooperation has set an example among countries with different social systems and at different stages of development. Today, profound changes unseen in a century are accelerating, and the international landscape is marked by turbulence and transformation. Some countries have increasingly drawn ideological lines and promoted bloc confrontation, politicizing and instrumentalizing international cooperation while advocating "decoupling" and "disrupting supply chains."

The practice of China-CEEC cooperation has fully demonstrated that differences are not obstacles to cooperation. Equality, mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation are the right path for international collaboration. During the meeting, whether through the China-CEEC Local Leaders' Dialogue, the High-Level Governors' Dialogue, or business events, a strong commitment to openness and cooperation was evident throughout. Partners from different countries and institutional backgrounds engaged in in-depth exchanges and consensus-building on green and low-carbon development, modern agriculture, the digital economy, industrial coordination, and people-to-people exchanges, further deepening practical cooperation.

China-CEEC cooperation has also provided a viable path for addressing global development imbalance and governance deficits. One major challenge facing global governance today is the tendency to prioritize slogans over implementation. By contrast, China-CEEC cooperation is distinguished by its emphasis on pragmatism, development, and action-oriented collaboration, translating cooperation into concrete progress in industries, projects, technologies and people's livelihoods.

Economic and trade figures underscore the sustained deepening of cooperation between China and CEECs. In the first quarter of this year, trade between China and CEECs reached 276.82 billion Chinese yuan ($40.79 billion), up 14.3% year on year. During the same period, China-Europe freight trains made 5,460 trips and transported 546,000 TEUs of goods, up 29% and 22% year on year respectively, injecting new vitality into China-Europe trade and the economic and social development of countries along the routes.

The meeting itself also featured a strong results-oriented approach. Shandong organized targeted matchmaking activities involving more than 100 domestic and international enterprises in sectors including new energy, the digital economy, healthcare and wellness, and modern agriculture. These outcomes show that China's approach to international cooperation does not remain at the level of abstract concepts. Instead, it emphasizes translating cooperation into concrete projects, industrial partnerships and improvements to people's livelihoods, bringing tangible benefits to people of all countries.

The continuous progress of China-CEEC cooperation also demonstrates the contemporary value of major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in promoting reform and improvement of the global governance system. In recent years, China has consistently upheld true multilateralism, firmly safeguarded the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order underpinned by international law, and advocated building a community with a shared future for mankind while promoting a global governance philosophy featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. Whether through high-quality Belt and Road collaborations, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, or the Global Governance Initiative, China's goal is to encourage the international community to move beyond zero-sum games and bloc confrontation, and to make global governance fairer, more inclusive and more action-oriented. The reason China-CEEC cooperation has continued to yield fruitful outcomes lies precisely in the fact that it responds to the shared aspirations of countries for peace, development and cooperation, embodying the trend of openness rather than isolation, consultation rather than confrontation, and mutual benefit rather than exclusivity.

Openness and collaboration represent the tide of history, while mutual benefit and win-win outcomes reflect the aspirations of the people. The practice of China-CEEC cooperation further demonstrates that improving global governance does not mean starting anew, still less building closed and exclusive "small circles." Rather, it means expanding consensus through equal consultation, addressing challenges through pragmatic cooperation, and enhancing people's well-being through common development. Only by upholding openness and inclusiveness, pursuing common development, and advancing mutually beneficial cooperation can the international community inject greater stability and energy into a turbulent world and move the global governance system toward a more just and equitable direction.

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