The Community of Shared Future for Mankind and China’s Legalist Turn in International Relations

Abstract The introduction presents China’s legalist turn in international relations against the background of the Trump administration’s backlash against international law and international organizations. The next section retraces the origins and evolution of the Community of Shared Future for Mankind (CSFM) up to its incorporation in the preamble to the Chinese Constitution. Section 3 examines the main tenets of the CSFM on the basis of XI Jinping’s writings with the visual aid of a “paifang” (“牌坊”). In this representation of a Chinese architectural arch or gateway structure, the “foundation” of the CSFM is, first, assimilated to China’s acknowledgement of the centrality of “interdependence” in the international community. Second, the “pillars” of the CSFM are identified as the goals of global peace, international common security, inclusive international development and international ecological civilization. Third, the “wooden beams” that bind the CSFM together are assimilated into the principles of sovereign equality, inter-civilizational dialogue and multilateralism, while the principle of “win-win” cooperation is represented as the CSFM’s “frontispiece”. The concluding section points to the benefits of China deepening its legalist approach to international relations as the most fitting companion to its grand strategy of “peaceful/development rise”.