Multilateralism represents the direction of social development. With the world facing growing challenges, globalization and integration are irresistible due to many reasons.

Since different countries have different resource endowments, international trade has become inescapable. The nature of capital to seek high returns makes international investment unavoidable. Also, the rapid development of science and technology makes the flow of information, materials and people inevitable.

At the same time, common challenges such as climate change, natural disasters, epidemics, terrorist attacks and threats of regional wars are all forcing countries to cooperate with one another based on common rules. With modern society becoming increasingly complicated and closely connected, countries can't develop without cooperation with others. Cooperation and common development are the essence of multilateralism.

China has been working to advance multilateralism especially since it adopted the policy of reform and opening up in the late 1970s. It is contributing to global economic growth through boosting its own economic development. At present, China contributes one third of world economic growth every year.

By developing international trade, China has become the world's largest trader of goods and a major trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions. It is the world's second largest importer of goods, buying an average of $2 trillion each year, and the largest destination of exports from the least developed countries. It buys more than 20 percent of their exports and directly contributes to their economic development. China is also the second largest importer of services and has the largest number of outbound travelers who spend the most in the world.

The Chinese investment market has continued to open up, ranking second in the world and first among developing countries in terms of foreign investment. With paid-in capital totaling $2 trillion, China provides investment opportunities for developed countries. It is also increasing its own outbound investment, expanding nearly $2 trillion in other countries.

China takes an active part in international peacekeeping operations. It has dispatched some 40,000 personnel to participate in peacekeeping operations and established 8,000 troops for a UN peacekeeping standby force, making its contributions to maintaining world peace. It is working with the UN on regional hotspots such as the Korean Peninsula and Iranian nuclear issues, and violence in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Aware that it benefits from the current international order, China has been supporting multilateral global institutions like the UN, World Bank and International Monetary Fund. It plays an active and constructive role in mechanisms such as the Group of 20, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS.

At the 11th BRICS Summit in Brasilia, Brazil, on November 14, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated China's support for multilateralism, saying the nation will open up still wider, promote Belt and Road cooperation and work for a community with a shared future for humanity.

Xi proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 to better promote international cooperation in a new era of development. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to build a community with a shared future for humanity, which has been inspired by the ideal of building a world of great harmony present in China's Confucian culture and requires realizing multilateralism as much as possible.

The Belt and Road Initiative has become a global public good and an international cooperation platform that will help the participating countries provide more and better public goods to the whole world.

The initiative's guiding principles—extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits—are consistent with the UN, which stands for solving global issues through consultation, dialogue and communication.

In April, the French and German foreign ministers proposed the Alliance for Multilateralism. The Belt and Road Initiative, which has been joined by 137 countries and 30 international organizations and promotes international partnerships, can play a similar role while refraining from advocating any kind of alignment.

The author is director of the Belt and Road Research Institute at Beijing Normal University

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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