►►With unilateralism and protectionism continuing to gain ground in recent years and certain countries worshipping power and status and embracing the law of the jungle, humanity needs new worldwide public intellectual goods to respond to the fundamental challenges confronting us all, a think tank report has said.
KUNMING-The report, titled « Answering the Questions of Our Time: The Global Significance and Practical Value of China’s Public Intellectual Goods, » was released Saturday by Xinhua Institute, a think tank affiliated with Xinhua News Agency.
« The world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation, and the existing system of global public intellectual goods is increasingly unable to address today’s global issues effectively, » it said.
Elaborating on the contemporary need for global public intellectual goods, the report said that there is a serious deficit of public intellectual goods in today’s world. « Behind the worldwide deficits in peace, development, security, and governance lies a profound deficit of ideas. »
Take global governance for instance, the report argued that in the face of a series of global challenges — geopolitical conflicts, climate change, food crises, public health threats, and digital security threats — the current system of global public intellectual goods has proven to be visibly inadequate.
« Climate change offers a telling example: certain major powers have withdrawn from international agreements, and some developed countries have repeatedly shifted positions on burden-sharing, financial support, and technology transfer, severely undermining the effectiveness of collective action, » it said.
Confronted with such complex challenges, there is an urgent need for new public intellectual goods with greater foresight, inclusiveness, and innovation to renew the guiding principles and practices of global governance, it said.
On cultural conflicts and crises of belief, the report argued that new cultural public intellectual goods must address the profound questions of humanity’s relationship with society and with nature, promote dialogue and mutual learning among civilizations, and foster coexistence, thereby laying a solid foundation for shared values for all humankind.
By Xinhua
