China Focus: Democracy in int'l relations trend of times: experts

BEIJING, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- World experts attending an international forum on democracy have voiced strong support for exercising global governance democratically, asserting that international affairs should be handled by all countries through consultation.

It is a call of the people and trend of the times to promote democracy in international relations and practice true multilateralism, agreed attendees to a parallel session of the International Forum on Democracy: The Shared Human Values, which concluded in Beijing earlier this week.

Expounding on the democratization of international relations, former President of the Republic of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic said, "From the point of view of international relations, [democracy] would signify equality in rights and obligations of the main actors in international relations."

It also indicates opposition to power politics and unilateralism, said Su Xiaohui, a researcher with China Institute of International Studies.

Accordingly, proposals on how to realize the democratization of international relations were put forward.

Looking back on the landscape of global governance during the 19th and 20th centuries, Senen Florensa, president of the European Institute of the Mediterranean, suggested drawing historical lessons to rebuild and preserve a multilateral international system as the best possible global governance to foster peace, justice, and democracy.

Du Zhanyuan, president of the China International Publishing Group, proposed building a democratic system of global governance featuring openness, inclusiveness, common development and security, and fairness and justice.

At the session, running from Tuesday to Wednesday, attendees also unanimously agreed that democracy, as a shared value of humanity, should serve the development of all members of the international community.

Jasminka Plevnik, founder and president of Croatian think tank Geoeconomic Forum, believed China's concept for the community of a shared future for humanity is close to the vision of the world as one family, which is embraced by the United Nations.

"The concept embodies China's willingness to work with other countries on the evolution of international relations ... and with this, I think [is] more democratic," said Plevnik.

The forum, scheduled from Dec. 4 to 15 with three phrases of parallel sessions, held in-depth discussions on democracy from three perspectives: the common value of humanity, democracy, and national governance, and the diversity of democracy.

Its closing ceremony announced the launch of a global think-tank network for democracy studies with participation from more than 40 research institutes.