2022 in retrospect: eventful, yet hopeful with evolving trends

BEIJING, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- A lingering COVID-19 pandemic, incessant climate disasters, rising geopolitical tensions, a sluggish economic recovery, soaring energy prices -- a wild tangle of woes and challenges in 2022 has pushed the world to another crossroads, whose future remains within the command of each and every one of us.

What should we do to embrace a brave new world in the making? Should we divide, instigate and decay, or unite, stabilize and revive? We may need to find the answer by drawing the lessons from the past.

DISTURBED GLOBAL SECURITY

In 2022, the Ukraine crisis was hitting up after incitement from the United States and its allies by further orchestrating NATO's eastward expansion. The escalation of the Ukraine crisis, in turn, has given rise to a changing landscape of regional and global security.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the largest nuclear power plants in Europe, has been attacked by shelling, with Russia and Ukraine pointing the fingers at each other. A truck exploded while traveling on the road part of the Crimean Bridge, leading to the partial collapse of two spans of the road bridge. Leaks were discovered in two natural gas pipelines, Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, which carry gas from Russia to Europe. The battlefield has been dragged into a stalemate as Washington continuously defied international appeals and took provocative steps by sending military hardware and intelligence to Ukraine.

NATO has formally invited Sweden and Finland to join the military alliance. As the two Nordic countries edge toward NATO, the list of "neutral" or nonaligned countries in Europe appears poised to shrink.

After the escalation of the Ukraine crisis, the United States and its allies imposed rounds of sanctions on Russia in hope of choking the country's energy and grain export channels and destroying its economy. However, those sanctions have backfired and hurt U.S. allies, and have triggered a worldwide energy and food crisis. The European Union (EU) member states have to cap natural gas prices in the bloc at 180 euros (about 191 U.S. dollars) per megawatt-hour to ensure the security of energy supply. Besides, the five highest levels of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Food Price Index have all been recorded this year.

A price cap on Russian seaborne crude agreed by the EU, the Group of Seven nations and Australia increases the risks of Russia reducing its oil production, thus pushing prices of crude oil higher, creating instability in the markets, and further exacerbating Europe's pain. Meanwhile, food imports into Africa continued to be hampered, thereby increasing inflation in African countries while causing food insecurity.

Adding to those troubles is an ailing Mother Nature. The World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency 2022 found that 16 of the 35 variables it tracks are at record extremes based on the time series data.

"We are now at 'code red' on planet Earth. Humanity is unequivocally facing a climate emergency," the report warned.

CHALLENGED INTERNATIONAL ORDER

The year of 2022 is filled with economic breakdowns as well as political and social disorders. Many problems facing human development, highly intertwined and difficult to manage, have posed a serious threat to the global governance system.

The international community has witnessed a series of political shocking moments that bespoke a world in turmoil. Rishi Sunak has become Britain's third prime minister within 50 days, after Liz Truss and Boris Johnson were forced to resign. Two coups took place this year in Burkina Faso. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died after being fatally shot by a gunman during a speech in the western Japanese city of Nara.

Meanwhile, amid partisan wrangling and other systemic flaws, the United States continues to introduce destructive policies that weigh on the world economy by driving up global prices, disturbing financial markets and undermining the global economic and trade order.

To bring down inflation, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates seven times this year with a total increase of 425 basis points, and signaled that it will continue to raise rates in early 2023, and will not begin to cut them until 2024 -- a move broadly perceived as a political calculation to take advantage of the dollar's dominance in the international monetary and trade system to pass domestic risks to the outside world and leave the United States unscathed.

The rest of the world has already felt the pain. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted that global economic growth will slow from 3.2 percent this year to 2.7 percent in 2023. Inflation in the eurozone and Japan is reaching new high. The UN Conference on Trade and Development noted around 90 developing countries have seen their currencies weaken against the dollar this year, over one-third of them by more than 10 percent. The IMF said over 60 percent of low-income developing countries are already at high risk of or in debt distress.

There is also a growing threat of a trade war between the EU and the United States over the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping tax, health and climate bill approved by U.S. lawmakers in August.

The world's population has reached 8 billion in mid-November, "but as our human family grows, it is also increasingly divided," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote in an article published in the French daily newspaper Le Monde.

"Unless we bridge the chasm that separates the planet's haves from the most have-nots, we are heading toward a world of 8 billion inhabitants torn by tensions and distrust, plagued by crises and conflicts," he wrote.

EVOLVING INTERNATIONAL LANDSCAPE

In 2022, the shadow of hegemonism, power politics, Cold War mentality and neo-interventionism manifested themselves in many crises. But overwhelming is the momentum for the international pattern to move toward a multipolar one.

This year, a number of multilateral platforms have made new achievements in building world security, enhancing international mutual trust, reviving economic recovery and expanding global trade.

The 14th BRICS Summit, the High-level Dialogue on Global Development, the 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services, the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the fifth China International Import Expo, the China-Arab States Summit and the China-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit have not only produced powerful political declarations, joint statements, cooperation outcomes and trade intentions, but also set a good example of adhering to multilateralism -- the only guarantee for common security and win-win development.

From the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to world leaders' visits to China and the highlight moments at the G20 Summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, the international community has focused on China's opportunities, actively engaged in exchanges and interactions with China, expecting that Beijing will provide more wisdom and driving force for world peace and economic recovery.

The in-person meeting between Xi and his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, came at a special time and was of great significance. While starting the process of "building bridges" between China and the United States, the meeting has had a profound influence on the evolution of the international landscape.

The Xi-Biden meeting identified a clear direction, that is, to prevent China-U.S. relations from getting derailed or out of control, and to find the right way for the two major countries to get along with each other. The meeting established a framework, i.e., jointly working out the guiding principles, or a strategic framework, for China-U.S. relations. The meeting also kicked off a process, i.e., implementing the important common understandings reached by the two heads of state to manage and stabilize China-U.S. relations.

BUILD BETTER FUTURE FOR HUMANITY

Humanity is a community with a shared future where all people rise and fall together, and the interests of all countries are closely linked.

This year, the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind has demonstrated a new path for the world. The Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative have offered opportunities and platforms for peace and development.

On Dec. 7, a special freight train carrying 25 cold-chain containers loaded with 500 tons of fresh Lao bananas departed from the Vientiane station in Lao capital to Changsha, capital city of southern China's Hunan Province, showing that the China-Laos Railway has realized a Lao dream of becoming a land-linked country.

The Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, once in operation, will cut the journey between Jakarta and Bandung from over three hours to around 40 minutes. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel, the first underwater tunnel in South Asia, marked partial completion in November this year.

Chinese modernization has carried global significance. The success of the Chinese path to modernization has been widely recognized as a miracle in the history of human development and a pioneering undertaking in the development of human society, offering an alternative approach to achieving modernization that is different from that of Western countries.

Chinese modernization has created a new mode of human advancement, and provided alternatives for developing countries to achieve modernization, said Gennady Zyuganov, chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

Thong Mengdavid, a research fellow at the Phnom Penh-based Asian Vision Institute, lauded China's achievements on its path to modernization as "a true miracle in the history of human development."

Observers said they expect China, in its stride toward modernization, to continue to bring development opportunities for the world, and make global governance fairer and more equitable.

Looking into the coming year, the international community, especially the developing nations, voiced their confidence that guided by the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, all countries are able to create a brighter future together.