On September 28, 2015, Xi Jinping spoke at the general debate of the 70th United Nations General Assembly in New York. He called for “a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at its core” (以合作共赢为核心的新型国际关系).
Equality and Mutual Benefit
On December 31, 1953, during negotiations with India, Zhou Enlai received the Indian government delegation in Beijing. He put forward five principles for the first time: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit (平等互利), and peaceful coexistence. They became known as the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.
Market for Technology
The carmaker Beijing Jeep, a joint venture with a foreign partner, opened in January 1984. At that time, Rao Bin, vice minister of the First Ministry of Machine Building, put forward the formula 以市场换技术, “trade the market for technology.” Foreign carmakers would gain access to Chinese buyers, and China would gain their technology.
In April 2018, a Xinhua commentary drew a lesson: “Historical experience shows that the market cannot buy real core technology.”
Consult, Build and Share Together
On June 5, 2014, Xi Jinping opened the ministerial meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum. He said that the Belt and Road should follow the principle of 共商、共建、共享, “joint consultation, joint construction and shared benefits.” People’s Daily later wrote that this speech was the first to set out the principle systematically.
In March 2015, the official vision document for the Belt and Road repeated it: “Belt and Road construction is a systematic project. It must follow the principle of joint consultation, joint construction and shared benefits.”
A Ball of Harmony
一团和气 A ball of harmony. The Handian dictionary says it first described a warm and friendly manner, and now also means keeping on good terms without regard to principle. In chapter 19 of the Water Margin, a character says of the Liangshan chief Wang Lun: “He treats everyone with a ball of harmony. Why is his heart so narrow?”
The Shopkeeper’s Sayings
童叟无欺 Cheating neither child nor old man. Fair and honest trade.
货真价实 Genuine goods at true prices.
和气生财 Friendliness brings wealth. A dictionary calls it a common saying of traders: a seller who is gentle and does not offend customers will get rich. In Lu Xun’s story Divorce, a character says: “A person should always be friendlier. ‘Friendliness brings wealth,’ isn’t that right?”
货有高低三等价，客无远近一般看 Goods come at three prices, high and low. Guests near or far are treated alike. In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong quotes it as a common saying to an innkeeper who has just named three classes of service.
Struggle Without Breaking
Chinese writing on relations with the United States uses the phrase 斗而不破, struggle without breaking. In 2018 the scholar Zhang Yunling wrote: “Between China and the US, struggle when there must be struggle, and talk when there must be talk. Struggle without breaking is still the bottom line.”
He explained the two words. “To struggle is to compete. To break is to go to war.”
Seek Common Ground
On April 19, 1955, at the Asian-African Conference in Bandung, Zhou Enlai said: “Our conference should seek common ground while reserving differences.” The Chinese delegation, he said, had come “to seek common ground, not to create differences.”
The four-character form 求同存异, seek common ground while reserving differences, is a standard Chinese idiom today.
Harmony Is Most Precious
礼之用，和为贵: “In the practice of the rites, harmony is most precious.” The line is in the first book of the Analects. It is often quoted as Confucius, but the speaker is his disciple Youzi.
The passage continues with a limit: “To know harmony and seek harmony, without regulating it by the rites, will not work either.”