In 2013, when Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, at that time people understood very little about what a shared future for all humanity meant. And they understood even less the vision that sought to unite without unifying, spoke of a moral leadership without moralizing, and conceived of a power based on partnerships and not alliances.

The year 2020 was an extraordinary year.

Exactly one year ago Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech in which he reflected on the exercise of power in the most populated country with the world’s oldest continuous culture on January 13, 2020.

Imagine this: A state leader was betrayed by his deputy and was completely cut off from his supporters; the opposition took control of the media and the military; angry protesters stormed the parliamentary building, demanding the election result be overturned; key officials resigned; finally, the leader was coerced into announcing a curfew effective until power was handed over to the opposition.

China has seen considerable growth in its economic, technological and composite national strength. The rise of a responsible country like China does not threaten others or pose danger to the world. Instead, it has contributed more to global prosperity and the common well-being of humanity.

When the COVID-19 pandemic became a global public health problem, we saw numerous analyses written by experts from different countries and fields of knowledge projecting scenarios about what the post-pandemic world would be like.

As observers and scholars alike scramble to predict the future of U.S.-China relations under the incoming Biden administration, President Trump once again successfully proved that he is still the one who calls the shots. Being totally engrossed in his loss in the election, plotting schemes to overturn the election result, and continuously staying blind to his country’s spiking COVID-19 cases; on January 5, Mr. Trump found the time to sign an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Alipay and WeChat Pay, according to the White House.

The pandemic exposed the international political tensions arising from China’s economic ascension and the dispute over more efficient governance models adapted to contemporary demands and challenges. One declaration given by an international authority figure brought this debate to the forefront of one of the greatest pandemics in the history of humanity: the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking about the measures taken by the Chinese government to contain the epidemic of COVID-19, stated that the Chinese president had shown the type of political leadership that is expected from countries facing a public health crisis of such magnitude. And, while highlighting China’s commitment to multilateralism and peace, he also said: “In fact, they (the Chinese) are protecting the rest of the world.” Trump’s reaction was soon to come and, in its wake, that of the new Brazilian extreme right-wing movement.

After eight years of negotiations, 15 countries of the Asia-Pacific region signed a free trade agreement on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on November 15, 2020, which was initiated by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2012. Thus the world’s largest free trade area came into being. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the signing of this agreement gives a strong impetus to Asia-Pacific regional economic integration and injects a powerful new stimulus to the global economic recovery.

The Davos Forum themed “the Great Reset” will be held as scheduled in January 2021. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, lockdowns and quarantine measures have severely impacted all economies, and how to recover the world economy as soon as possible has become the focus of global attention.

At the dawn of the third decade of the 21st century and at a critical juncture in the worldwide battle against COVID-19, the issue of how globalization develops, evolves, and overcomes challenges amid the pandemic is gaining much global attention.

The last year was a special one for all. The outbreak and global spread of the novel coronavirus have taken a heavy toll on the global industrial and supply chains. The world economy is experiencing the most severe recession since the 1930s. It is a challenge for all countries to get the world economy back on track.

China has made the protection of the ecological environment a priority in its development. Over recent years, it has implemented prevention and control measures on the pollution of air, water, and soil; returned marginal farmland to forests and grasslands; and carried out energy conservation, environmental protection, and renewable energy development through technological innovations. In addition, it has developed ecologically friendly industries, and integrated ecological protection with agriculture, industry, information, and service sectors to realize the ecological transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.

COVID-19 has stopped much of the world in its tracks. The pandemic has created what many hope history will remember as The Great Pause. We have before us, however, a moment during which we can turn this great pause, and the catastrophe that caused it, into an opportunity for a global re-set and the emergence of new hope for the future.