I strongly believe that building a community of shared future is crucial for the future of mankind. Indeed, not only future prosperity and peace depend on economic growth and political cooperation, but also from a shared culture based on mutual understanding. This is why in a world where openness is increasingly threatened, we need to keep the door of dialogue among civilizations open.

For a large part of human history, most cultures and people rarely interacted. China and the Western world ignored each other for a long period of time. Then, thanks to the work of men such as Matteo Ricci -- the first European to enter the Forbidden City -- the two worlds began to have cooperative and constructive relations.

This positive encounter, as we know, was shortlived: it was followed by threats, war and domination.

With the founding of the People’s Republic of China, a new phase began. During the first two decades of the Cold War there were many ups and downs, progress and setbacks between Beijing and the West, which were gradually overcome by the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with France in 1964, with Italy in 1970, with the seat in the United Nations in 1971, and of course with the rapprochement with the United States in the 1970s, in the latter case thanks also to a sort of cultural initiative: the so-called ping-pong diplomacy.

Thanks to these political openings and and the following pragmatic modernization of its economy led by Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening-up in 1978, China's integration with the world began. Initially, China's re-entry into the global economy was a slow and gradual affair, and in many respects didn’t take off until the early 1990s when both China and many other states mutually benefited from globalization.

But globalization was not only about economic interdependence. Indeed China's integration with the world meant a new and unprecedented cultural interaction. In the 1980s and '90s, thousands of Chinese students went to study abroad. In recent decades, an opposite flow toward China has taken place, with thousands of American, British, German, French and Italian students coming to China. Not coincidentally, today Mandarin is more and more studied in Europe.

The popularity of Mandarin is, of course, also an outcome of the activities of the Confucius Institutes, which despite controversies about their activities, are doing a great job in promoting the study of Chinese and Chinese culture in the world.

However, I also need to mention my preoccupations about the rising tensions that are emerging in the international system. In particular, I'm concerned that trade and economic disputes may negatively influence cultural and political cooperation.

The current situation is somewhat alarming. We are facing the most radical economic and political reversal of the last 30 years. The relations between China and US are becoming more and more difficult every day.

Given these conditions, there is growing demand for mutual understanding and multilateral cooperation. And Europe can play a critical and positive role to lower tensions and elaborate positive proposals for decreasing the tensions and positive proposals for improving cooperation.

From this view point, the Belt and Road Initiative is a positive development with potential far-reaching consequences.

A new great economic and logistical integration is taking place between Asia and Europe. The initiative will produce further economic integration between central Asia and Europe and will bring widespread regional benefits.

The “initiative shows once again that China intends to continue on the path of economic collaboration and integration.

But the initiative, like the ancient Silk Road, must not be only a logistical network intended to increase trade between Asia and Europe: it must also become also a powerful cultural instrument which can be used to foster cooperation at regional and international levels. Such an initiative is a great opportunity to strengthen cultural exchanges in Central Asia, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region by promoting a network of trade routes, political cooperation and an extraordinary cultural interaction.

To ensure this outcome, new cooperative schemes must be devised with the goal of creating common procedures for truly shared decisions among the parties involved. The final and ultimate objective is mutual understanding through cooperative institutions and shared governance.

In so doing, China can show to the world its responsible and constructive leadership. In light of rising economic and cultural barriers, I believe that this is a unique opportunity both for Beijing and the world. And knowing very well the cooperative spirit of China, I am confident that these concerns will be addressed in the near future.

Another important area in which China can show its cooperative leadership is the African continent, where both Beijing and Europe have mutual and convergent interests. Africa is experiencing a demographic boom, which is creating massive migration flows and increasing pressures on European societies.

What I have in mind iis a shared Chinese-European Plan of investment for Africa able to offer economic prospects.

Such a plan would also show that dialogue and cooperation among civilizations, people and states, in the mutual interest of all, is crucial for solving global problems.

The author is a former prime minister of Italy, and president of the European Commission.

This article is selected from a book, The Sleeping Giant Awakes, jointly published by China Daily’s communication-led think tank China Watch and Guangdong People's Publishing House.

The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

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