Sovereignty of every country must be respected

Stability, predictability and security have been rare assets in international relations in recent years. On the other hand, there has been an abundance of economic fluctuations, unilateral and bold attitudes, and military conflicts.

This erratic movement began in the early 2000s, when Afghanistan and Iraq were invaded by United States-led troops, and that was followed by the global financial crisis of 2008, the sponsorship of color revolutions in the 2010s, the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply chain crisis, the military conflict in Ukraine, Israel's devastating military actions in Palestinian territories and, most recently, the US-Israeli strikes against Iran.

If we could identify the main center of the propagation of instability in the world today, the pivot would be the US. This is precisely the country that, since the end of World War II, has set itself up as the great defender of a rules-based international order and as the largest sponsor of multilateral institutions, such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization.

With the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the US established itself as the sole superpower.

In 1992, the Wolfowitz Doctrine was formulated. This US defense strategy established the maintenance of US global supremacy after the competition with the Soviet Union. It advocates unilateral and preemptive action to prevent the emergence of any regional or global rival, in order to ensure that the US is the world's sole superpower.

The current US administration intensified US unilateralism and aggravated instability on the international stage. Tariff policies disrupted global value chains and encouraged other countries to adopt defensive measures. In Latin America, the so-called "Donroe Doctrine" — an update of the policy of US hegemony in the Western Hemisphere that proposes the isolation of the region from the influence of "extra-regional powers" — came into play.

The instability extends throughout the world, and the "reconstruction" of Gaza has become a lucrative business for the US.

Meanwhile, Washington, in alliance with the Israeli government, launched attacks in February that decimated Iran's top leadership and sparked a massive energy crisis, similar to the oil shocks of the 1970s.

The unilateral actions of the hegemonic power, as strong as they appear, reveal the US' weakness, asit has lost the legitimacy to continue such actions. When legitimacy is lacking, the only remaining resources are unilateralism and violence, which are insufficient to ensure the stability of international rules and to build a stable, peaceful international environment.

At this time of reordering global governance, as evidenced by the crises of the UN system and the hegemony of a single power, it is necessary to renegotiate international relations on the basis of fair and democratic principles. The world is too diverse to adjust to the principles of a single political model, a single civilizational pattern or a single economic mode. In this regard, attention must be paid to China-proposed global initiatives in terms of development, security, civilization and governance.

Specifically with regard to peace, the Global Security Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping brings a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security vision that is based on multilateralism, sovereignty and noninterference in other nations' internal affairs, seeking to resolve disputes through dialogue and promote a "community with a shared future for humanity". Its main premise is that the security of one country should not be guaranteed at the expense of others, upholding the principle of the indivisibility of security. The sovereignty, territorial integrity, development choices and social systems of each nation must be respected, and unilateral sanctions aimed at regime change, as is unfortunately the case in Venezuela and Iran, should be rejected.

UN institutions need to be strengthened in accordance with their founding principles and accepted by all member countries. The focus should be on dialogue to resolve regional and global disputes, seeking a path of peace, growth and respect. In this sense, it is important to extend the concept of security comprehensively, including in traditional areas, such as conflicts, as well as in nontraditional areas, such as terrorism, cybersecurity and biosecurity.

We are in a transition phase. The Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) said: "The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot yet be born. In this interregnum, a wide variety of morbid symptoms arise." This quote takes on renewed meaning as we witness the agony of the hegemonic power, which, before falling, seeks to show a strength it no longer possesses. History moves on, and the new will override the old.

The author is a professor of international political economy at Sao Paulo State University in Brazil.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.