Building bridges, shaping the future

Faced with intertwined geopolitical conflicts and a widening global governance deficit, countries around the world are calling for tearing down walls and building bridges. They aspire to promote peace and stability by upholding fairness and justice, spur innovation through mutual learning and achieve mutual growth by supporting each other’s success.

In September 2025, President Xi Jinping solemnly proposed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), contributing Chinese wisdom and a practical roadmap for improving global governance, safeguarding the international order and promoting common development.

Over the 54 years since the establishment of China-Malta diplomatic ties, the two countries have consistently stood together and supported one another. This enduring relationship serves as an example of relations between countries of different sizes, social systems and historical and cultural backgrounds. The friendly cooperation between our two countries will undoubtedly empower global governance.

Xi Jinping, then Vice President of China, visited Malta in 2009 as his first official trip to Europe and has maintained close contact with President Myriam Spiteri Debono. Under the strategic guidance, China and Malta keep treating each other as equals, valuing each other’s legitimate concerns and respecting each other’s developmental paths. This has created a model for relations across different sizes, systems and cultures.

It fully proves that a country’s international status should not be determined by its size; treating each other as equals is the fundamental basis for state-to-state interactions. As the first principle enshrined in the UN Charter, sovereign equality is an essential requirement for uniting to address challenges.

The GGI’s emphasis on upholding sovereign equality aligns perfectly with the prevailing trend of making the global governance system more representative, inclusive and universally beneficial, ensuring that all countries are equally entitled to participate in, deliberate on and benefit from global governance.

The friendship between our two countries has continuously deepened, yielding fruitful cooperation across various sectors. Notably, in recent years, our cooperation has expanded in areas such as economy and trade, energy, culture and tourism and education, achieving tangible results.

The joint venture in the EU between Shanghai Electric Power and Enemalta has become a shining example of third-party market cooperation. Malta’s bluefin tuna has successfully entered the Chinese market. The Malta Freeport and Yangpu Port of Hainan have signed a MOU, paving the way for connecting Malta the Mediterranean hub with China’s vast market.

Despite differences in economic scale, China and Malta share market opportunities, demonstrating that governance consensus must be translated into visible and tangible cooperation outcomes.

The GGI advocates practising multilateralism to ensure that the fruits of development are shared by all peoples, leaving no country behind, and driving global governance to be more synergistic and efficient.

In 2022, President Xi Jinping warmly replied to a letter from the teachers and students of the ‘Science China Corner’ at St Margaret College Secondary School, encouraging Maltese youths to actively participate in cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Following China’s implementation of a visa-free policy for Malta, a growing number of Maltese friends are experiencing Chinese modernisation firsthand. At the same time, many Chinese tourists are visiting Malta to appreciate its unique charm.

The friendly cooperation between our two countries will empower global governance- Zhang Zuo

The China Cultural Centre has become an essential window for the Maltese public to understand China. The Chinese language has been included in Malta’s SEC examinations for the first time last year.

Through these exchanges and mutual learning, the people of both countries are continuously enhancing mutual understanding, drawing closer to each other  and sowing the seeds of China-Malta friendship.

The GGI champions a people-centred approach, emphasising the need to break down ideological barriers between different nations and social groups, making the safeguarding of common interests a shared conviction and providing broad support for the effective operation of the global governance system.

In the face of imbalanced global development and the coercive, predatory actions of hegemonic countries, China and Malta have always adhered to mutual assistance and innovative cooperation.

In 2011, Malta assisted in the safe evacuation of nearly 5,000 Chinese citizens from Libya via its territory. During the pandemic, China donated batches of medical supplies to Malta to support epidemic prevention and control, demonstrating a joint response to major public crises.

Advanced technology should serve as a tool to benefit humanity, rather than becoming a source of instability that endangers peace. This requires us to better balance development and security, collaboratively improve the global governance system and ensure that technological progress always aligns with the common values of humanity and serves the cause of global peace and development.

The GGI advocates for advancing shared governance more effectively to address the practical issues most concerning to the international community, ensuring that global governance stands the test of time and meets the expectations of the people.

The world today is undergoing profound changes on a scale unseen in a century. The international system established after WWII has been severely disrupted by multiple crises, placing global governance at a critical crossroads where progress is imperative, as failure to advance risks falling behind.

Standing at the forefront of our era, the GGI injects fresh momentum into building a community with a shared future for humanity and serves as a compass guiding the great ship of history through turbulent waters. It is yet another significant international public good that China has contributed to the world.

China stands ready to work with Malta, and all other countries around the world, to uphold the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.

Together, we can expand the scope and influence of multilateralism, let the light of fairness and justice illuminate the earth, bring the achievements of global governance to all nations and jointly create a brighter future for humanity and the progress of human civilisation!

Zhang Zuo is the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China.