Violeta Bulc, former European commissioner for mobility and transport at the European Commission and former deputy prime minister of Slovenia, said that Europe and China are like two lungs in the same body — only when they breathe together to their full capacity can the body perform well.

Martin Jacques, former senior fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, pointed out a striking difference between China and the US: While America is wedded to singularity and the exclusion of countries it perceives to be different and therefore unacceptable, China is pluralist in its mentality and does not require other countries to be like it. “The idea of a shared future for mankind draws on the concept of ‘tianxia’ (all under heaven), of a world view rather than a concept of the world divided into over 190 nation-states,” Jacques said.

At this critical moment in the world, the publication of Martin Albrow’s book has more valuable meaning.