Reference News website reported on April 15 that The Guardian website of the UK published an article titled "The 'New World Order' of the past 35 years is collapsing before our eyes; we must do this" on April 12. The author of the article is former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The following are excerpts from the article: This week began with one of the most severe financial upheavals in recent years and ended with the most serious escalation of tensions between China and the US so far, it's time to distinguish between major changes and storms. If everything remains unchanged, the 2020s may be remembered as the "terrible decade" of this century. Historians used the term "terrible decade" to describe the 1930s. The defining characteristics of the 2020s not only include 7 million deaths due to COVID-19 and the exacerbation of global poverty and inequality, but also the dismemberment of Ukraine, the scorched earth of Gaza, and little-known atrocities in Africa and Asia. All these prove that a global order based on power has violently replaced a global order based on rules. The old order cannot be restored. In fact, we are witnessing the impact on every pillar of the old order - not only free trade, but also the rule of law, the primacy we have long given to human rights and democracy, the right of self-determination of the people, and multilateral cooperation among nations, including the humanitarian and environmental responsibilities we once undertook as world citizens. Of course, the alternation of power is inevitable in history. In two centuries, there have been four rises and falls of world orders. The first two world orders were the balance of power that emerged after Napoleon's defeat in the early 19th century, and the Versailles Treaty system that followed World War I, which was born after the collapse of the four great empires, ultimately ending in the slaughter of World War II. Then came the world order led by the United States and the United Nations after 1945, and the world order that emerged after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact in 1990, which US President George H.W. Bush called the "new world order." Now, with the eastward shift of the economic power balance, the new mercantilism has taken its place, and the concept once known as the "Washington Consensus" is no longer supported by any side - especially in Washington. Due to its "everyone can participate" concept being unfair to some, globalization is now being abandoned by countless people. The popular path to prosperity now is not open trade, but its opposite - restricted trade. But Trump's extreme unpredictability foretells greater dangers in the future, "let chaos grow and then control chaos" seems to have become a catchphrase. As the two countries risk escalating their confrontation to new heights, the question is whether we are heading towards a future of "one world, two systems," or if this is just the usual disorder and chaos in the history of the past few centuries, and whether there is still an opportunity to establish a stable and sustainable world order. From recent events, it is obvious that the fourth global order cannot be restored. We are in an era with more protectionist colors, and we are moving from a unipolar world dominated by the United States to a world with more decision-making centers. But we are also in a more interconnected world where we are more vulnerable to crises, including pandemics, climate emergencies, and financial crises. This vulnerability may intensify, as we have seen this week, because countries can weaponize this interdependence, creating bottlenecks for their own interests. Therefore, if we want to build a global order based on values, we must agree on an updated version of the global charter at some point for our common future. This updated global charter should be based on the Atlantic Charter of 1941 and the UN Charter of 1945, but facing a completely different century. Appeal for Multilateral Cooperation Recently, leaders of Spain, Brazil, and South Africa called for multilateral cooperation. These countries will host three global conferences this year, namely the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the G20 Summit. Leaders of Malaysia, Colombia, and South Africa appealed: "We must unite now to enforce international law. We face a grim choice: either we act together to enforce international law, or we risk the collapse of international law." First, all nations that believe in international cooperation should commit to providing global solutions to global problems that cannot be solved solely through individual actions or bilateral agreements through new multilateralism in this generation. Second, as the foundation for building the future, this alliance of intent should immediately engage in practical cooperation on urgent issues because these issues cannot be resolved solely by the strength of nation-states, such as global security, climate, health, humanitarian needs, and trade issues. Countries should strive to modernize international institutions that can bring global solutions. Third, we should strive to build a bridgehead that can communicate with skeptics like Trump, acknowledging his view that there is a need for mutual and fair sharing of responsibility among nations; given that this is a debt-laden world, we should propose innovative and fair methods to mobilize resources to translate these commitments into action. By addressing the drawbacks of the era of hyperglobalization, we can all pursue a world of open trade that includes all those left behind. Two hundred years ago, at a similarly crucial moment, a British leader called for "creating a new world to correct the imbalance of the old world." The lesson of history is that any enduring new order must be built on the rock of principles, not on the quicksand of expediency and the narrowest interpretation of national self-interest. As long as countries work together, we can create a moment like the 1940s, embarking on the arduous task of building the fifth modern world order. (Translated by Ma Dan) [Image: https://p3-sign.toutiaoimg.com/tos-cn-i-axegupay5k/9547b40766b94e5b8ab499083862010f~tplv-tt-origin-web:gif.jpeg?_iz=58558&from=article.pc_detail&lk3s=953192f4&x-expires=1745321992&x-signature=N04RFJgEUeeG%2BY2sISpXntKRXE4%3D] This is a photo taken at the public meeting of the UN Security Council on the Ukrainian issue held at the UN headquarters in New York on March 26 (Xinhua News Agency). Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7493488003952787983/ Disclaimer: The article represents the views of the author alone. Welcome to express your attitude by clicking the "like/dislike" buttons below.