Maintain Good Faith and Pursue Harmony

The term Jiang Xin Xiu Mu from The Book of Rites refers to practicing good faith and seeking harmonious relations, a vital feature of the “universal harmony” in society envisioned by the ancient Chinese. In an ideal society, people and states forge mutual trust, cooperation, and harmonious relations with one another. It later became an important Chinese cultural norm for governing people and state relationships.

Xin, or faith, is one of the five core values of the Chinese tradition (alongside benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom). It connotes trustworthiness, integrity, and honesty. More generally, honesty is a fundamental principle for any society. An absence of mutual trust and integrity among its members will eventually cause instability in society, making it impossible to carry out public life. Honesty and harmonious and friendly interpersonal relations are the key components of good public life and essential for construction of a social community that benefits all members.

Good faith is a crucial element of the core values of contemporary Chinese society and a major principle in international exchanges. China practices amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness to deepen its mutually beneficial relations with neighboring countries. We uphold sincerity and honesty and seek to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with developing countries. The international community should also champion good faith, treat others with sincerity, promote living in harmony, and seek to achieve win-win cooperation through mutual trust and mutual benefits.

講信修睦

講信修睦出自《禮記·禮運》，意為講究誠信，謀求和睦。這是中國古人所描述的“大同”理想社會的重要特征之一，即人與人之間、國與國之間彼此信任合作，和睦相處。此后，講信修睦成為中國文化中處理人際關系和國際關系的一個重要準則。

“信”是中國傳統的五種核心價值（仁、義、禮、智、信）之一，其基本含義是信用、信任、誠信。從普遍意義上來講，誠信是任何社會存在的基礎性原則，如果社會成員之間缺乏最基本的信任，那么這樣的社會是無法長期穩定存在的，公共生活更加無從談起。以誠信為基礎，社會成員之間才可能建立和睦、友善的人際關系，開展良好的公共生活， 形成社會共同體。

誠信是當代中國社會主義核心價值觀的重要內容，也是開展國際交往的重要原則。中國堅持親誠惠容理念，深化同周邊國家互利關系；秉持真實親誠理念，加強同發展中國家團結合作。國際社會也應堅持誠信的基本原則，以誠相待、和睦相處、互信互利、合作共贏。