'Win-win' wins app's Word of the Year contest

China Daily's app users have chosen "win-win" as the app's 2019 International Word of the Year.

In answer to the app's call to reflect on the world and nominate a 2019 word of the year, readers from around the world selected the word that in their view captured the international events that caught their attention over the past 12 months.

Five top words were chosen from hundreds of candidates－Belt and Road, climate crisis, multilateralism, turbulence and win-win.

The app received altogether 10,569 votes from Dec 13 to Monday, with 38 percent of voters selecting "win-win".

Some users explained why they chose the word.

"My choice of this word argues against the notion of the zero-sum theory," said a reader with the username "George".

Experts viewed the hyphenated word choice as a vision shared by people worldwide. "This word is not only relevant to the current international situation, but is also closely related to everyone's life and vital interests. Everyone hopes that the two largest economies－China and the United States－can cooperate with each other and achieve mutual benefits so that the world can become more peaceful and prosperous," said Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at Renmin University of China's Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies.

Amid rising unilateralism and protectionism, the concept of win-win was a common theme around the world this year.

"It (the choice of win-win) reflects the core value of China's participation in global governance. China advocates inclusive globalization, pursues multilateralism and win-win cooperation and opposes unilateralism and protectionism," said Jiang Zhida, an associate research fellow at China Institute of International Studies' Center for Belt and Road Studies.

In second place came "Belt and Road" with 26 percent of votes. A reader with the username "black" said: "It (the Belt and Road Initiative) is a good way to develop the economy. For example, one country's products can be exported to other countries and vice versa. In this way, the whole Earth is a family."

The word "climate crisis" received 13 percent of votes as awareness of the problem grows. Meanwhile, 12 percent of votes went to "turbulence". The world witnessed growing turbulence in 2019 with the Middle East once again seeing clashes, and protests in South America led to chaos.

"Multilateralism" received 11 percent of the votes. A reader said multilateralism is critical to building a new world order that will ensure people reach the future they desire.

Jiang Lu contributed to this story.