It has plenty of meaning. It means you’re explaining when something outside the Christian world happened to people who don’t know enough about the region to know when “14th year of the 3rd Ming Dynasty” is, so you translate to CE, a reference point the listeners have in common. Breaks you out of the Euro-centric Christ-centric view and reminds that it’s a big planet and most of the people on it for most of its history haven’t really been too worried about who’s nailed to a cross and why.
(After voting Pluto out, and voting metric in, they'll be airing senate hearings on universality of the maqam)
Yeah, well Jupiter is bigger, and there's nobody there. Now what?
The phrase”common era” has no meaning. What does a Taoist devotee in China have in common with a Roman Catholic that can be traced to 2011 years ago in the Middle East? The reference point is still based on an estimation of the birth of Christ made by Western authorities. The Gregorian calendar was even adopted in China until 1912 so how can it possible be in common?