积极落实全球文明倡议 合力推动人类文明进步.pdf

ForeignAffairsHighlights/外事点晴Work Actively to Implement the Global CivilizationInitiative and Jointly Advance Human Civilizations积极落实全球文明倡议合力推动人类文明进步Liu Jianchao,Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Commitee中共中央对外联络部部长刘建超As countries around the world face common challengesin the course of seeking peace and development andmaking explorations towards modernization,the callfor solidarity,collaboration and dialogue is growing strongerthan ever.However,the deep-seated problems of suspicion,division and confrontation are still blocking internationalcooperation.Therefore,it is essential to step up inter-civilization exchanges for closer people-to-people connectivity.The Global Civilization Initiative(GCI),proposed by GeneralSecretary Xi Jinping in his keynote address entitled Join Handson the Path Towards Modernization at the CPC in Dialoguewith World Political Parties High-level Meeting on March 152023,is a sincere call to the world for in-depth inter-civilizationexchanges and dialogue to advance human civilizations throughinclusiveness and mutual learning.This is yet another effortto contribute Chinas wisdom and solutions to promotinginternational cooperation at a higher level.I.The GCI epitomizes General Secretary Xi Jinpingsprofound strategic vision,broad historical perspective,strongsense of responsibility for the times and deep care for humanity.The GCI is a timely response to the urgent call of peoplesaround the world for stronger solidarity and collaborationto jointly deal with common challenges.In todays world,multiple challenges and crises are intertwined.The globaleconomic recovery remains sluggish,the development gapis widening,ecological environment is deteriorating,and theCold War mentality is lingering.Humanitys modernizationprocess has once again reached a crossroads of history.Tomeet our common challenges,we need material means toconquer difficulties,and cultural and ethical resources togarner strength.General Secretary Xi Jinping noted that asthe future of all countries are closely connected,tolerance,coexistence,exchanges and mutual learning among differentcivilizations play an irreplaceable role in advancing humanitysmodernization process and making the garden of worldcivilizations flourish.Proposing the GCI at the CPC inDialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meetingconveys Chinas sincere desire to work with all countriesin pursuing modernization with distinctive features of eachcountry,and promoting global inter-civilization exchanges andmutual learning for the advancement of human civilizations.The GCI is an earnest response to the common aspirationsof countries for upholding equality,inclusiveness and diversityof world civilizations.Just as no country is superior to others,there is no such thing as inferior or superior civilization.Sinceancient times,people of different regions have developed amyriad of great civilizations in the course of production and inexploiting and changing nature.They have pursued the commonhuman values and goals of peace,development,equity,justice,democracy,and freedom and promoted progress of humansociety.No value should be above other values.Modernizationand civilization can be realized and advanced through morethan one model.The illusion of self-important“universalcivilization will easily fall through.Drawing lines alongideology and values and creating divisions and confrontationswill only bring disastrous results upon the world and blemishthe civilizations.General Secretary Xi Jinping has elaboratedon the significance of diversity for human civilizations onvarious occasions.He stressed that the GCI advocates,firstand foremost,the respect for the diversity of civilizations andthat countries need to keep an open mind in appreciating theperceptions of values by different civilizations,and refrain fromimposing their own values or models on others and from stokingideological confrontation.This demonstrates Chinas inclusivevision of jointly promoting inter-civilization cooperation with allcountries so as to prosper respectively and together.The World and Chongqing1The GCI is a natural response to the common call of theinternational community for closer inter-civilization dialogueand exchanges and more vibrant cultural development.Overthe course of several thousand years,the Chinese civilizationhas preserved its roots and constantly broke new ground bydrawing inspiration and wisdom from exchanges and mutuallearning with other civilizations.In turn,it has also advancedthe progress of human civilization with its own development.As economic globalization unfolds,there is a growing needto modernize traditional cultures through mutual learning.In response,General Secretary Xi Jinping advocates culturalexchanges over estrangement,mutual learning over clashesand coexistence over feelings of superiority,and pushing forcreative transformation and innovative development of finetraditional cultures through exchanges and mutual learning.China has all along been a firm advocate and an activepractitioner of inter-civilization exchanges and cooperation.The GCI is yet another living proof of our unceasing efforts tothis end.The GCI is a sincere response to the call of the times forcountries around the world to advance progress of civilizationsand build a human community with a shared future.As GeneralSecretary Xi Jinping rightly pointed out,in promoting thedevelopment of human society and the building of a humancommunity with a shared future,we need a keen understandingand grasp of the origins and the substance of differentcivilizations so that humanity can benefit from the cream of allcivilizations.The Global Development Initiative and GlobalSecurity Initiative put forward by China in recent years openup new possibilities for international cooperation in the field ofdevelopment and security,while the GCI injects new dynamisminto and builds new safeguards for global developmentcooperation and global security cooperation.The three initiatives provide a powerful underpinning forthe building of a human community with a shared future andembody Chinas holistic thinking on fostering a world of lastingpeace and prosperity.II.The GCI is clear in logic and rich in content with the“four advocatings making up a well-structured system forinter-civilization exchanges and sustained development ofcivilizations.The GCI centers on the core tenets of“four advocatingsas follows:advocating the respect for the diversity of civilizations.Countries need to uphold the principles of equality,mutuallearning,dialogue and inclusiveness among civilizations,andlet cultural exchanges transcend estrangement,mutual learningtranscend clashes,and coexistence transcend feelings ofsuperiority.advocating the common values of humanity.Peace,development,equity,justice,democracy and freedom are thecommon aspirations of all peoples.Countries need to keep anopen mind in appreciating the perceptions of values by diferentcivilizations,and refrain from imposing their own values ormodels on others and from stoking ideological confrontation.advocating the importance of inheritance and innovationof civilizations.Countries need to fully harness the relevanceof their histories and cultures to the present times,and push forcreative transformation and innovative development of theirfine traditional cultures.advocating robust international people-to-peopleexchanges and cooperation.Countries need to explore thebuilding of a global network for inter-civilizational dialogueand cooperation,enrich the content of exchanges and expandavenues of cooperation to promote mutual understanding andfriendship among people of all countries and jointly advancethe progress of human civilizations.The“four advocatings,with each focusing on a particularaspect,are mutually reinforcing and make up a coherent organicunity.They reveal the basic laws that underlie the exchangesamong and development of civilizations and open up newprospects for cooperation of human society.The respect for the diversity of civilizations is theprerequisite for their exchanges and development.Allcivilizations are rooted in their unique cultures.Each embodiesthe wisdom and spiritual pursuit of a country or a nation,andeach has its unique value of existence.Such diversity,beingan objective reality,is also an invaluable asset shared by theentire humanity.Differences among civilizations should not beviewed as a threat to ones own civilization.Civilizations arenot isolated either.It is exchanges and mutual learning amongcivilizations that drives their progress.Thanks to economicglobalization,interactions among civilizations and cultures havebecome more frequent and in-depth.During his historic visitto the headquarters of UNESCO in 2014,General SecretaryXi Jinping expounded in a keynote address there his vision oncivilization featuring diversity,equality and inclusiveness.Astime passes by with more inter-civilization exchanges,GeneralSecretary Xi Jinping has enriched the vision to encompassequality,mutual learning,dialogue and inclusiveness.Headvocates promoting dialogues among different civilizationsas long as its diversity is respected and protected,removingestrangement,bias,fear and conflicts through mutual learningfor mutual understanding,and building a new pattern of worldcivilizations where they learn from each other and coexist inharmony.The common values of humanity are the fundamentalguidance for the exchanges and development of civilizations.2The World and ChongqingHuman civilizations progress in differentiated ways butthey produce the same set of core values,which is not only thespiritual bond that connects different civilizations,countries andnations,but also the underlying force driving human progress.General Secretary Xi Jinping advocates peace,development,equity,justice,democracy and freedom as the common valuesof humanity,which are also universally recognized by peoplesaround the world.It is an important step towards buildingcommon understanding among different civilizations on theperception of values,and will garner stronger willpower for thebuilding of a human community with a shared future.Whilechampioning the common values of humanity,we also need toappreciate the perceptions of values by different civilizationsand respect the efforts of other countries and peoples to turntheir values into reality.We should seek common ground whilereserving differences and stand opposed to the practice ofuniting with the like-minded and alienating those with differentviews.We should refrain from imposing our own values andmodels on others and from stoking ideological confrontation.These are also what common values of humanity mean andrequire.Only by upholding openness,inclusiveness and mutualrespect,can the common values of humanity be truly carriedforward and an even closer human community with a sharedfuture be built.Inheritance and innovation of civilizations are the mightydriving force for their exchanges and development.Allcivilizations that are still in existence have stood the test oftime in their long histories.They have carried forward fromgeneration to generation the cultural gene of a country or anation and have become a mighty cohesive force to hold thatcountry or nation together.For any civilization to remainits vigor and vitality,it must advance with the times,makeprogress while preserving its heritage,and be adept at creativetransformation and innovative development.Its progress issure to be impeded by attempts to hold fast to the establishedways or follow the beaten track.Countries and nations shouldundertake the responsibility of sustaining and developinghuman civilizations,and draw on the merits and wisdom ofother civilizations through exchanges,dialogues and mutuallearning.Efforts should also be made to enrich the contentand diversify the form of civilizations in light of the featuresand requirements of modernization.Only in this way can finetraditional cultures demonstrate immense charm and vitalitythat transcend time and space,and truly benefit the wholeof human society.For any civilization to be inherited andinnovated,peoples creativity must be unleashed,the outcomesof cultural inheritance and innovation must be shared by all,and peoples aspiration for coordinated material and cultural-ethical advancement,harmony between humanity and nature,and all-round development must be satisfied.Robust international people-to-people interactions andcooperation are important means to advance the exchangesamong and development of civilizations.People are thebest vehicles for exchanges and mutual learning amongcivilizations.Friendship between the peoples holds the key tosound state-to-state relations,and heart-to-heart communicationcontributes to deeper friendship.Therefore,people-to-peopleexchanges always serve as bridges connecting countries andnations for better mutual understanding and stronger friendlybonds,yet some interest groups,out of their selfish interests,attempt to provoke conflicts between civilizations and stokebloc confrontations,which has seriously eroded the foundationof understanding and trust among civilizations and underminedinternational people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.Weshould,once again,galvanize the mighty force of people-to-people exchanges and cooperation.By expanding the flow ofpersonnel and strengthening bilateral and multilateral people-to-people cooperation,we can enrich the content of exchanges,expand avenues of cooperation,and explore the building of aglobal network for inter-civilization dialogue and cooperation.By doing so,we will enhance mutual trust among countriesand nations and promote mutual understanding and friendshipamong different peoples,and build a world more culturally-advanced that enjoys greater prosperity and security.III.The GCI has received extensive attention and positiveresponse worldwide,and its implementation requires jointefforts of all parties to create the maximum synergy.Since its launch,the GCI has won warm response andoverwhelming support from leaders of many countries andpeople from various sectors.They believe that the Initiativereflects the vision and sense of responsibility of GeneralSecretary Xi Jinping as the leader of a major country.Contributing Chinese wisdom to solving the most acute andpressing problems facing the world,the GCI brings hopefor reducing conflicts and confrontations and promotingworld prosperity,and pictures a beautiful world aspired byall.Therefore,they stand ready to deepen inter-civilizationexchanges and cooperation with China for the implementationof the Initiative.Looking back in history,we would find that inter-civilization exchanges have had both good times and badtimes.The good times would see civilizations flourish and thesociety develop rapidly.While in the bad times,civilizationsdeclined and the society regressed.By proposing the GCI,General Secretary Xi Jinping hopes to draw wider attention tothe value of inter-civilization exchanges and restor