More cultural exchanges urged

Jiang Jianguo (second from right), minister of China's State Council Information Office, Justin Yifu Lin (right), honorary dean of the National School of Development at Peking University, former Pakistani prime minister Shaukat Aziz (second left) and Iran's Permanent Delegate to UNESCO Ahmad Jalali (left) take part in a panel discussion at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference in Boao, Hainan province, on Wednesday. [Photo/China Daily]

Delegates attending the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference have called for more dialogue among Asian civilizations, with a high-level conference on this issue expected to be held next year.

A mechanism for intercultural exchanges among Asian countries should be established and such exchanges should be held regularly, Jiang Jianguo, minister of the State Council Information Office, said at a panel discussion on Wednesday.

The discussion had the theme "Dialogue of Asian Civilizations".

"China is promoting a conference for dialogue among Asian civilizations next year, which will be a beginning (for such exchanges)," he said.

Jiang added that these exchanges should be conducted on multiple platforms, either official or nonofficial. Media organizations, cultural and religious groups and NGOs all have their roles to play, he said.

One year ago, while addressing the opening of the 2015 Boao Forum, President Xi Jinping proposed a conference be held for dialogue among various Asian civilizations to boost regional understanding and cooperation.

Delegates attending Wednesday's session agreed that such dialogue is particularly essential at a time when the world is witnessing more conflicts and misunderstandings among civilizations.

In response to Tuesday's terror attacks in Brussels, Cheng Yung-nien, director of the East Asia Institute at the National University of Singapore, said he does not consider such attacks a result of a clash of civilizations－a theory put forward in the 1990s by US political scientist Samuel Huntington.

"Civilizations do not generate clashes themselves, but an improper world order propelled by geopolitics does," Cheng said at the forum.

Nada Al-Nashif, assistant director-general of Social and Human Sciences at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, said the principles of mutual respect, diversity, tolerance and inclusion should be upheld in cultural exchanges.

"Intercultural dialogue denotes an open process of exchange and respect between individuals and groups of different cultures, points of view and aspirations," she said.

Justin Yifu Lin, a professor of economics at Peking University, said cultural dialogue should take place on the basis of equal treatment.

Countries should have confidence in their own cultures, and respect and learn from each other. "Only in this way, can dialogue among civilizations contribute to a more peaceful world," the academic said.