Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Promote Asian values and promote mutual understanding between China and ASEAN.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Tian.
People-to-people exchanges between China and ASEAN have set sail again. The opening ceremony of the 2024 ASEAN-China Year of People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges was held in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province on the 2nd, to help the two sides forge people-to-people bonds, promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, deepen comprehensive strategic partnership, and build the "five homelands" of peace, tranquility, prosperity, beauty and friendship on the basis of jointly promoting Asian values.
China and ASEAN countries share people-to-people ties and share a common destiny, and have a long history of friendly exchanges. As early as the Tang Dynasty more than 1,000 years ago, there were merchants who went to Southeast Asia to do business. During the Ming Dynasty, a large number of merchants and craftsmen traveled with Zheng He to Southeast Asian countries, and some stayed here and intermarried with the locals, forming a unique Baba and Peranakan culture.
After the establishment of ASEAN, China established dialogue relations with ASEAN in 1991 and was the first country outside the region to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia. Over the past 30 years, China and ASEAN have jointly promoted the in-depth development of economic globalization, jointly responded to the profound changes in the international landscape, and entered a comprehensive strategic partnership by leaps and bounds. The achievements of cooperation between China and ASEAN are due to the geographical proximity and people-to-people ties between the two sides, and even more inseparable from the fact that the two sides actively follow the development trend of the times and make the right historical choices. Oriental culture emphasizes "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", and treating each other as equals and working together in harmony is the common aspiration of China and ASEAN. China and ASEAN take care of each other's major concerns, respect each other's development paths, enhance understanding and trust through sincere communication, properly handle differences and problems while reserving differences, and jointly uphold and promote Asian values centered on peace, cooperation, inclusiveness and integration.
In 2013, China proposed to build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future in Indonesia and jointly build the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road". Over the past 10 years, the Belt and Road Initiative has been deepened and solidified, and a number of landmark projects such as the China-Laos Railway, the Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway in Indonesia, and the "Two Countries and Two Parks" between China and Indonesia and China and Malaysia have been completed one after another.
In order to succeed in any great cause, it must find its foundation from the people, gather strength from the people, and be accomplished by the people together. The development of China-ASEAN cooperation has entered the fast lane, and it needs the "soft" power of people-to-people ties and cultural exchanges, which is the fruitful fruit of friendly exchanges and mutual understanding between the two peoples.
Since 2014, the two sides have jointly held activities such as the Year of Cultural Exchange, the Year of Educational Exchange, the Year of Tourism Cooperation, the Year of Innovation, and the Year of Exchange, forming 225 pairs of sister cities. The number of people-to-people exchanges between the two sides has increased from 18.2 million in 2013 to 65 million before the epidemic, with nearly 4,500 flights per week. Even during the pandemic, China and ASEAN have helped each other, and cooperation in the field of public health has built an immunity barrier for both peoples.
The 2024 ASEAN-China Year of People-to-People Exchanges will vigorously support leading sectors, non-governmental friendship organizations, business, commerce and academia to jointly carry out exchanges and cooperation in youth, non-governmental organizations, education, culture, tourism, science and technology, local and other fields. Coupled with the imminent implementation of visa waiver arrangements between China and Singapore and Thailand, a series of measures will accelerate the resumption of post-pandemic people-to-people exchanges between China and ASEAN countries.
China and ASEAN are the world's second and fifth largest economies respectively, with a combined economy of more than one-fifth of the world's total, and are important engines of global economic recovery. As good neighbors, good friends and good partners, China and ASEAN have all the more reason to practice and promote Asian values and contribute to promoting greater mutual understanding between the Chinese and ASEAN peoples.
Unlike some Western powers, which believe in "supremacy", advocate a "clash of civilizations", and constantly provoke ideological confrontation, Asian values advocate mutual respect and harmonious coexistence among different civilizations, laying a solid foundation for countries in the region to achieve equality and mutually beneficial cooperation. All along, China has practiced the concept of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and tolerance in its neighboring diplomacy and Asian values, and worked with Asian partners to maintain regional peace, stability, solidarity and cooperation, which has won broad support from all countries in the region. The people of Asia are also increasingly aware that only by jointly practicing the concept of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and tolerance, jointly promoting Asian values, and implementing the Global Civilization Initiative, can we lay a solid foundation for harmonious coexistence and win-win cooperation among all countries, and can the Asian region be more deeply integrated into the trend of peace, development and progress of mankind.
The avenue is not lonely, and everyone goes far. The ASEAN-China Year of People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges will stand at a new starting point, promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, strengthen the foundation of friendship, bring people in the region closer together, and work together towards an increasingly close China-ASEAN community with a shared future for a better future. (ENDS).