ISLAMABAD, Apr 18 (APP):The second event of Vision China, a series of talks organized by China Daily, was held at the Hangzhou International Expo Center in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province on Sunday titled “Shared Future, Better World,” coincided with the awards ceremony of the 2018 Grand Final of the China Daily “21st Century Cup” National English Speaking Competition, said a report published in China Daily.
During the event, David Gosset, founder of the Europe-China Forum; Lu Li’an, vice-director of the College of Foreign Languages and Literature at Fudan University, and China Daily senior journalist Greg Fountain shared their perspectives on building a community with a shared future for mankind to an audience of more than 1,500, both from home and abroad.
Ge Huijun, chairwoman of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and director of the publicity department of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said in the opening remarks that the major initiative of “advancing the building of a community with a shared future for mankind” put forward by President Xi Jinping five years ago has become a bright flag to guide this world trend and the direction of human progress amid changing international situations.
Entering the new era, the province will take good advantage of the timing that marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up and the country’s Belt and Road Initiative, and focus on opening-up to make further breakthroughs, she said.
“Zhejiang will make its effort to create new advantages in opening up to both the country and the world and write a new chapter of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era,” she said.
Deputy Secretary of the Hangzhou Committee of the CPC Xu Liyi, who also is the city’s mayor, said the concept of “a community with a shared future for mankind” provides Chinese wisdom and solutions to tackling common challenges of human society, promoting world peace and development, and facilitating common prosperity.
Hangzhou has made continuous efforts in deepening reform and opening-up, promoting innovation-driven development and serving the Belt and Road Initiative in the past few years by constructing one of the country’s bases of cross-border e-commerce and initiating collaborations with the 101 countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. “We’ll continue to contribute more Hangzhou wisdom, power and practices in promoting the formation of a new pattern of opening and shaping a community of a shared future,” Xu said.
The concept of the community of a shared future for mankind, raised by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has sparked widespread echoes from people around the world,said Zhou Shuchun, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily.
“As China moves into its New Era, I believe, the implications of the idea will be further revealed to the world, and inspire people from all over the world to actively participate in the endeavor of building a better world,” Zhou said, adding that it also needs the active involvement on the part of youth.
In his speech, Gosset said since Xi became China’s highest leader in 2012, the country has not only continued to inject dynamics into global economic growth but also share its “intellectual contributions” to beef up the multilateral global governance structure, which have been under threat.
He said among the impressive ideas is Xi’s proposal of building a community of a shared future for mankind, which is in contrast with some powers’ actions of advocating isolationism, unilateralism and protectionism.
Gosset said the global fears and threats brought by the world’s big demographic pressure, and reverse trends of globalization and climate change, have made Xi’s proposal of building a community of a shared future of mankind matter. To relieve such fears and threats, the world needs to look at how it can really build this community of a shared future, which are the “right answers”, Gosset said.
In her speech, Lu, who also is president of the Shanghai Taiwan Compatriots Friendship Association, interpreted her understanding of the relationship between individuals and the group under the background of the shared community.
“We can share cultures by being open-minded and difference-friendly. We can share social values and ethical observations by not being self-important and all-imposing. We can share educational devotion and technological development by embracing cooperation rather than competition,” Lu said.
Fountain shared his experiences of working at China Daily as host of the Good Luck China and Decoding The New Era videos, which provided him with rich opportunities to witness China’s breakthroughs in reform and opening-up, internet industries, scientific and technological innovations, and ecological conservation, and feel the country’s significant contributions in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative and participating in global governance.
“The objective of shaping a community of a shared future for mankind is something more than just a slogan. It’s a maxim for the whole world, not just China, to live by,” he said.
The event also was attended by Wang Guoqing, vice-chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the 12th National Committee of the CPPCC and spokesman of the first session of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC; Tang Wensheng, vice-president of the China Academy of Translation; Zhang Jianmin, head of the translation and interpretation department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Qu Yingpu, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily; Ju Chaohui, deputy director of the publicity department of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, Qi Xiaohu, publicity chief of Hangzhou; Chen Hongying, vice mayor of Hangzhou; Chen Chunlei, Party secretary of Hangzhou Normal University; Xu Qingsen, vice-director of the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education; Lord Paul Boateng, chairman of The English-Speaking Union, and Dr Ester J. de Jong, president of the TESOL International Association.
The same day also witnessed the awards ceremony of the China Daily “21st Century Cup” National English Speaking Competition. Zang Yingjie from Qufu Normal University, Ni Kan from Fudan University, Xiong Ziqing from Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), won the first, second and third prizes, respectively. Zang Yingjie and Wang Huichen from the Shanghai Foreign Language School affiliated to SISU won the titles for the “Most Promising Award”. They will represent China at the international English speaking competition held in London in May.
The Vision China event was co-organized by China Daily and Hangzhou municipal government. Each event in the series of talks picks a China-related theme with a global perspective and invites key opinion leaders from home and abroad to share their views and interact with the audience.