Confucianism that values the importance of people, trust, and cooperation makes a difference to China's governance philosophy and development, according to a sinologist speaking ahead of the 10th Nishan Forum on World Civilizations in east China's Shandong Province.
Ragnar Baldursson, who was also Iceland's minister counselor to China, talked about the philosophy of Confucianism and its impact on China's politics and social governance.
"As long as China is governed in the way it is governed today, it's not going to war, because people die, because it does not serve the interest of the people to die. You have to try to provide for them, you had to solve problems peacefully. Trust is one central element. People are one central element. And the third one is inclusive harmoniousness. It's like we can work together. We don't have to agree," he said.
The former diplomat said that the concept comes from China's background as a rice growing society where people need to work together to grow rice.
"So in China it's 'he' and actually the character itself is a rice and a mouth. And how many mouths can you feed with the rice, so you have to work together," he said.
The 10th Nishan Forum on World Civilizations kicked off Wednesday in Qufu City, the hometown of Chinese philosopher and educator Confucius, under the theme of "Traditional Culture and Modern Civilization."
The two-day event gathered leading cultural experts and scholars from around the world to improve understanding between cultures and features several activities, including high-level interviews, parallel forums and keynote speeches.
The forum is named after Nishan Mountain, which is revered as the birthplace of Confucius and has immense historical and cultural significance. The most prominent landmark there is a 72-meter-high statue of Confucius.
Confucianism makes difference to China's governance philosophy: sinologist
China will continue carrying out all-round cooperation with Pacific Island countries on the basis of equality, mutual respect, mutual benefit, openness and inclusiveness, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning at a press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.
At the invitation of Premier Li Qiang, Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa is paying an official visit to China.
According to a report on November 20 by Australia's international policy think tank Lowy Institute, China has regained its place as the second-largest bilateral donor to Pacific Island countries.
"Samoa is one of the first Pacific Island countries to establish diplomatic relations with New China, and to sign the MOU on Belt and Road cooperation with China. The Faleolo International Airport, renovated with the support of a Chinese company, is one of the most modernized international airports in South Pacific, and the China-aided government building, depicted on the new banknotes of Samoa, has become a popular spot for the locals to visit and take photos," said Mao.
"The friendly ties between China and Samoa epitomize China's cooperation with Pacific Island countries. China develops its relations with Pacific Island countries under the principle of 'four full respects', and provide economic and technology aid with no political strings attached. We have rolled out close to 500 projects with various kinds of aid and concessional loans to help Pacific Island countries build roads, bridges, ports, hospitals, schools and other infrastructure, and trained over 10,000 professionals, bringing tangible benefits to the local people. China has made active effort to support Pacific Island countries in implementing the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, built new platforms according to their national conditions for climate response, agricultural cooperation, poverty alleviation and development, and kept exploring new areas for cooperation," she said.
"We will continue carrying out all-round cooperation with Pacific Island countries on the basis of equality, mutual respect, mutual benefit, openness and inclusiveness to support Pacific Island countries' development," said Mao.
The "four full respects" principle is: China fully respects the sovereignty and independence of Pacific island countries, fully respects their will, fully respects their cultural traditions and fully respects their effort to seek strength through unity.
China will continue all-round cooperation with Pacific Island countries: FM spokeswoman
