Exchanges among civilizations needed

Confucius’ dictum “Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself” should be the rule that all parties abide by in international relations, said Fukuda Yasuo, former prime minister of Japan, in his congratulatory letter to the Exchanges and Mutual Learning among Asian Civilizations Beijing International Symposium co-hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and other institutes and universities in China on July 9. Three core ideas—people-oriented doctrines, harmony, and integration through exchange—were forged through 5,000 years of uninterrupted development of Chinese civilization, demonstrating the ability of the humanistic Chinese civilization to heal and develop by itself, said Zhang Qizhi, honorary president of Northwest University of China. Those ideas also showed the longstanding emphasis in Chinese civilization on exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, he said.