Deepening Mutual Learning Among 

Civilizations For a Shared Bright Future

H.E. Zhao Zhiyuan

Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

The world today is moving toward greater multi-polarity, economic globalization and cultural diversity, and is becoming increasingly information-oriented. All this points to promising prospects for the future. Meanwhile, instability and uncertainties are mounting and the global challenges faced by humanity are becoming ever more daunting, calling for joint responses from countries around the world.

Tolerance, coexistence, exchanges and mutual learning are needed among different civilizations to advance humanity’s modernization process and make the garden of world civilization flourish, as the future of all countries is closely connected nowadays. At the opening ceremony of the Communist Party of China in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting on March 15 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed for the first time the Global Civilization Initiative with four “advocates”, pointing out the way forward for humanity’s civilization progress and world’s peaceful development.

We advocate the respect for the diversity of civilizations. Countries need to uphold the principles of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness among civilizations, and let cultural exchanges transcend estrangement, mutual learning transcend clashes, and coexistence transcend feelings of superiority.

We advocate the common values of humanity. Peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom are the common aspirations of all peoples. Countries need to keep an open mind in appreciating the perceptions of values by different civilizations, and refrain from imposing their own values or models on others and from stoking ideological confrontation.

We advocate the importance of inheritance and innovation of civilizations. Countries need to fully harness the relevance of their histories and cultures to the present times, and push for creative transformation and innovative development of their fine traditional cultures.

We advocate robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. Countries need to explore the building of a global network for inter-civilization dialogue and cooperation, enrich the contents of exchanges, expand avenues of cooperation to promote mutual understanding and friendship among people of all countries, and jointly advance the progress of human civilizations.

“A single flower does not make spring, while one hundred flowers in full blossom bring spring to the garden.” All civilizations created by human society are splendid. They are