Your Excellency President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami,
Mr. Chairman,

At the time when mankind has just entered a new millenium and a new century, it is of important historical and immediate significance for us to gather here in Teheran to review the long history of Asian civilizations, envisage the future development of Asian countries and expound our views on Asia's contributions to world peace and progress. I wish to begin, on behalf of the Chinese Government, by paying tribute to H.E. Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who initiated the dialogue among civilizations. I also wish to express our thanks to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for hosting the Conference of Dialogue of Asian Civilizations. This year is the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations. I believe that with the concerted efforts of us all, the Conference will be a complete success and contribute significantly to promoting dialogue and exchanges among different civilizations in the world.

Mr. Chairman,

Civilization is the fruit of human progress. Mankind fostered, enriched and developed different kinds of civilization in the long course of history. From primitive barbarism to agro-farming, from the industrial age to information society, mankind has gone through countless hardship. The massive material wealth and splendid civilizations created by mankind constitute a magnificent scenery of the history of civilizations in the course of social development and a resounding and profound musical movement of civilizations.

Asia boasts many ancient civilizations. With their long and brilliant history, Asian civilizations are glimmering like beautiful flowers in the garden of world civilization. The traces of their influence on the world are still distinct. The numerals beginning with zero invented by ancient India are still widely used throughout the world. The compass invented by China is still guiding the modern aviation and navigation activities. Religions and philosophies that were fostered on the Asian continent are still on the lips of the people, giving them inspirations to promote the steady social progress. In this regard, the unique Persian culture has also attracted worldwide attention. The famous Silk Road was not only a bridge for the exchange of civilizations between East Asia and West Asia, but also a major channel for the interflow of Asian and other civilizations, which played a unique role in the integration, exchanges and development of the civilizations in the world. The great contribution of Asian civilizations to the development of the world civilization is the glory and pride of the whole of Asia.

Mr. Chairman,

With China being one of the oldest birthplaces of human civilizations, the Chinese civilization is one of the most ancient in the world. With the invention and use of written characters and bronze wares in China, the first rays of ancient civilization cast onto the ancient Chinese land. Such inventions as papermaking, gunpowder, printing and compass are outstanding contributions of the Chinese nation to the world civilization. The philosophies of great thinkers like Confucius and Laozi over 2,000 years ago, enriched and further developed by later philosophers, have exerted a great influence in China and the rest of the world. China made remarkable achievements in agro-farming, well-digging, canal-building, smelting, astronomy, medical science and other fields. Ideas advocated by ancient Chinese philosophers, the wise and able, such as "all men under heaven are brothers", "harmony is the most precious" and "the ocean accommodates all rivers on earth", remain highly influential in the exchange and integration among the Chinese civilization and other civilizations. For several thousand years, the people of all ethnic groups in China have been fostering and constantly enriching their own civilizations. With its resplendent cultures, arts and scientific and technological achievements, the Chinese nation stands rock firm in the family of nations.

Mr. Chairman,

The history of the ever-lasting development of Asian and Chinese civilizations reveals to us that dialogue, exchanges and integration among different civilizations, as the natural trend of historical development, are the requisites for self-improvement and continued development of civilizations.

Today, the international situation is undergoing profound changes. The world is moving further toward multi-polarization and economic globalization. Peace and development remain the two major themes of the human society. Safeguarding world peace, seeking social stability and promoting common development have become the common aspiration and demand of the people of all countries. I believe that in the present international situation, it is of major immediate significance to promote dialogue among different civilizations.

First, dialogue among civilizations helps increase mutual understanding among different peoples and bring about harmonious co-existence. As civilizations of the world are colorful, it is only normal for them to have differences, despite the fact that such differences led to numerous tragedies of wars, big or small, in history. In this connection, vigorous promotion of dialogue among civilizations for a proper settlement of disputes and differences by peaceful means will help peoples with different civilizations eliminate their feuds to bring about reconciliation, mutual respect and harmonious co-existence. And this will eventually help different countries establish a relationship of equality, mutual benefit, mutual trust and cooperation, and promote lasting peace and stability in the world.

Second, dialogue among civilizations helps carry forward the essence of human civilizations and promote the steady progress of the whole society. World civilizations are the common wealth of mankind. They are the cultural resources and foundation for mankind to forge ahead and the driving force behind social development and human progress. They are invaluable to us. The rapid development of science and technology in today's world has provided us with a good opportunity to protect, develop and enrich world civilizations. The use of advanced modern means to disseminate the progressive and scientific elements in various civilizations will help realize common progress and prosperity of the entire human race.

Third, dialogue among civilizations helps promote the establishment of a fair and reasonable new international order and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all the countries in the world. With the further development toward a multi-polar world, it is vital to advocate the principles of democracy and equality in international affairs. All countries, large or small, rich or poor, weak or strong, are equal members of the international community. With dialogue among civilizations, the civilizations of all countries will shine with extraordinary splendor in the process of world multi-polarization.

Fourth, dialogue among civilizations helps promote diversity of the world and enables mankind to share the achievements of civilizations. Economic globalization has provided mankind with unprecedented opportunities for development. However, globalization should not proceed at the cost of the interests of some countries for the sake of the interests of some other countries. It is essential to avoid imposing one's own social and economic system, mode of development and values on others in the process of globalization. This process should bring about an all-win situation in which the entire mankind will benefit from the achievements of different civilizations.

Mr. Chairman,

We are now in a new century, facing both opportunities and challenges. I wish to share with you my views on how to further conduct dialogue among civilizations.

First, it is essential to uphold diversity of the world and respect diversity of civilization. There are over 2,500 ethnic communities of different religious background living in nearly 200 countries and regions on earth. The world is indeed colorful. As a Chinese saying goes, "it is the law of nature that objects are different". Diversity of civilization is the source of human evolution. Denying such diversity runs counter to the law of nature and the trend of history and will create a stumbling block for the development of civilization, which should be removed.

Second, it is essential to adhere to the principle of equality among civilizations and promote their mutual respect. While civilizations in the world differ from one another in their length of history, none of them is superior to any other. All civilizations are equal. All countries and peoples have made contributions to the development of human civilization and should all be respected as equals. Equality and mutual respect are the basis for dialogue among civilizations and the prerequisite for exchanges and integration of human civilizations. Advocacy for superiority of certain civilizations over others is not conducive to dialogue among civilizations, and will give rise to clashes of civilizations, and possibly, fallback of human civilization.

Third, it is essential to advocate mutual learning and integration among civilizations. All civilizations have their own features in the long course of development. Only by discarding the dross and assimilating the essence, fostering strengths to make up for weaknesses and mutual learning, will it be possible to promote common development and progress. In this connection, I would like to emphasize that civilized society in the world of today should reject firmly any cult in any form.

Fourth, it is essential to adhere to a civilized way of handling international affairs to safeguard the fundamental interests of all countries, in particular, those of the developing countries. Dialogue among civilizations should, in the end, help promote the establishment of a new international political and economic order on the basis of the UN Charter and the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence. While conducting dialogue among civilizations, every country should observe these important principles and address international and regional affairs jointly through consultation on an equal footing.

Mr. Chairman,

Dialogue among civilizations has received an enthusiastic response from the international community. I believe that as long as all countries work together, all the civilizations in the world will be carried forward with greater glamour, the torchlight of human civilization will be much brighter and the world will be even more colorful in the days to come.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.