Inheritance and Innovation of Ethnic and Folk Culture

The intangible cultural heritage of the ethnic minorities is the cultural treasury of the Chinese nation that has been passed on for generations, which serves as the moral resources and foundation for developing an advanced socialist culture and the internal impetus for the survival and development of the country and the Chinese nation.     

Security Interests and Policy Priorities of China and EU

At present, the connotation of security has expanded from the traditional sense of security to non-traditional one, covering politics, economy, finance, science and technology, culture and many other areas. Economic globalization makes countries more interdependent on each other. In other words, it makes the interests of different countries further intertwine. The advancement of science and technology and the progress of informationization accelerate the exchange and communication among people.     

Challenges to and Changes of Ideas

The past two years have witnessed great fluctuations ininternational oil prices,and diplomatic efforts,both above andunder the table,by major powers around this issue.The currenttension in the war-threatened Iraq has added more uncertainties to thefuture world oil situation.Will the world oil supply and demand change?What impact would this exert on big powers' oil strategy choices,geopolitics as well as world economy?What should China do in such asituation?To find the answers to these questions,at the invitation of theeditor of the Contemporary International Relations,seven experts fromChina Institute of Contemporary International Relations gathered to have adiscussion in early February this year.Naturally,they have differentviews over many issues.Still,we hope our readers would find theirdiscussion interesting.Following is the list of participants.     

CAFIU and My Study of China

Early one morning in 1993 I was working quietly in my office preparing for a lecture. I usually work with my door closed, but on that particular day for no special reason my door was open. Suddenly Ms Du Yan put her head into my office asking for directions. I got up from my desk to     

Objective and Procedure of the Adjustment

In view of all mentioned above,governments of Latin Amercian countries havenow begun to engage themselves in revising their economic policies and adjust-ing the neoliberalist economic model so as to mitigate the increasingly sharper socialcontradictions and create a social environment favourable to sustainable economicdevelopment.     

Travel Notes of Russia and Poland

ＴｒａｖｅｌＮｏｔｅｓｏｆＲｕｓｓｉａａｎｄＰｏｌａｎｄＴｒａｖｅｌＮｏｔｅｓｏｆＲｕｓｓｉａａｎｄＰｏｌａｎｄ￥ＨｅＬｉａｎｓｈｅｎｇＩｎｖｉｔｅｄｂｙｔｈｅＲｕｓｓｉａｎＳｉｎｏｌｏｇｉｓｔＡｓｓｏｃｉａｔｉｏｎ，ｔｈｅＣｈｉｎｅｓｅＡｓｓｏｃｉ...     

Clashes and dialogues of civilizations revisited— the case of contemporary East Asia and Europe

This article sets out to inquire whether or not—political desiderata apart—genuine intercultural dialogue is feasible between Europe and East Asia, and if so, in which subject areas this could be done productively. It therefore examines the underlying value patterns which are grounded in religious traditions on both sides. It retraces the consequences which Communist rule had (and continues to have) on religious practice and ethnic identities of affected societies, and reviews the salient inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts which surfaced during the past quarter century on both continents. This is done in order to be able to qualify empirically Huntington’s theory on predominantly cultural clashes between civilizations. In conclusion we find a large measure of congruence between normative values of Christianity and Buddhism and between the secularized work ethics of Confucianism and of (Calvinist) Protestantism, so as to permit a meeting of minds. Conflicts were caused by the religious and ethnic suppression by Communist regimes (Soviet Union, China, N. Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia), by other authoritarian regimes (post Communist Serbia and Russia, Myanmar), and by nationalist: chauvinism. Conflicts between cultures (Bosnia, Nagorno Karabach, Abkhazia, Chechnya, Eastern Indonesia, East Timor, Pattani, Mindanao, Tibet, Xinjiang) occured as well as within them (Transnistria, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Aceh). Huntington is thus frequently right, but not universally so. Moreover open conflicts on the two continents have rather been limited in extent and mostly took place in peripheral regions. Coexistence with Muslims is difficult both in Europe and in East Asia. But more often than not they appear as victims of aggression (Bosnia, Chechnya, Xinjiang, Pattani, the Cham) rather than as its perpetrators (Northern Cyprus, East Timor, Eastern Indonesia, and Al Quaida linked terrorism in the UK, Spain, Bali and Mindanao). In view of common values and similar problems, dialogue and cooperation should—and are—perfectly possible and potentially productive on a wide range of subjects, starting from conflict management and prevention, confidence building and reconciliation, to grand subjects of managing the consequences of globalization, of global security, of sharing experiences on regional integration, of lessons to be learned from development cooperation, on environmental protection and resource conservation, and on solving common demographic problems. Adapted lecture on “Dialogue of Cultures and Religions within and with East Asia” given at the Afro-Asian Institute, University of Graz (Austria) on 9.10.2007. Note that this article reflects only personal views.

---

Bring Into Full Play the Advantage of Sister-city Relationship and Promote Exchanges and Cooperation Between Localities of China and Japan

Since 1980 when Fuzhou and Nagasaki of Japan be-came sister- cityofeach other- the first ofits kind inour province, both sides have had fruitful exchangesand cooperation in economy, trade, culture, educa-tion, environmental protection and tourismetc, andgratifyingresultshavebeenachieved.1. High level exchanges of visit having increasedmutual understanding and underpinned friend-ship. Since 1980 todate, our province and Nagasakiand Okinawa of Japan have sent to each other 860delegations with …     

Diversity of the World and New Diplomatic Idea of China

Diversity is the basic feature of the world, which is not contradictory to the democratization of international relations and the efforts of the people of various countries in building a harmonious world. In recent years, on the premises of respecting and maintaining diversity of the world, and by conforming to the historical trend of the times, China has     

Review and Prospect of the International Situation

Ⅰ. Main Characteristics of the Global Circumstances in 1997 1997 is one of the key years for the world to take a great leap forward to thenew century. In the heat of the combat between the progressive forces repre-senting the new epochal spirit and the traditional powers, namely the Cold Warmentality, the world has seen in various aspects the most profound and conspicuouschanges, particularly the relations between great powers,ever since the ending ofthe Cold War.     

Development of China''''s West and Major Measures

DeveloprnentonalargescaleoftheWed-ernP8rtofChinaisbeingunfoldedtobetheeromythereandthaadjoiningcentraIPartofthecountry.Thapolicy,asignificantonernadebytheChjnaregOVernrnentaroundtheturnofthecentury,StandsasagontStrategicSteptowardattainingthegnlssaforitsStageIIlofthendernirationdrive.ThaWedernopionafoesidbersmainlytotenadminiStrativeunitsincludingprovinces,amunicipeIityandautonoThusopionsSuchasthaanxi,cansu,oinghai,Ningxia,Xinjiang,Sichuan,Changqing,Yunnan,GuizhouandTi-bet,Withaterri…     

The Basic Principles of China''''s Development of Human Rights and NGOs

WithrecognitionandsupportofboththeChineseandGermangovernmentsaswellastherelevantdepartmentsco-sponsoredbytheEbertFounda-tionandChinaFoundationforHumanRightsDe-velopmentandChineseAssociationforInterna-tionalUnderstandingthe6thSino-GermanSemi-naronHumanRightsopenstodayintheGermancapitalBerlin.Firstofallpleaseallowmeonbe-halfoftheChinesedelegationtoexpressoursin-cerethankstotheGermanhostforinvitingustothisseminarandfortheexcellentpreparationtheyhavemadefortheseminar.HereIwishthesemi-nara…     

An Overall Picture of Stocktaking and Reshaping

Lu: Good morning, everybody. We held a discussion this time oflast year, forecasting then global trends in 2003. Today the EditorialDepartment of Contemporary International Relations once again invitedus here for the same purpose of not only summing up the events in theyear just gone by but also for forecasting the world trends in the newyear. The year 2003 was one of turbulence with the war in Iraq and theKorean nuclear issue affecting the global situation as a whole, therebybringing up a …     

A Few Impressions of Thailand and Myanmar

InFebruarythisyear,thedelegationofChineseAs-sociationforInternationalUnderstanding(CAFIU)headedbyMr.LuoHaocai,Vice-ChairmanoftheNationalCommitteeoftheChinesePeople'sPoliti-calConsultativeConference(CPPCC)andVice-PresidentofCAFIUattendedinThailandthe″Sem-inaronChina-ThailandCultureandEconomicProsperity″,followedbyavisittoMyanmar.Asamemberofthedelegation,thevisithasmadefineanddeepimpressiononme.1.ThailandandMyanmararesimilarinarea,natu-ralenvironmentandsizeofpopulation,andboth…     

Features and Trends of Contemporary World Economy

As the world economy has begun to experience an all-round growth in resur-gence,developed countries are most likely to enjoy a longest economic re-vival in modern history,while developing countries will go on sustaining     

Reform of the United Nations and Transformation of the International System

The reform of the United Nations is closely related with the transformation of the International system. The United Nations has made great success since it started a comprehensive reform in 2005. Such a reform is necessary both for the transition of the largest international organization in the world and transformation of the international system. The United Nations still has a long way to go in the comprehensive reform because of many factors.     

New Vigor and Vitality of South-South Cooperation

Due to the fact that the developing countriesare mainly located in the southern hemisphereand the south of the northern hemisphere, thecooperation among them is generally called South-South Cooperation. It is a very important approachfor the developing co…     

Concept and Practice of New International Order

New international order is a worldwide topic under unceasing discussion. It is related to a complex array of issues. People have consensus as well as differences about it. Our understanding about the new international order is also constantly changing and deepening.     

Delegation of Union Solidarity and Development Association of Myanmar Visits China

At the invitation of the Chinese Association for International Understanding （CAFIU）, the delegation of the Union Solidarity and Development Association of Myanmar （USDA） headed by H.E. U Maung Par, Member of the Central Executive Committee of the USDA and Vice-Mayor of Rangoon, visited China from March 27 to April 5.