（来源：CGTN 2025-7-11）
Editor's note: Gao Lei, a special commentator for CGTN, is an associate professor at the Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Opening-up, Research Institute of Globalization and China's Modernization, University of International Business and Economics (UIBE). Zhang Qidi, a special commentator for CGTN, is a graduate student at the School of Marxism, UIBE. Xia Lu, a special commentator for CGTN, is a research fellow at the National Academy for Development and Strategy of Renmin University of China and the Deputy Dean of the School of Marxism Studies at Xinjiang University. The article reflects the authors' opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
On July 10-11, China is hosting the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Civilizations Dialogue, a landmark global event in Beijing that brings together over 600 domestic and international guests from approximately 140 countries and regions. Under the theme of "Safeguarding Diversity of Human Civilizations for World Peace and Development," the event will be establishing a platform for dialogue across regions and cultures, fostering vibrant exchanges of ideas, encouraging collaborative responses to contemporary challenges, and advancing global peace, human well-being, development, and progress.
Civilizational diversity, like biodiversity in nature, remains a fundamental characteristic of our world and a driving force for human advancement. From the cuneiform script of Mesopotamia to the oracle bone inscriptions of the Yellow River basin, from the city-states of ancient Greece to the Ganges River culture of ancient India, the river of human civilization flows powerfully due to its many tributaries. The significance of civilizations lies not only in their own inheritance but also in energizing global peace and development through mutual learning and exchange. Human history has repeatedly demonstrated that civilizations spark innovation and nurture peace when they engage in open dialogue. Humankind practices have also proved that only by promoting peaceful development while safeguarding diversity, and protecting diversity within the process of peaceful development, can a virtuous cycle of positive interaction between civilizations and the world be achieved. This summarizes historical experience and directly addresses current global challenges.
Nowadays, global challenges such as a sluggish world economic recovery, frequent local conflicts and regional turbulence, and worsening climate change keep haunting people from all over the world. Meanwhile, fallacies like the "clash of civilizations" and "superiority of certain civilizations" are still gaining ground. On the other hand, human exchanges have never been so in-depth and extensive, and interconnections and interdependence among states have never been so frequent and close. Facing the changes unseen in a century, the question of where human civilization is heading has become an urgent issue for all mankind.
As a responsible great power, China has been committed to promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations and advancing world peace and development. In 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), issuing a sincere call to the world for enhancing exchanges and dialogue among civilizations and promoting the progress of human civilization through inclusiveness and mutual learning. This initiative has responded, from a theoretical height, to the international community's universal expectation of safeguarding the diversity of civilizations. Over the past two years, the GCI, like a seed, has taken root and sprouted in the fertile soil of the international community. In 2024, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to establish the "International Day for Dialogue among Civilizations," further highlighting the global consensus on civilizational dialogue.
From the 2019 Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in Beijing, to the steady stream of Cultural Year Events among Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partner countries, and to the establishment of cooperation mechanisms such as the Silk Road International Theatre Alliance and the Silk Road International Museum Alliance – all these endeavors have enabled the cultural and artistic treasures of partner countries to regain fresh vitality through exchanges, helping the world better understand China and for China to gain a deeper insight into the world.
From the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism, which saw Louvre treasures exhibited in Beijing's Forbidden City, to the Moscow Culture Festival in Beijing – all these events have deepened the traditional friendship between different peoples through cultural resonance.
From the joint archaeological projects on the Maritime Silk Road with Southeast Asian countries to exploring the traces of ancient trade and cultural exchanges, to the promotion of cross-border cultural tourism under the framework of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation – all these projects have turned the civilizational charm of various countries into a bond connecting people's hearts.
With more and more countries joining civilizational dialogue, the ongoing Ministerial Meeting of the Global Civilizations Dialogue has become an important practice of China in implementing the GCI and a key step in translating concepts into actions.
China is proving with concrete actions that the diversity of civilizations is not an obstacle to development but a source of progress. This event transcending geographical boundaries is bound to inject lasting cultural impetus into the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. When the lights of different civilizations shine upon each other, and when the seeds of dialogue grow into towering trees, the future of mankind will surely become better due to exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.
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