Forum pushes for mutual trust around the globe

By Wang Zhenghua (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-09 08:39

SHANGHAI: Enhanced mutual understanding and trust is needed for the world to have a more objective view and knowledge of China, Wang Chen, minister of the State Council Information Office, said Monday.

To achieve this, the channel for mutual communication between China and the international community should increasingly be expanded, he said.

In a speech to the Third World Forum on China Studies, which started in Shanghai Monday, Wang, an honorary chairman of the event's organizing committee, said China's future and fate "is increasingly linked with the world's future.

"As indicated at the recently concluded Beijing Olympics, China's development and the world's prosperity rely on each other," he said.

Enhanced understanding and mutual trust, unbiased media reporting and expanded personnel exchanges will help the world understand the real China, Wang said.

The forum, jointly organized by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and the Shanghai municipal information office, provides domestic and overseas scholars a new platform to study developing trends in China, he said.

With the country's rapid development in recent years, China studies, which originated from Sinology, have expanded to include economics, politics, education, social and military affairs and foreign policy, rather than just focusing on literature, history, philosophy and archaeology.

The forums discuss the global significance of China's development and its past, present and future with the aim of achieving peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial relationships.

More than 100 scholars from overseas and 200 from various provinces of China are attending this year's forum entitled: "Common Challenges, Common Efforts: Working".

"It represents a great opportunity to exchange ideas in a wide variety of panel discussions and to familiarize ourselves with each other," David Shambaugh, professor and director of George Washington University's China Policy Program in the United States, said.

"This forum not only affords the opportunity for those of us from outside China to meet each other, but also for us to interact with our Chinese colleagues.

"Some of the best brains and leading experts in many fields in China are in attendance, and it offers a great opportunity to listen, learn and get to know each other," he said.