Buddhist community urged to promote peace, progress

China's top political adviser has called on the Buddhist community to contribute wisdom and strength to world peace and human progress.

Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the sixth World Buddhist Forum, held at Mount Xuedou in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.

About 800 experts, scholars and representatives of the Buddhist community from 72 countries and regions are attending the forum, themed "Hand in Hand for Coexistence". The forum runs through Thursday.

Wang, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, expressed the hope that the Buddhist community will promote dialogues and exchanges among different civilizations and advocate the harmonious coexistence of different religions.

Wang emphasized that China adheres to the policy of freedom of religious beliefs, and encourages and supports the religious community to conduct international exchanges on the basis of independence, equality, friendship and mutual respect.

The Chinese government supports the participation of the Chinese Buddhist community in global religious and cultural dialogues, as well as friendly exchanges with Buddhist communities in other countries, in order to promote people-to-people exchanges and enhance mutual understanding, he added.