China and the United States should enhance cultural exchanges to
promote the heart-to-heart communication between the peoples of
both countries, Chinese Culture Minister Sun
Jiazheng said in Washington?on Monday.
In a keynote speech at the National Press Club in downtown
Washington, Sun said there are many differences between China and
the Untied States which will undoubtedly bring about some
confrontations and friction, but it is these differences that have
produced great curiosity and mutual appeal between the two
countries.
"Without such differences, the world might become more tranquil,
but at the same time, to a large extent, it would lose its glories
and fall into monotony," he said.
Sun was in Washington to inaugurate the month-long Festival of
China at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, which
opened on Saturday.
He said China and the United Sates share common interests in
many areas, such as economy, trade, anti-terrorism, international
and regional security, and culture. "The two countries can learn
from each other in many areas," he noted.
The development of Sino-US cultural relations, he said, is still
not in perfect balance, and the American public's understanding of
China and Chinese culture still has room for improvement.
China imported a large quantity of TV plays and movies in 2004,
with 40-50 percent of them from the United States, whereas China's
export of cultural products to the United States was insignificant,
the minister said.
Sun cautioned that there are some people who tend to exaggerate
the differences and friction between the two countries and the two
cultures, while overlooking their common interests and
compatibility.
"It is natural and not surprising for any two nations to have
differences or conflicts, but what matters most is that we should
solve these conflicts and problems on the principle of candidness,
sincerity, reciprocity, mutual respect and equal consultations," he
said.
At home, the Chinese government pledges to build a harmonious
society, securing peace, tranquility and the well-being and
happiness for all the Chinese people, while in the world, China
sticks to the peaceful foreign policy of independence and
self-reliance, seeking friendly relations with all other countries
in their common pursuit for peace, cooperation and common
development, he said.
Sun noted that China stands for the independence of all nations'
cultures and also the diversity of world cultures, advocates the
concepts of "cherishing peace and harmony, preserving solidarity in
diversity and pursuing common development."
China will integrate itself into the world with more open
gestures and further expand international culture exchanges, he
pledged.
Cultural exchanges will not only bring enormous economic
benefits, but also immense social benefits. Cultural exchanges can
reach deep into people's minds with a lasting and profound effect,
he said.
China and the Untied States should enhance communication and
find the differences and similarities between the two cultures, and
embrace the connections and concord of the two cultures in all
their diversity, he said.
Sun called for open minds and open hearts in the exchanges
between China and the United States.
Citing Martin Luther King's famous speech I Have a
Dream, Sun said people today share King's dream "that one day
every valley shall be exalted, every hill shall be made low, the
rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be
made straight."
"We firmly believe that art and culture, as the greatest vehicle
for human emotions, can best express our dreams," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency October 4, 2005)