Remarks by Chinese Ambassador to Lithuania Wei Ruixing at the Opening Ceremony of VMU Asian Week 2017

2017-03-07 01:15

(March 6th, 2017)

Prof. Juozas Augutis, Rector of Vytautas Magnus University

Prof. Ineta Dabašinskienė, Vice-Rector for International Relations

Dr. Aurelijus Zykas, Head of Center for Asian Studies

Excellencies, Ambassador of Japan and Ambassador of Korea

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Good Afternoon! I feel very much delighted and greatly honored to be invited to join you at this important event of VMU Asian Week 2017. I wish to avail myself of this opportunity to commend Center for Asian Studies of VMU for organizing this Asian Week 2017. I also wish to express my deep appreciation to the Center for Asian Studies and the relevant departments of VMU and other institutions for the great efforts and positive contributions to promote cultural exchanges between Lithuania and East Asia, and the mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples of Lithuania and the East Asian region.

Ladies and Gentlemen: All nations of the world have each created a distinctive and unique culture of their own in the course of the development of humankind, which make up the rich and colorful world culture. Civilizations have become richer and more colorful with exchanges and mutual learning. To promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, we must adopt a right approach with some important principles, which, in my perspective, include 1) civilizations have come in different colors, and such diversity has made exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations relevant and valuable; 2) civilizations are equal, and such equality has made exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations possible; and 3) civilizations are inclusive, and such inclusiveness has given exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations the needed drive to move forward.

Having gone through over 5,000 years of vicissitudes, the Chinese civilization has always kept to its original root. As the unique cultural identity of the Chinese nation, it contains our most profound cultural pursuits and provides us with abundant nourishment for existence and development. The Chinese civilization, though born on the soil of China, has come to its present form through constant exchanges and mutual learning with other civilizations. East Asian culture has the common or similar origin with a strong feature of Confucianism. Each nation of this region, during the course of development, has diversified its unique culture with its own characteristics through exchanges and mutual learning.

History and reality both prove that it is conducive to the progress of human civilization to increase people-to-people and cultural exchanges between different nations. "Amity of the people holds the key to country-to-country relations". It is very much encouraging that there have been frequent people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Lithuania during the past 26 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1991, promoting mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, and pushing forward China-Lithuania friendly and cooperative relations. It is my sincere hope and firm belief that, with a series of events in various venues of VMU and other public places in the forthcoming week, this VMU Asian Week 2017 will provide a good platform for a better understanding of East Asia, and promote cultural exchanges and mutual learning between Lithuania and East Asia, as well as academic exchanges and cooperation between VMU and various universities of the East Asian region.

In conclusion, I wish to thank Dr. Zykas for your kind invitation, and once again, to express my appreciation to VMU, particularly Center for Asian Studies and all those who have made great efforts to make this event possible. And I wish VMU Asian Week 2017 a complete success.