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First Post
16 hours ago
- Politics
- First Post
Hydro-hegemony in the Himalayas: How China is rewriting Brahmaputra's future
(File) Fishermen steer a boat on the Brahmaputra River at sunset in Guwahati. In his rebuttal to Pakistan's threat, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that China contributes only about 30 to 35 per cent of the Brahmaputra's total flow. Reuters China has started constructing a mega hydro dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) in Tibet's Medog County, in close proximity to India's border state of Arunachal Pradesh. This has raised alarm as it has the potential to disrupt water flow downstream, impacting the hydrographic profile of the Brahmaputra River. Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced the launch of the project on July 22, 2025. In fact, this should not have come as a surprise because the ambitious project was part of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–25). The Chinese maintained strategic silence as work on the dam reportedly began surreptitiously during the Covid-19 period. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Yarlung Tsangpo River originates from the Angsi Glacier in Burang County of Tibet and flows over a distance of 1,625 km until it makes a loop called the 'Great Bend,' just before entering India as the Siang. It traverses 918 km in India through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, then flows into Bangladesh as the Jamuna for 337 km before draining into the Bay of Bengal. While the Yarlung Tsangpo constitutes 56 per cent of the Brahmaputra's length, it contributes only about 15 percent of the total water volume. The Brahmaputra is formed in India, specifically in Sadiya, with the confluence of the Siang, Lohit, and Dibang rivers. A major part of the Brahmaputra's water volume comes from rainfall and snowmelt in the Indian Himalayas and downstream tributaries. China's Grand Design Water resources in China are unevenly distributed. The developed northern region, home to around 42 percent of the population, has only 14 percent of fresh water. The agrarian south, relatively less developed, is water-rich with 86 percent of the share. Over the years, industrial and domestic water usage in China has increased significantly, compelling it to resort to water politics to sustain economic growth. The Tibetan plateau is home to rich water resources as 100,000 sq km of its area is covered with glaciers, which feed twelve major rivers in South and Southeast Asia. China, being the largest consumer of energy, aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060. To this end, it has planned to double its hydroelectric generation capacity in the next couple of years. As per the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the generation capacity of the Yarlung Tsangpo basin is around 114 GW. Therefore, for over a decade, China has been building a series of dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo and its tributaries. Major ones already completed or nearing completion include Zangmu (510 MW), Dagu (640 MW), Jiecha (360 MW), Jiexu (560 MW), and Bayu (780 MW). China has also undertaken the 'South–North Water Transfer Project' to divert water from the Yangtze River along two routes. The Eastern route utilizes the Grand Canal, while the Central route involves diverting water from the Han River (a Yangtze tributary) to Beijing. The Western route, still in the planning stage, would involve diverting Yarlung Tsangpo water from the Namcha Barwa area, where construction of the mega dam has just started. This could significantly impact water resources in India and Bangladesh, causing potential shortages during the lean period, besides raising environmental concerns. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The 'Yarlung Tsangpo River Lower Reaches Hydropower Project,' named the Medog Dam, is expected to be the world's largest hydropower project. It entails building five cascade hydropower stations with a planned capacity of 60 GW. It will dwarf the Three Gorges Dam (22.5 GW) on the Yangtze River. The project is envisioned to play a significant role in China's energy strategy, meeting the annual needs of over 300 million people. The total estimated investment is approximately USD 167.8 billion. Ramifications China building the Medog Dam has definite geopolitical and ecological consequences with expansive ramifications. It underscores China's upstream advantage, giving it the potential to manipulate water flow, thus making India—the lower riparian country—vulnerable to Beijing's coercive tactics of using water as an instrument in future conflicts. Another grave fear is China diverting Yarlung Tsangpo's flow northwards, as mentioned above. The proximity of the Medog Dam to the Indian border also has security implications. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Given that the Eastern Himalayas are ecologically sensitive and seismically active, large dams in the region pose potential risks of triggering landslides, earthquakes, and 'glacial lake outburst floods' (GLOFs), altering the hydrological rhythm. Changes in sediment flow could erode riverbanks, impacting agriculture and livelihoods in the Brahmaputra Basin, besides affecting the navigability of inland waterways. Even water quality could deteriorate due to the flow of construction debris, as the project requires extensive tunnelling—up to 420 km—through the mountain range. This also implies biodiversity loss in one of the world's richest riverine ecosystems. India's Response India has expressed concerns about China's dam building on the Yarlung Tsangpo, which are justified given the lack of transparency in China's authoritarian system and past precedents. Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu has flagged the issue on multiple occasions and remains sceptical of Chinese designs. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, on the other hand, perceives that China's dam could help in controlling floods in the region and believes its exact impact would only be known when the dam is completed—a stance that risks a fait accompli. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Ironically, Delhi has limited leverage as Beijing is not a signatory to the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention, giving it an unchallenged grip over Tibet's water resources. Additionally, there is no formal framework for sharing Brahmaputra waters. However, there exists an 'Expert Level Mechanism' (ELM) that provides the two sides a platform to discuss and share flood-season hydrological data. This arrangement is of limited value due to its short duration and restricted disclosure of information by China. Incidentally, no ELM meeting has been held since June 2023. India needs to raise the matter with China and push for a binding water treaty. Additionally, in collaboration with Dhaka and Thimphu, Delhi must highlight the issue at global water diplomacy forums. More importantly, to cope with the impact of China building upstream dams on the Brahmaputra, India requires a science-backed comprehensive strategy that is multi-pronged: integrating storage, flood control, transportation, and ecological dimensions. India also needs to enhance satellite monitoring of river flow and weather prediction systems to track changes with precision. Further, international scientific collaboration must be explored to help predict the impact of glacial melt and upstream interventions on Indian rivers. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD India has begun to take steps to strengthen its water security. The government has conceived the 'Siang Upper Multipurpose Project' with a 10 GW capacity. The dam will act as a power generator and strategic buffer. While for China, damming the Yarlung Tsangpo is meant to meet its clean energy needs, for India, it is a matter of strategic, ecological, and existential concern. With water becoming the new oil, water politics over rivers is set to intensify. As Beijing is unlikely to heed Delhi's concerns, it is imperative for India to formulate a long-term policy and plan of action to safeguard its vital national interests in the wake of China's hydrographic aggression. The author is a war veteran, former Assistant Chief, served as Defence Attaché in China and North Korea; currently Professor of Strategic-IR & Management Studies. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Bangkok Post
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Bangkok Post
Should the US join China's WWII event?
The latest Victory Day parade in Moscow marking the 80th anniversary of Germany's independence defeat in May will be bookended in the upcoming September with a commemorative parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing marking the defeat of Japan. Of the "Big Five" victor nations, only the leaders of China and Russia will be on the rostrum, with no confirmed plans for US, UK or French leaders to attend. Two leading Chinese opinion leaders, Jin Canrong of Renmin University, formerly of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Wang Xiangwei, former editor of the South China Morning Post, have suggested that China should invite the US to join the event at Tiananmen. This tantalising possibility was flagged by internet maven Wang Zichen in his Pekingnology newsletter Nice try, guys. This is a bold gesture at a time of immense diplomatic turmoil, a time when it's worth a try to think out of the box, but it's unlikely to work. Any gathering at which Vladimir Putin is party to will project mixed messages and crossed signals at odds with the spirit of the original victory against global fascism. Winners of the war never tire of the narrative that Germany and Japan were the bad guys, on the wrong side of history, but both those countries have transformed themselves beyond recognition. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged triumphant in 1945, of course, with immense leverage between them in shaping the peace of the post-war world order. But the fleeting solidarity enjoyed in that moment of victory was frittered away as the two very different nations turned competitors, contenders and Cold War adversaries in the rush to determine who controlled what and where and on whose terms. China was on the winning side, but its legacy is most pronounced as a victim nation. Its losses under Imperial Japanese aggression were among the most catastrophic in history, with estimates of 35 million dead or more, and while it is natural that China should want to celebrate the moment that the horror of Japanese occupation ended, China did not end it. Some will argue the horrific bomb dropped on Hiroshima did the job, others credit the Soviet Union's late but formidable arrival in Manchuria. Chinese of all political factions fought bravely and made great sacrifices, but China was part occupied, part battleground and part rump state. The KMT in Chungking offered continuity of governance, but were not winners on the battlefield. Chiang Kai-shek's family ties and diplomatic links to the US gave him a seat at the table at the Cairo Conference and subsequent discussions about reordering a broken world order. It is fitting and proper that China should be among those who salute the march of history in 1945. But what about Britain? Under Winston Churchill's leadership, the UK correctly perceived Adolf Hitler to be the enemy of all mankind, even before the Nazi's went on the rampage and began to pound London with bombs. In the face of an insuperable threat, the UK, like China, did its best to delay the march of armies it couldn't singlehandedly stop. What both did, significantly, was to communicate to the world that fascism was everyone's struggle. Long before the US entered either the Pacific or Atlantic theatre of the war, Washington was beseeched with pleas from old friends in both China and England to pay attention, to lend support, to get involved. Both frontline countries did much to convince the more powerful but geographically isolated US to join in. Of the five big powers, France got a seat at the table despite its collaboration with the Nazis because of Charles de Gaulle's guerrilla war against the Nazis. France surrendered to Nazi occupation under the guise of cooperation, only to turn on them when US intervention became a game-changer. A similar pattern of biding time took place in the vast swathes of China. Much of the coast was occupied directly by Japan, such as in Manchuria, or indirectly ruled under the aegis of pro-Tokyo collaborationist Wang Jingwei. Today, as several serious regional wars are already raging across the globe, the spectre of world war cannot be entirely dismissed. Commemoration of World War II can offer a useful perspective if the ceremonies are not hijacked for partisan benefit or are tone-deaf to the past. The presence of Mr Putin as a guest of honour at the Beijing parade, presents a problem. No one can deny the great contribution to victory that was made by the USSR in bringing the World War to an end in 1945, but the past is another country. Furthermore, the absence of the US, Britain and arguably France, makes for a lopsided affair. It becomes instead a commemoration of convenience, serving present needs without really taking an honest look at what the fight against fascism was fighting against. In the Western press, Mr Putin has been compared to Hitler, and as historically inaccurate as that may be, Mr Putin did recently invade Ukraine upon which he continues to wreak death and sow hatred. Russia's blatant aggression has put all of Europe on edge, setting into motion some of the same dynamics seen in continental Europe when the Allies grappled with the rising German threat of the 1940s. Another reason why it's worth being sceptical about the US joining China and Russia to praise the heroism of a bygone struggle against fascism is the confused state of affairs in the US at this time. Donald Trump, self-styled strongman leader of the US, has introduced elements of fascism to his authoritarian ruling style at home and abroad. Oblivious to the nuances of history, he recently crowed about the success of his attack on Iran, comparing it to dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Finally, there is the question of where Germany and Japan, the two aggressor nations so soundly defeated by the Allies and Soviets in 1945, stand in today's world. It's one thing to crow about victory over the bad guys while the smoke is still clearing, but the smoke cleared 80 years ago and the world is a very different place now, with Germany and Japan rule-bound, cooperative, diplomatic and peace-abiding. Sad to say, the two aggressor states of World War II are in many ways exemplars of the post-war peace, while the Allied victors, especially Russia and the US, are looking more and more like aggressors these days.
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First Post
14-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
How China's ideologues glorify the Uyghur genocide
The mass killings, cultural erasure, and brutal tactics of the 1950s are being celebrated as a model for how to govern East Turkistan today. This is not merely a message for domestic audiences, it is a signal to the world and a warning to those who remain silent read more China's ideological institutions are praising genocide as a tool of statecraft. On February 4, 2025, the Chinese Red Culture Research Association (CRCRA), a national ideological organisation supervised by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and overseen by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs, published an article openly glorifying the mass murder of Uyghurs by General Wang Zhen, a key figure in the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) violent conquest of East Turkistan in 1949. This article did not frame these atrocities as a regrettable chapter of the past. It held them up as a governing model for the present. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The article, titled 'Wang Zhen Governs Xinjiang: What 'East Turkistan' or 'West Turkistan'? Just 'Tutu' Them All!', refers to the slang term '突突' (tūtũ), meaning 'machine-gun them'. It uses the phrase '全部突突掉!' meaning 'just shoot them all!' not rhetorically but as direct policy advice. The piece presents the mass killings, religious subjugation, and total suppression of the Uyghurs not as regrettable, but as effective and necessary. Wang Zhen, remembered as Wang Huzi ('Bandit Wang'), ordered entire villages destroyed with artillery and implemented a brutal policy of collective punishment, executing five to ten Uyghurs in retaliation for every Chinese soldier lost. He enforced practices of spiritual desecration by forcing devout Uyghurs to raise pigs, slaughter them, and consume the meat; these were deliberate acts of cultural and religious humiliation. When villagers protested the killing of an elderly man, Wang deployed thousands of paramilitary units from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) to violently suppress the demonstration. The article boasts, 'Blood flowed like a river.' It further praises Wang for deceiving a delegation of Uyghur leaders who sought to petition Beijing to honour its nationality policies. Promising to take them to the capital, Wang instead ordered their transport to a remote location, where they were summarily executed. 'Tutu'ed,' the article notes, with chilling finality. It proudly recounts that any assembly of three or more adult Uyghur men was treated as a cause for immediate execution. It goes further, praising Wang's brutality as not excessive but exemplary. Why should we not be iron-blooded?' It asks, framing genocide as a patriotic necessity. It concludes by asserting that such measures succeeded in pacifying East Turkistan for decades, explicitly endorsing the repetition of those same genocidal tactics today. The article proclaims, 'Without thunderbolts, there can be no compassion,' and declares, 'Only by terrorising the troublemakers can we eliminate terror.' It ends with a chilling ideological assertion: 'In matters of national interest, force is truth.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD These are not metaphors. They are ideological endorsements of policies already being carried out: enslavement through forced labour, mass internment, organ harvesting, and the systematic erasure of an entire people. This is not the rant of an internet provocateur or the revisionism of a random Chinese blogger. These words come from an official ideological institution whose mission, according to its own charter, is to 'serve the overall work of the Party and the State,' 'study and promote red culture,' and 'strengthen the ruling status of the Communist Party'. It is overseen by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the CCP's top ideological think tank, and operates under the full authority of the Party. CRCRA is not obscure. Its events are attended and endorsed by China's top ideological elites. At its 2023 national conference, speakers included Teng Wensheng, former Director of the CCP Central Policy Research Office, and Li Dianren, former Deputy Political Commissar of the National Defence University, who also spoke at the organisation's 2024 national conference. The former praised the organisation's materials as 'politically sharp'. The latter called it a 'fighting force' for Xi Jinping's ideological leadership. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Former Central Propaganda Department head Wang Renzhi and former Director of the Literature Research Office of the CCP Central Committee (renamed the Central Institute of Party History and Literature after 2018), Pang Xianzhi, have publicly praised the CRCRA for its unwavering commitment to advancing Party ideology. Their support is not incidental. It is confirmation of alignment with the CCP's core ideological goals. This is not a historical reflection. It is contemporary incitement. These narratives are being institutionalised, not by fringe bloggers or elements, but by organs of the Chinese state. China officially refers to its 1949 invasion of East Turkistan as the 'Peaceful Liberation of Xinjiang'. But the CRCRA's own article contradicts this claim. It recounts, in vivid detail and with ideological pride, the shelling of villages, mass executions, forced desecration of religious identity, and suppression through terror. China's own ideological institutions have now confirmed what Uyghurs have said for decades: that this was not liberation. It is a brutal military occupation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Since 2014, China has been engaged in a coordinated campaign of genocide and crimes against humanity in East Turkistan. Millions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Turkic peoples have been imprisoned in concentration camps, subjected to forced labour, coerced into sterilisation, and separated from their children. Thousands of cultural and religious sites have been destroyed. The Uyghur language has been suppressed. The Chinese government calls this 'poverty alleviation,' 'counterterrorism,' and 'vocational training'. But leaked official documents and the publicly available CRCRA article show the true motive: subjugation through extermination, justified in ideological terms. In 2020, the East Turkistan Government in Exile, the East Turkistan National Movement, and survivors of the camps filed a formal complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC). The United States and over a dozen parliaments have recognised China's actions as genocide. In 2022, the UN Human Rights Office confirmed these crimes may constitute crimes against humanity. Yet no meaningful legal or political consequences have followed. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The CRCRA article marks a dangerous new threshold. China's genocide against the Uyghurs is not only ongoing; it is now being openly glorified. The mass killings, cultural erasure, and brutal tactics of the 1950s are being celebrated as a model for how to govern East Turkistan today. This is not merely a message for domestic audiences. It is a signal to the world and a warning to those who remain silent. The world can no longer claim ignorance. In June 2025, the genocide of Uyghurs continues, no longer hidden but openly justified through state ideology. China's state-supervised institutions now openly praise the mass killings, forced assimilation, and religious destruction that defined the conquest of East Turkistan. These are not historical reflections; they are blueprints for how the Chinese party-state seeks to rule today. It continues to deny these crimes even as it glorifies the very ideology that justifies them. This is not merely impunity. It is escalation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The United Nations, democratic governments, and leading human rights organisations must demand that the International Criminal Court open a formal investigation without further delay. If the Court fails to act, the responsibility falls to democratic states to establish a special international tribunal to prosecute China's ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in East Turkistan. Recognition of genocide and crimes against humanity, without concrete action to stop them and hold the perpetrators accountable, is not justice. It is complicity. Genocide does not begin with bullets. It begins with ideological incitement. In 2025, China is publishing that ideology proudly. The world must decide whether to confront the machinery of state-led extermination or enable it through silence. Mamtimin Ala is the president of the East Turkistan Government in Exile, and Salih Hudayar is leader of the East Turkistan National Movement. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
South China Morning Post
13-07-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Forget the West – China think tanks must be ‘self-centred' to project soft power: expert
China's think-tanks should pay more attention to the nation's actual conditions and rely less on Western knowledge, according to a leading Chinese scholar, who said policy advisers could better reflect and project the country's soft power by incorporating 'Chinese characteristics'. Professor Zheng Yongnian, a political economist with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, who is also a Beijing policy adviser, said that to better explain Chinese practices to the world and anticipate the country's future, such organisations should be based on an 'indigenous knowledge system'. The root and power of a country's rise was the 'rise of ideas', and think tanks were the core and soul of a country's ' soft power ', Zheng said in an interview in Tuesday's issue of Chinese Social Sciences Today, a newspaper published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Zheng Yongnian, an adviser to Beijing's policymakers, at a seminar last September. Photo: CUHK-Shenzhen Chinese think tanks, Zheng said, focused more on practicality compared with the research and analysis conducted in universities. 'Some universities' 'academism' in social science research is still stuck in Western textbooks. Their policy analysis also tends to be more of a post-analysis function,' he said. 'Think tanks, on the other hand, focus more on public policies in Chinese practice from the perspective of empirical research, exploring their formation, evolution and future development direction, as well as how decisions are made, implemented and supervised by the government and provide feedback,' Zheng told the newspaper. 'Only by truly building an indigenous knowledge system based on China's practical experience and realising 'self-centredness' can we truly explain China's practices and predict China's future,' he added.
The Star
12-07-2025
- Politics
- The Star
‘Global unity through dialogue'
BEIJING: Dialogue and cooperation are crucial tools to address common challenges such as poverty, climate change and inequality in a world grappling with economic uncertainty and tensions, says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong. Calling for global unity, the MCA president said the spirit of exchange and mutual learning is facing new challenges amid rising protectionism, ideological divides and a worrying tendency towards isolationism. 'Some are tempted to see the diversity of civilisations not as a source of strength, but as a source of conflict. This is a dangerous path,' he said. Dr Wee was speaking at the forum on 'Inter-Civilisation Exchanges and Mutual Learning: Global Development and Prosperity,' part of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Civilisations Dialogue held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse here yesterday. He emphasised that civilisation should not be a contest of dominance, but a journey of mutual learning. 'It is a journey of learning, where we share experiences, exchange knowledge and draw wisdom from one another to solve common challenges, be it poverty, climate change or global inequality,' he said. Also present was MCA secretary-general Datuk Chong Sin Woon. The forum was opened by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences vice-president Li Xuesong, followed by a keynote address from Hu Heping, executive deputy head of the CPC Central Committee's Publicity Department, and a speech from Andrey Chorbanov, chairman of Bulgaria's Education and Science Committee. Other speakers included Xinhua News Agency president Fu Hua, Bangladesh Cultural Affairs Ministry adviser Mostofa Farooki and CPC Central Committee Party School vice-president Li Wentang. Former Dewan Negara president and Star Media Group Bhd chairman Tan Sri Wong Foon Meng (pic) also participated, speaking at a separate forum. Dr Wee is on an official visit to China at the invitation of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee's Contemporary World Magazine. He is leading a delegation of 23 media representatives from 12 Asian and African countries under the theme 'Media Empowerment and Shared Prosperity'. The delegation is visiting key sites and companies to gain deeper insight into the historical foundations of Chinese civilisation as well as the major achievements and global opportunities arising from China's path to modernisation. Dr Wee noted that Malaysia, as a nation at the crossroads of Asia, embodies the value of cultural convergence, where diverse cultures, beliefs and ideas have come together to produce a rich civilisational tapestry. 'Our future lies not in turning inward but in engaging with the world,' he said. He highlighted Malaysia's commitment to modernisation through learning and adaptation, pointing to the Belt and Road Initiative as a successful example of international cooperation. 'Malaysia and China have shown the world how such collaboration can work,' he said. Dr Wee added that MCA is proud to have fostered these ties through the Belt and Road Centre, Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research, inter-party exchanges and academic cooperation via Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. Dr Wee also expressed support for China's Global Civilisation Initiative, which promotes mutual respect and dialogue among nations. 'No civilisation, no matter how advanced, holds all the answers. But through humility and openness, we can find solutions that benefit humanity as a whole. 'We must choose dialogue over division, cooperation over confrontation, and mutual learning over suspicion,' he said, adding that the wisdom of the past shows that diversity is humanity's greatest strength. Meanwhile, in a parallel session, Wong addressed the topic 'Inter-Civilisation Exchanges and Mutual Learning: Cultural Inheritance and Innovation,' highlighting the need for cultures to evolve while staying rooted in their essence. He cited examples such as Malaysia's batik and China's ink painting, which are flourishing in the digital age. 'In Malaysia, traditional batik motifs are being revitalised through digital fashion platforms, while in China, centuries-old ink painting techniques have found new life through immersive digital exhibitions. 'These expressions give rich meaning to our cultural inheritance. Yet, as we evolve, so must our cultures. Innovation does not mean turning away from tradition,' he said. Highlighting the media's role, Wong said, 'The media plays a critical role in cultural inheritance and innovation. We are not just storytellers, we are connectors.' He added that Star Media Group has been using its platform to encourage dialogue and unity in Malaysia's diverse society. 'We live in a time of unprecedented challenges, geopolitical tensions, technological disruption and environmental crisis. 'In such times, dialogue among civilisations is not merely valuable; it is essential,' he said. He praised the Global Civilisation Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping as a timely framework for celebrating diversity and shared values. 'Peace, equality, justice and common prosperity are aspirations for all of humanity. 'Let us work together, not only to preserve our past but to leverage its essence to drive innovation and share its gifts with the world,' Wong said.
