Latest news with #Confucian-Islamic
Malaysia Sun
27-05-2025
- Business
- Malaysia Sun
2nd LD Writethru: Chinese premier says China to jointly usher in new
KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Monday that China is ready to work with Malaysia to deepen exchanges and collaboration across various fields, and jointly usher in a new "Golden 50 Years" for bilateral ties guided by the principles of mutual respect and trust, equality and mutual benefit for win-win outcomes. Li made the remarks when meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Recalling that Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Malaysia last month, Li said that both sides agreed to build a high-level strategic China-Malaysia community with a shared future and mapped out the strategic direction for the development of bilateral relations. China is willing to work with Malaysia to implement the important outcomes of this historic visit, he said. Li noted that China is willing to maintain close high-level exchanges with Malaysia, enhance strategic communication, and consolidate the foundation of political mutual trust for the China-Malaysia community with a shared future. He urged the two sides to continue expanding trade and investment cooperation with a focus on cutting-edge areas, including the digital economy, the green economy and artificial intelligence, promote the integrated development of industrial and supply chains and value chains, and steadily advance major projects such as the "Two Countries, Twin Parks" and the East Coast Rail Link, so as to strengthen the economic growth engine of the China-Malaysia community with a shared future. China is ready to implement well the mutual visa exemption agreement with Malaysia, deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation in culture, education, health, sports and other fields, and strengthen the people-to-people bond of the China-Malaysia community with a shared future, Li said. He also urged the two sides to organize well Confucian-Islamic civilizational dialogue, among other activities, and jointly build a platform for cultural exchanges not only between the two countries but also across the region. In the face of rising unilateralism and protectionism and a sluggish global economic recovery, China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, all participants in and beneficiaries of economic globalization, should enhance coordination and jointly uphold open regionalism and true multilateralism, Li said. He noted that the convening of the ASEAN-GCC-China Summit carries special significance. Noting that Malaysia is both the rotating chair of ASEAN and the host of the trilateral summit, Li said that China is ready to work closely with Malaysia to take the event as an opportunity to push for closer economic cooperation among the three sides, build a model of global cooperation and development, jointly safeguard free trade and the multilateral trading system and address global challenges together, so as to contribute greater stability, certainty and positive energy to a turbulent world. For his part, Anwar noted that China is a good neighbor and partner of Malaysia. Xi's historic visit to Malaysia last month was a great success, he said, adding that Malaysia stands ready to work with China to fully implement the outcomes of that visit, further expand cooperation in trade and investment, scale up key projects such as the "Two Countries, Twin Parks" and the East Coast Rail Link, and broaden cooperation in areas such as new energy, finance, resources, artificial intelligence and people's livelihood. Malaysia firmly supports multilateralism and China's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, he said. Anwar said his country is ready to work with China to ensure fruitful outcomes of the inaugural ASEAN-GCC-China Summit.
Malaysia Sun
27-05-2025
- Business
- Malaysia Sun
1st LD: Chinese premier says China to jointly usher in new
KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Monday that China is ready to work with Malaysia to deepen exchanges and collaboration across various fields, and jointly usher in a new "Golden 50 Years" for bilateral ties guided by the principles of mutual respect and trust, equality and mutual benefit for win-win outcomes. Li made the remarks when meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Recalling that Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Malaysia last month, Li said that both sides agreed to build a high-level strategic China-Malaysia community with a shared future and mapped out the strategic direction for the development of bilateral relations. China is willing to work with Malaysia to implement the important outcomes of this historic visit, he said. Li noted that China is willing to maintain close high-level exchanges with Malaysia, enhance strategic communication, and consolidate the foundation of political mutual trust for the China-Malaysia community with a shared future. He urged the two sides to continue expanding trade and investment cooperation with a focus on cutting-edge areas, including the digital economy, the green economy and artificial intelligence, promote the integrated development of industrial and supply chains and value chains, and steadily advance major projects such as the "Two Countries, Twin Parks" and the East Coast Rail Link, so as to strengthen the economic growth engine of the China-Malaysia community with a shared future. China is ready to implement well the mutual visa exemption agreement with Malaysia, deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation in culture, education, health, sports and other fields, and strengthen the people-to-people bond of the China-Malaysia community with a shared future, Li said. He also urged the two sides to organize well Confucian-Islamic civilizational dialogue, among other activities, and jointly build a platform for cultural exchanges not only between the two countries but also across the region. In the face of rising unilateralism and protectionism and a sluggish global economic recovery, China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, all participants in and beneficiaries of economic globalization, should enhance coordination and jointly uphold open regionalism and true multilateralism, Li said. He noted that the convening of the ASEAN-GCC-China Summit carries special significance. Noting that Malaysia is both the rotating chair of ASEAN and the host of the trilateral summit, Li said that China is ready to work closely with Malaysia to take the event as an opportunity to push for closer economic cooperation among the three sides, build a model of global cooperation and development, jointly safeguard free trade and the multilateral trading system and address global challenges together, so as to contribute greater stability, certainty and positive energy to a turbulent world.
Barnama
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Barnama
- ON THE VALUE OF AN ISLAM-CONFUCIAN DIALOGUE
Opinions on topical issues from thought leaders, columnists and editors. Hence, President Xi Jinping, shortly before his recent visit to Malaysia, said that China stands ready to promote 'Confucian-Islamic Civilisational Dialogue'. China's economic future lies in more trade and exchange with the Global South. But such ties must be underpinned by deeper cultural understandings to be sustainable. Such approaches are no longer viable in a multi-polar world with no one civilisation that serves as the beacon for less-than-civilised others. Here's what we said. Prior to the twenty-first century, inter-civilisational 'dialogue' often took the form of religious or political missionaries from the West engaging with the rest of the world for the purpose of converting them to Western ways. On 15 April 2025, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim hosted an international symposium on Confucian-Islamic dialogue in Kuala Lumpur where both of us discussed ways to deepen this dialogue. Hence, inter-civilisational dialogues need to take more respectful forms. They should aim to promote mutual understanding so as to deepen knowledge of similarities and differences and allow for respect of the other. They should also aim for mutual improvement, so that interlocutors learn from each other and generate new insights from the encounter. If the interlocutors draw on thinkers from different times and places, the exchanges can be more productive if they were trying to answer similar questions and if those answers are still relevant today. Hence, we chose to compare the ancient Confucian thinker Xunzi (c. 3rd century BCE), who was writing in the Warring States period before China was unified under the self-proclaimed First Emperor, and the ancient Islamic thinker Ibn Khaldun (c. 14th century CE), who was writing in North Africa in what can be termed the 'Warring Tribes' period. Both thinkers were writing in times of global disorder and chaos and both were preoccupied with the question of how to promote communal solidarity in such times. Today, we also live in times of global disorder and we face a similar question, and we can learn from the answers of both thinkers. Political Realists Xunzi argued for a society built on Confucian foundations and Ibn Khaldun for a society built on Islamic foundations. But both thinkers were political realists in the sense that they recognised the difficulty of realising their ideals in times of chaos and they proposed realistic mechanisms for improvement in less-than-ideal times. Xunzi, perhaps China's greatest political theorist, argued that humans have a tendency to selfishness. But we can improve – in the sense of caring for other people and become committed to social harmony – if we are committed to learning from the ancients with the aid of teachers who can model good behaviour. Most important, the society should aim to establish rituals accompanied by beautiful music that can create bonds of kinship and communal solidarity beyond kinship times. Such bonds can be helpful for victory in war and for motivating the powerful to care for the needy in terms. But Xunzi neglected the importance of an external threat for binding people: think of the case of Canada, where the citizens have become unusually patriotic because they are united against the threat by Donald Trump to turn the country into the 51st state. So, we can turn to the insights of Ibn Khaldun to complement Xunzi's thought. Ibn Khaldun provided what is arguably the first sociological theory of civilisation in his seminal work, the Muqaddimah. Like Xunzi, Ibn Khaldun had a fundamentally sceptical view of human nature. People are driven by material needs, pride and self-interest. Without external constraints, those impulses lead to competition, conflict and, eventually, civilisational decline. To counteract this, Ibn Khaldun introduced the idea of asabiyyah – a form of group solidarity and social cohesion. In tribal societies, asabiyyah is strong because survival depends on collective loyalty and courage. This unity enables the tribe to conquer and establish political authority. Temptations of City Life However, over time, nomadic conquerors succumb to the temptations of city life and that is the beginning of the end. The once brave nomads become soft, fond of luxury, and docile to outsiders, and the dynasty eventually falls to new tribes bound by strong asabiyyah. Today, in times of social disintegration and global chaos, we can agree Ibn Khaldun's strong asabiyyah is necessary to establish communal solidarity and successful political communities. Khaldun's theory may be valid in certain contemporary contexts – if Western invaders of Afghanistan had been familiar with Khaldun's theory, they would have known they were doomed to fail fighting against Taliban warriors bound by strong asabiyyah. Communal Solidarity But we need to recognise that desert hardship and bravery in battle are not the only means to generate a strong sense of communal solidarity. In peaceful times and relatively modern societies, Xunzi's suggestions for generating communal solidarity and social harmony are key: people can be made to feel as one by means of inclusive rituals accompanied by beautiful music, as well as a commitment to learning with great teachers. But Xunzi's suggestions are not sufficient. They need to be accompanied by Ibn Khaldun's idea that social ties can be strengthened by means of struggle against decadent, hedonist and crassly materialistic societies. So, Samuel Huntington's prediction that Islamic and Confucian societies will unite in a 'clash of civilisations' with the West may not be entirely off the mark. Confucians and Muslims who strongly value communitarian ways of life can agree on the need to promote rituals and music that bind people as well as the need to struggle against a hyper-individualist society promoted by US-style capitalism. -- BERNAMA Phar Kim Beng, PhD, is Professor of ASEAN Studies at International Islamic University Malaysia.
