May 4th, 2015

(Via Zaobao Online) Local time Los Angles 19:00 May 4. The ‘Promote World Peace Through Dialogue Among Civilisations’ event was held at Langham Hotel, Pasadena, Los Angles, U.S., The event was co sponsored and hosted by Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (APECF), the Asia-Pacific Information and Media Union (AIMU) and other institutions. About 100 renowned public figures from politics, economy, culture, religion and media from more than 20 countries attended the event. The renowned public figures included: Gianni Picco, former Under Secretary General of the United Nations, U.S. Congresswoman Judy Chu, Emanuelis Zingeris, the Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Mitsunari Okamoto, a member of the House of Representatives of Japan’s Komei Party, Michael D. Antonovich, Los Angeles County Supervisor and Che Zhaohe, cultural counsellor of Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, and more than 200 people from all walks of life.

Culture can promote communication and understanding among nations. Carrying out dialogue among civilisations is the foundation of realising posterity and development of mankind. The event aims to promote world peace and development through dialogue among civilisations and unify leaders from different cultural backgrounds and philanthropists who are enthusiastic about the cause to jointly address major challenges the world is currently facing, for example, coping with issues such as, climate change, poverty, education and sustainable development, especially on tackling the threat of global extremism. China and the U.S. as two big powers play an important role in these subjects and should shoulder their own responsibilities.

During the event, political, cultural and education leaders from different countries and Xiao Wunan, Vice Executive Chairman of Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation, and Lu Junhong, vice president of Asia-Pacific Information and Media Union, spoke about the subject. Ed Royce, Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Bob Huff, senator of California, and Michael D. Antonovich, Los Angeles County Supervisor, presented an award to Mr. Xiao Wunan for his dedication to Sino- US relations.

Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation has been striving to promote dialogue between east and west civilisations. For example: On accelerating cooperation between China and the EU, it established the China Italy Centre, pushed many cultural events to mark the 50th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between China and France, and kept rapport with all walks of life of U.K.society. Similar works has been carried out in Africa, South Asia and other Asia Pacific regions as well. It was actively involved in the Millennium Development Goal of the United Nations. For example, it hosted the ‘United Nations Movie Festival’ ,one of the most successful movie festivals in UN history. It sought to resolve the problem of ‘ageing population’ and promoted ‘Cultural Living, New Concept of Urban Development’ project by UN Habitat worldwide. It established the ‘Lumbini Buddhist Culture Special Zone.’ It achieved fruitful results in protecting cultural diversity while collaborating with UNESCO. Meanwhile, the foundation has been playing a positive role in promoting China-U.S. bilateral relations. It is a partner of the U.S. congress, both Democratic and Republican parties and U.S. think tanks. The foundation’s work on promoting China-U.S. cultural exchanges has also achieved fruitful results.

The Asia-Pacific Information and Media Union (AIMU) is a non-governmental organization founded by information and media organizations in the Asia-Pacific region on an equal and voluntary basis. By establishing a platform for consultation, dialogue and exchange of information among member organizations, AIMU aims to promote the exchange of information both in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world. It also seeks to foster mutual understanding, exchanges, and cooperation across countries, peoples, and cultures in the region. Moreover, AIMU strives to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals and work towards a more prosperous and peaceful world.

Along with the booming of the Chinese economy, China has been playing a more and more important role in international affairs, signifying that overseas Chinese will have a broad space for development in the future. Los Angeles has the biggest overseas Chinese community. During the event, more than 10 overseas Chinese organisations participated actively. It fully proves that: When facing serious global issues, such as ecological environment and social governance, people from different nations, regions, cultures and religious backgrounds can join hands and make contributions to world prosperity and stability. This is also the purpose of the event and it is a good start towards realising such a target.