In the following article, Russel Harland (Deputy Branch Secretary and International Relations Officer, Surrey County UNISON, and a member of the Friends of Socialist China Britain Committee) reflects on his participation in the Global Civilizations Dialogue Ministerial Meeting held in Beijing in July 2025, as part of a diverse international delegation.
The conference, attended by over 600 delegates from more than 140 countries, aimed to foster intercivilisational dialogue, mutual understanding, and peace—core principles of President Xi Jinping’s Global Civilisation Initiative (GCI), which, Russel writes, provides a transformative alternative to neoliberal and hegemonic worldviews.
The event’s central theme—Safeguarding Diversity of Human Civilisations for World Peace and Development—was especially resonant amidst current global crises, including the genocide being waged in Gaza. Speeches by senior Chinese officials and international guests praised China’s commitment to peace, multiculturalism, and people-centred development. President Xi’s message underscored values of equality, inclusivity, and cooperation among civilisations.
Participants, including former leaders of Belgium, Japan, and Indonesia, expressed admiration for China’s leadership and global vision. The second day featured smaller roundtables on civilisational exchange, where speakers—from astronauts to poets—stressed the need for empathy, solidarity, and shared progress. Delegates from the Global South highlighted their struggles against colonialism and neoliberalism, echoing a shared history of resistance.
Russel found inspiration in the conference and his pre-conference travels with fellow delegates, seeing China as a hub of cultural diplomacy and hope. He drew parallels with Ireland’s colonial past and stressed the need to break historical constraints through dialogue and understanding. Ultimately, he sees the GCI as a platform for building a just, multipolar world in which, as the Irish poet Seamus Heaney put it, “hope and history rhyme.”
It was an honour to attend the Global Civilisations Dialogue Ministerial Meeting on 10-11 July 2025 in Beijing as an Irish delegate from Friends of Socialist China.This momentous event brought togethermore than six hundred delegates from over 140 countries and regions. Its purpose was to enhance cultural exchanges among civilisations so as to strengthen trust and mutual understanding and transcend differences, recognising the importance of working together for the common aspirationsof humanity.
The conference came a month after the first United Nations International Day for Dialogue among Civilisations, which followed a China-sponsored resolution calling for June 10th to be recognised as a global day for furthering civil dialogue and promoting peace among nations. It is rooted in President Xi Jinping’s 2023 Global Civilisation Initiative (GCI). Together with the Global Development Initiative, and the Global Security Initiative, also proposed by President Xi, they constitute a framework for global transformation away from such neo-liberal maxims as “there is no alternative” and that relations between nations are a “zero-sum game.”
A framework for solidarity
The theme of the conference was Safeguarding Diversity of Human Civilisations for World Peace and Development – a timely subject for discussion given the West’s unrelenting addiction to war, most tragically expressed in the ongoing genocide in Gaza now etched forever on our souls. It was thus fitting that the China Philharmonic Orchestra got proceedings serenely underway by playing Elgar’s Salut d’amour Op.12, and the Chinese song Eternal Friendship.
The opening session was moderated by Liu Jianchao, Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee (IDCPC), who spoke of the need to work towards the common goal of peace throughout the world. Liu added that through civilisational dialogues and exchanges, we can work towards peace and address the challenges facing the world today.
A congratulatory message sent by President Xi Jinping was read by Li Shulei, Head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee. President Xi reiterated
that China will work with other countries to champion equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness among civilisations, and will implement the Global Civilisation Initiative, in a bid to provide fresh impetus for advancing human civilisations and promoting world peace and development.
Cai Qi, member of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat, in his keynote speech, emphasised President Xi’s lofty aspiration for the Global Civilisation Initiative, acknowledging the difficult task of promoting world peace and development while safeguarding the diversity of civilisations. Moreover, Cai rejected any perceived notion of superiority of civilisations propagated by those who seek to stoke division using the rhetoric of ‘clash of civilisations’. Rather, Cai posited that through deepening people to people exchanges, an atmosphere of harmonious coexistence can develop which “can then promote the establishment of a diversified, multi-dimensional global network for dialogue and cooperation among civilisations.”
As I sat in Fanghua Hall in Beijing, listening to the speeches, aware of the turmoil in the world, and the grotesque disfigurement that colonialism and neoliberalism inflict on a society, I could not help but think that I was sitting in the centre of the civilised world. Contributions from distinguished guests reinforced this view, with former Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme praising China’s unprecedented progress to the benefit of all its citizens, together with its respect for and development of ethnic and cultural diversity in the country. Irina Bokova, the former director-general of UNESCO, welcomed the Global Civilisation Initiative, stating that this “isn’t just an initiative – it’s a vision for a peaceful, harmonious world rooted in empathy and solidarity.”
Yukio Hatoyama, a former Prime Minister of Japan, acknowledged his country’s historical transgressions against China and other countries. Moreover, he praised President Xi’s ideas and concepts, while sharing his own idea of friendship and love as a way of working towards a shared future, with special mention given to the “Ukraine crisis” and the “genocide against Palestinians”. In addition, Megawati Sukarnoputri, a former President of Indonesia, in a somewhat sobering plea to the hall, stated that Palestinians had been failed, and called for China to take a more prominent global role, recalling the spirit of the Bandung Conference, with its as yet unfulfilled promise to free the world from hegemonism.
Where have we come from, and where are we going?
Prior to the conference I had spent an educational four days visiting the wonderful cities of Quanzhou, Xiamen, and Fuzhou, in Fujian Province. This time was spent getting to know my fellow delegates from the 22 countries that made up our 30-strong delegation. Predominantly hailing from the Global South, our group, from varying political backgrounds, included writers, politicians, academics, and civil society activists from Vietnam, Cambodia, Kenya, Thailand, Mongolia, Eswatini (Swaziland), Uganda, Nepal, and Pakistan, amongst others. Is this not the epitome of people to people exchanges? I felt liberated.
In the Understanding China series of books, the idiom below from President Xi is used as the epigraph:
Where have we come from, and where are we going? In this day and age for China, I am always reminding myself to maintain this sense of history.
During our time in China, a delegate from Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, reminded me that his hometown was once known as “The Belfast of the East,” due to the bitter conflict that destroyed the former socialist Yugoslavia. The conflict in the North of Ireland, where I grew up, lasted over thirty years, claiming around 3,720 lives, with over 47,000 people injured, together with all the traumas such a society endures. In another chat over a meal, a Kenyan delegate lambasted the cruelty of the pharmaceutical industry in the West, citing not only their despicable practices over the years targeting Africa’s poor, but poor people globally. Also, a Cambodian friend introduced me to his beautiful award-winning poem – A Nail, with its profound allusions to those broken and cast aside by society. The poem declares – The nail is always hit by a hammer; If wrongly struck, the nail will be cursed. On reflection, it is clear that President Xi’s epigraph resonated strongly with many of our delegation, as history acts as a driving force for today’s and tomorrow’s struggle.
A stage for the Global South and beyond
Day two of the conference was given over to parallel forums, with the focus on inter-civilisation exchanges and mutual learning. This provided a somewhat more intimate setting compared to the previous day’s proceedings. The four roundtable dialogues enabled a diverse range of speakers to share the same platforms from which to air their views. Before the discussions began, the large screen played a video celebrating the ancient silk road and the way in which it brought cultures from across Eurasia together for mutually beneficial trade. With Xi Jinping’s initiatives launched once again calling on civilisations to work collectively towards common prosperity, history and the future may be said to coincide in China. As the great Irish poet Seamus Heaney wrote:
But then, once in a lifetime
the longed for tidal wave
of justice can rise up,
and hope and history rhyme.
(The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles’ Philoctetes – 1991)
IDCPC Minister Liu Jianchao highlighted the role that China’s minority nationalities play in helping to construct a bridge to other civilisations. He also gave concrete examples of China’s contributions to people’s livelihood as an integral part of the country’s foreign policy.
Yan Liwei, China’s first taikonaut (astronaut), poignantly described how twenty years ago he witnessed the world from space, where borders do not exist and we are all connected. Chen Yan, the Vice President of the Chinese Writers Association, praised the beautiful novel of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, A Hundred Years of Solitude, whilst stressing the need to work together, not in isolation, adding that the world must choose love, for without it, humanity has no hope. Pan Zhanle, Olympic swimming champion, and the personification of humility, highlighted the role of competitive sport in driving human beings towards excellence. Finally, among Chinese panellists, Yang Yang, a former Olympic speed skating champion, who spoke with such humanitarian poise on two occasions, offered, during a lively discussion with former Chinese football manager Bora Milutinović, the tragic metaphor that when kids in Gaza go to head the ball, bullets protect the goal.
Among our delegation, Kemreat Viseth, the lead delegate and Cambodian government official, spoke about how individuals thrive through interaction, not isolation, and how we should all walk forward together into the future with humility and hope. Muhammad Asif Noor, Director of Pakistan’s Institute of Peace and Diplomatic Studies, talked about using these platforms as a mechanism for preserving memory. Wirun Phichaiwongphakdee, Director of the Thailand-China Research Centre of the Belt and Road Initiative, told how the Digital Silk Road has connected Thailand and China through mobile payment platforms such as Alipay and WeChat.
Thokozane Kenneth Kunene, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Swaziland, stated that his country lives under an absolute monarchy, which is anti-civilisation, arguing that the population does not enjoy even the most fundamental rights. Zdravka Evitmova, a Bulgarian writer, told the forum how she was awestruck by the people-centred progress she witnessed during our time in China. She also emphasised that literature and the arts offer the shortest route to the human heart. However, it was left to Rapheal Tuju, a former Kenyan Foreign Minister, to offer the solemn warning, 80 years after World War II claimed over 70 million lives, that the world was now on the precipice of something even more catastrophic.
The artificial dam will break
As a delegate from Ireland, it was a pleasure to present Chinese comrades with copies of the book Ireland, Colonialism and the Unfinished Revolution, kindly donated by the authors Dr Robbie McVeigh and Professor Bill Rolston. For many of us at the conference, human progress and development continue to be blocked by history and the continued ravages wrought by colonialism. Mc Veigh and Rolston state that the “[Good Friday] Agreement reads as a sophisticated version of a very simple negotiation: peace in exchange for human rights and equality.”1 This underlines the sectarianism that was institutionally built into the colonial construct that in 1921 became “Northern Ireland”. Until reunification, Ireland will be unable to fully shake off the yoke of colonialism. Yet I am optimistic that this day is coming, both for Ireland as well as China.
China is vigorously investing a lot of time and resources to bring people together to work towards a brighter future for all of humanity. Zheng Bijian, a veteran Chinese political adviser and theorist, and the editor of the Understanding China books series, argues that there are a lot of misgivings as well as curiosity about China. However, if people want to address these issues, then “one thing must be done – Understand China,”2 This inspiring conference, and the Global Civilisation Initiative, will certainly help in this process. It definitely enriched my understanding of it.
1. McVeigh, R. & Rolston, B. (2021). Anoisa ar theacht an tSamhraidh: Ireland, Colonialism and the Unfinished Revolution. Belfast: Beyond The Pale Books.
2. Bijian, Z. (2024). Discovering China’s Democracy From The Ground Up. Beijing: Foreign Language Press.
