By CAO DESHENG | CHINA DAILY

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, proposed the Global Civilization Initiative on Wednesday, calling for respect for the diversity of civilizations.

Xi, who is also China's president, made the remark from Beijing in a keynote speech to the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting, which was held via video link.

With the theme of "Path Towards Modernization: the Responsibility of Political Parties", the virtual meeting gathered representatives from more than 500 political parties, political organizations, think tanks and media from across the globe. World political leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, also participated in the meeting.

Xi said that tolerance, coexistence, exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations play an irreplaceable role in advancing humanity's modernization process, as all countries and their future are now closely connected.

"Countries need to uphold the principles of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness among civilizations, and let cultural exchanges transcend estrangement, mutual learning transcend clashes, and inclusiveness transcend any sense of superiority."

Xi called for advocating the common values of humanity, saying that peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom are the common aspirations of all peoples.

He emphasized that countries need to refrain from imposing their own values or models on others and from stoking ideological confrontation.

Xi underlined the need to promote international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. He said that countries should explore the building of a global network for inter-civilizational dialogue and cooperation, and jointly advance the progress of human civilizations.

The CPC is committed to strengthening exchanges and cooperation with other political parties to pursue the just cause together, and it is ready to deepen interactions with political parties and organizations in other countries to expand the convergence of ideas and interests, Xi said.

He called for leveraging the strength of a new type of party-to-party relations for building a new type of international relations and expanding global partnerships by fostering stronger relations with world political parties.

The Global Civilization Initiative is one of the major initiatives that Xi has proposed with a global vision to promote world peace, security, development and harmony.

He also has proposed the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative against the backdrop of profound changes in the international landscape, and has called for countries around the world to advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and jointly cope with mounting global challenges.