China News Service, September 12th Title: Facing the "contemplative Athena", Xi Jinping mentioned a Chinese idiom

There is a legend in Greece. The goddess of wisdom Athena fought with the sea god Poseidon to be the patron saint of Athens. In the end, Athena defeated Poseidon with an olive tree that symbolized peace and prosperity.

In November 2019, President Xi Jinping came to the city to visit the Acropolis Museum as his last visit to Greece.

During the visit, he stopped in front of the relief of "The Contemplative Athena". The then Greek President Pavlopoulos introduced to President Xi Jinping that this was the rest and meditating after the war had just participated in the rest and contemplation.

President Xi Jinping said she was thinking about the meaning of war.

When he spoke the Chinese idiom "stop the sword and is the martial arts", Pavlopoulos nodded constantly while listening to it.

"Since ancient times, the Chinese believe in the concept of "doing to others what they do not want others to do to them", "the world is for the public", and "harmonious nations". China will never make a strong country and will not agree with the zero-sum game of winning or losing, because the Chinese have never had this cultural gene and no such ambition." President Xi Jinping said this during the head of state talks the day before.

Are different civilizations destined to conflict or can they coexist harmoniously? With the accelerated evolution of century-old changes, this problem is once again facing human society.

Over the years, in the face of various "clash of civilizations" and "China threat theory", President Xi Jinping has repeatedly declared China's determination to adhere to the path of peaceful development.

In 2013, Xi Jinping made his first visit after becoming the President of China, and explained the initiative of a "community of shared future" to the world in Moscow. A year later, he delivered a speech at the UNESCO headquarters, profoundly explaining China's view of civilization in the new era.

In recent years, President Xi Jinping has successively put forward the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative, and has proposed Chinese solutions to maintain world peace, promote common development, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and strengthen mutual learning among civilizations.

"Civilization exchanges and mutual learning should not be based on respecting a certain civilization or derogating a certain civilization."

"If you want to keep up with the times, you cannot have entered the 21st century, and your mind is still stuck in the old era of Cold War thinking and zero-sum game."

"Only when people of all countries live a good life, prosperity can last, security can be guaranteed, and human rights can have a foundation."

...

These words are resounding.

Today, China is the main trading partner of more than 150 countries and regions, and has jointly established an international mediation institute with 32 countries, continuing to promote the high-quality development of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road"... constantly injecting stability into the turbulent world and bringing new opportunities.

At the SCO Tianjin Summit not long ago, President Xi Jinping solemnly proposed a global governance initiative and worked with all countries to promote the construction of a more just and reasonable global governance system. Expanding from the three dimensions of "development, security, and civilization" to the four dimensions of "development, security, civilization, and governance", it demonstrates China's responsibility and action in international affairs.

On September 3, at the conference commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, General Secretary Xi Jinping once again thought about peace and development from the depth of history.

"History warns us that the destiny of mankind is shared by weal and woe. Only by treating each other equally, living in harmony, and helping each other can we maintain common security, eliminate the root causes of war, and prevent historical tragedies from happening again!"

The relays of history run forward one after another. Faced with the question of the times, China's answer has always been firm and clear.

｜Producer: Chen Lujun

｜General Planning: Yu Lan

｜Planning: Wu Qingcai

｜Coordinator: Ma Xueling and Kan Feng

｜Written by: Yuan Xiuyue

｜Proofreading: Sun Jingbo

｜Visual: Si Fang

｜Produced by "Xi Yandao" Studio of China News Network