Ma Yinglin’s Address at the Opening Ceremony of the 2015 EC Meeting of the ACRP in the Seminar on “Opposing Violence and Extremism”
Distinguished Mr. Chairperson, dear fellow delegates:
We are meeting today in Bandung after the last gathering in Inchon last August. First of all, on behalf of the CCRP delegation, I would like to thank Dr. Din Syamsuddin, Mr. Hatakeyama Hatakeyama, the ACRP Secretariat and Indonesian Chapter for their hospitality. As the Vice President of CCRP, I am glad to be here and exchange ideas with colleagues from religious community in the Asia Pacific region and share with you the ideas of the Chinese religious community in opposing violence and extremism.
Extremism and terrorism are common threats to mankind; extremism is the ideological basis of violent terrorist activities and violent terrorist activities are the expressions of extremism. In recent years, religious extremism and terrorism around the world are like the dark clouds in the sky. From Sydney to Paris, from West Asia to South Africa, terrorism and extremism can be found everywhere. In the Mosul region in Iraq, they destroyed the cultural relics that are more than 1,000 years old; in Nigeria, they kidnapped students, the future of human society; in Somalia, they attacked UNICEF humanitarian convoys. All these are contrary to the spirit of the humanitarianism. China is also the victim of extremism and terrorism as some ethnic separatists are engaged in terrorist activities in accordance with the extremist ideology, which led to serious damage to people's life and property safety. We resolutely oppose extremism and terrorism, the very important theme put forward by the EC Meeting.
Religion is about compassion, equality, and benevolence. I am the President of Bishops’ Conference of Catholic Church. Jesus Christ advocated love as tolerance and patience, which is the same with other religions. But in reality, sometimes religions are kidnapped by religious extremism and terrorism, which is detrimental to the image of our religious faith. We must set an example, advocating a view of harmonious religion, calling for dialogues among different civilizations and religions in order to pass on the “positive energy” of fraternity and peace to believers of all religions.
The Asia Pacific region is the cradle of numerous ancient civilizations with diversity of ethnic groups and religions, which resulted in diversity of the Asian family. Dialogues among different civilizations and religions should be links for different countries, ethnic groups and people of different religion as a bridge and important tie for maintaining world peace. For dialogues among different civilizations and religions, I think we should pay attention to three “mutuals”.
First, mutual respect is the premise of the dialogue. There is a British masterpiece "Pride and Prejudice" which is very well written, but pride and prejudice should be by no means our attitude. Only respect for others wins respect of others. There should be no hierarchies but differences of Civilizations.
The second is mutual tolerance, which is the basis for dialogues. There is an ancient Chinese saying "do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you." It’s not wise to judge others by your standard. The world is complex, diverse and it’s not a “black or white” or “I win and you lose” situation. There are five major religions and many folk beliefs in China, and the Chinese nation has always been tolerant towards different cultural traditions. The indigenous Taoism and Confucianism are in peaceful co-existence with Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. In the spirit of tolerance, there can be “co-existence and no harm to each other” for different cultures and religions.
Third is mutual learning. Learning from each other is the result of dialogues. Self-imposed enclosure is not conducive to the development and only opening-up leads to mutual learning. Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, Christianity, since being introduced to China, have been learning from Chinese Confucianism, Taoism culture and adapting for each other for common development. Complementary advantage is not only an economic concept but also applicable for the culture, social development.
Dear colleagues, to promote religious unity and harmony is one of the over-arching goals of CCRP. CCRP members have been actively engaged in various events and working relentlessly on efforts against extremism as well as promoting and maintaining harmonious religious relations. Chinese Buddhist community staged "Buddhist view of life” Seminar and China Islamist community convened a seminar on "Adhere to the Golden Mean and Away from Extremism”.
China religious community’s friendly exchanges are what CCRP has been working on. Since its inception, CCRP has been working closely with WCRP and ACRP as well as the religious peace organizations in other countries. CCRP is willing to share experience with our counterparts in more countries, promote mutual understanding and friendship based on mutual respect and equality so as to jointly cope with the challenges of extremist ideology and advocate dialogues among different cultures and religions.
In recent years, the flourishing CCRP provides a good platform for member organizations for sharing wisdom and experience. The expanded friendly cooperation has contributed to unity and harmony and peace and development of Asia. It wouldn’t have been possible without support of each of you, our dear friends. On behalf of CCRP, I would like to express our heartfelt thanks to you and the Moderators of ACRP, the Secretary General and friends of the members organizations.
Our meeting here today is of special importance as 60 years ago it is in Bandung that Asian and African countries had their own voices heard by the world for the first time. The birth of the ”Bandung spirit" called for new international relations of peaceful coexistence and friendly cooperation, seeking common ground while reserving differences, Today, the world is undergoing profound and complex changes, and peace and development of mankind are still faced with many challenges. The Bandung spirit is as significant as ever. Let us uphold the principles of mutual respect, mutual tolerance, mutual learning, advocating dialogue among different cultures and religions, advocate a view of harmonious religions, consensus and action, exchanges and cooperation, and work for lasting peace and common development of Asia .
Thank you.
