中欧社会论坛 - China Europa Forum

It is a pleasure on behalf of the Academy of Humanities and Political Sciences in France to send all our wishes for success to the First Macau and Sino-Europe Debate now opening in Macau. I want to thank the Macao Foundation, Phoenix TV, the China-Europa Centre of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies of Peking University for all the help they provided to organize this conference partly initiated by the Foundation for the China-Europe Dialogue, which is hosted by our Academy in Paris. I wish to thank also all the distinguished participants to this conference for responding the call for a renewed dialogue.

Holding this conference in Macau is very appropriate, since Macau has been for many centuries, despite conflicts and enmity, the place where Europeans and Chinese first got accustomed to live together, where they were first able to learn each others languages, a prerequisite for any dialogue, and to get direct acquaintance and understanding of each others civilization. As late as the 1860s, the only textbooks available for Westerners to learn spoken Chinese were those compiled in Macau. And Macau has remained with its own style a special place for cultural encounters.

The timing and agenda of this conference are also very appropriate. In the last few years Europe has been undergoing a major crisis shaking not only its economic and financial build-up, but also its social and political stability and common beliefs. This crisis is just now slowly leading to a renewed approach to the definition of more efficient cooperation and deeper grounded togetherness between the various European nations and regions. China’s rapid economic growth is at the same time exacerbating many serious domestic political and social issues and tensions, as well as the need for reviewing Chinese role and responsibilities in the world.

However different their historical development might have been, China and Europe share in fact many commonalities in the ground features of their old agricultural societies, and of their intellectual and artistic cultures. Therefore when both are facing the challenges of a globalizing world, the dialogue for exchanging their views and experiments on domestic governance, for accommodating their action in transnational relations, and for devising new roads and new ways for solving conflicts and securing lasting peace, such dialogue can be especially fruitful.

I trust that this Macau conference will work hard for this goal, and wish it again every success.

Marianne BASTID-BRUGUIÈRE

Membre de l’Institut

Paris, 20 January 2013

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