原創 克裡斯•馬林 博鰲亞洲論壇 收錄於話題#博鰲20年17個
I am grateful to the Forum for its commitment to dialogue, effective communication, thinking, progress among people, industry, and governments. But I am most grateful to the Forum for the friendships it has and continues to forge among those of us who know that there is far more that unites us than divides us – which is not just a pithy platitude, but which is expressed in the living, breathing energy of the Boao Forum for Asia.
20 Years of Boao Forum for Asia:
Bridging Asia and the World
Chris Marlin
Diamond Member of Boao Forum for Asia，
President of Lennar International
In its meteoric rise, the People’s Republic of China captures the imaginations – and attentions – of people all over the world. Political scientists, economists, and historians pore over reports, data, speeches, and books trying to decipher how a nation that was proudly a world unto itself 42 years ago has so dramatically reshaped itself and is leading an Asian renaissance.
The obvious factors for China’s rise are the world’s largest population eager to work and improve its lives; China’s geographic status as the southeast anchor of earth’s largest continent; and ancient cultures that provide China’s people with very deep-rooted identity. And, of course, China’s leaders』 recognition little more than four decades ago that the time had come for China to enter the greater world as a full partner. China would reap the full partner’s benefits and make the full partner’s contributions to the greater world meeting its challenges and solving its problems. The Asia of the Pacific and Indian Oceans region has three times that many people and rapid economic development.
The Boao Forum for Asia (「BFA」) is emblematic of the new China’s — and the rising Asia’s — spirit. The Boao Forum embodies ideals of balance. Nations that recognize a shared present and future can think and work together in ways that empower them to pursue their separate interests and find paths around points of conflict. There are now 29 member nations of the Boao Forum for Asia. This 20th anniversary coincides with another landmark observance, the end of World War II, a war that left much of Asia devastated. The Forum has proved a powerful agency for healing, and healing through the most practical and powerful means — unity of purpose in identifying and pursuing opportunities for development and solutions to serious challenges.
And the Forum has become increasingly significant to us all as an interface for effective interactions of Asian nations with Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas.
I am grateful to the Forum for its commitment to dialogue, effective communication, thinking, progress among people, industry, and governments. But I am most grateful to the Forum for the friendships it has and continues to forge among those of us who know that there is far more that unites us than divides us – which is not just a pithy platitude, but which is expressed in the living, breathing energy of the Boao Forum for Asia.
In 1889, British writer Rudyard Kipling’s poem 「The Ballad of East and West」 coined one of most famous phrases in Western culture: 「East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.」 But the rest of the stanza is usually forgotten and is the really important part. It properly goes:
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presentable at God’s great Judgement Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!
The Boao Forum for Asia convenes strong men and women from the ends of the earth to stand face to face with one another — scholars, leaders of industry and finance, and officers of governments, and non-governmental organizations. Formally, we gather for exchange of information and debate. Informally, we build personal ties that provide insights into cultures and different influences on societies.
Last year, seemingly presciently, the Forum added a major focus on global health. People in every area of Forum activity have had to scramble to learn as much as we can about Covid-19 and its implications. The Forum provides updates about the pandemic. And when we have met and talked with somebody from a country who is knowledgeable, it is so much easier to pick up the telephone and call. This is especially vital for scientists studying the disease, public health officials, and policymakers charged with fashioning responses to the crisis.
The Forum recognized early the significance of climate change for the human enterprise and has worked to spread news of developments as they occur and the increasingly refined scientific data and interpretations of it. Two years ago, UN Secretary General António Guterres addressed the Forum and told us, 「Let’s be clear: climate change is still moving faster than we are. Concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere are now the highest in 800,000 years.」 In recent months, scientists have documented that ice at both poles is melting at a much faster rate than formerly projected. We are seeing increasingly powerful typhoons in the Pacific and hurricanes in the Atlantic and dramatic shifts in water distribution patterns that have left parts of the world in drought and flames and other parts under water. We are confident of the Forum’s continuing leadership in this area; vast amounts of Asian land stands to be inundated if we don’t make greater headway than we are.
One of the great works of American literature and philosophy is the essay 「Self-Reliance」 by Ralph Waldo Emerson, written 180 years ago. He was writing about individuals』 mission in life, but it also describes our charge in this increasingly interdependent world: We are not to be 「minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, redeemers, and benefactors … and advancing on Chaos and the Dark.」
A poem much older than the works by Kipling and Emerson, provides instruction in this. It’s by the Eighth Century Chinese poet Wang Zhihuan, as translated by Betty Tsing:
From the pavilion one sees the sun setting behind the mountains,
Unrelentingly toward the sea the Yellow River flows;
In order to see thousands of miles further afield,
To a higher level one must go.
What the Boao Forum for Asia does is help us find our way to a higher level. I’m proud to be a part of it.
亞洲浪潮，博鰲視野
立足亞洲 面向世界
傳遞論壇最新動態 促進亞洲深度合作
全球重要對話的傳達者 亞洲共同發展的瞭望者
原標題：《BFA20th| Bridging Asia and the World》
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