During this year’s Two Sessions, the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body, Du Zhanyuan, President of China International Communications Group (CICG) and a member of the Standing Committee of the 14th CPPCC National Committee, shared his views on promoting cultural exchange and improving international communication with Beijing Review. Edited excerpts of the interview follow:
Beijing Review: China, with a 5-percent GDP growth in 2024, still ranks among the world’s fastest-growing major economies, continuing to contribute about 30percent to global economic growth. In your view, how can China better explain to the world its governance philosophy and strategies that drive its growth?
Du Zhanyuan: While global governance and international cooperation are facing numerous challenges, China’s remarkable transformation, starting from scratch to the world’s second largest economy, coupled with its sustained rapid growth and long-term social stability over more than 40 years, has attracted international interest in its governance ideas and practices. Many seek to decode the formula behind China’s development and stability, hoping to draw lessons that can help address common global challenges. This generates new tasks and requirements for us to enhance our international communication efforts.
To better convey China’s development philosophy, governance experience and contributions to the world, CICG has been compiling and publishing Xi Jinping: The Governance of China since 2014. Over the past decade, the book has been published in 43 languages, reaching over 180 countries and regions worldwide and is also available on more than 500 overseas mainstream online book platforms and accessible in nearly 1,700 national, university and public libraries across 171 countries and regions. It has attracted wide attention and positive remarks from global readers. The collection has become a key gateway for the international community to understanding China.
As outlined in the government work report, China aims to broaden international people-to-people exchange and cooperation, and to comprehensively enhance the effectiveness of international communication. How should Chinese communication agencies better play their role in fostering cultural exchange and mutual learning between China and other countries, and improving mutual understanding between people?
Amity between people holds the key to sound state-to-state relations, while affinity lies in mutual understanding between people. Civilizations become richer and more colorful through exchanges and mutual learning. People-to-people exchange serves as a bridge in promoting exchanges and mutual learning between different civilizations.
In recent years, exchanges between China and major global powers, as well as countries in the Global South, have seen considerable progress in fields, including culture, education, science, technology and trade. These exchanges have become a key driving force in advancing bilateral and multilateral relations, promoting mutual understanding and friendship between the people of China and other nations, and driving global cultural exchange and fusion.
The over 5,000-year-old Chinese civilization, as a shared treasure of humanity, offers valuable insights for improving global governance. By integrating China’s modern development with its rich traditional culture, China should better tell its stories of reform and development, and illustrate why Chinese modernization matters in the modern era–and for the world at large.
China should demonstrate its sense of responsibility as a major country by offering solutions to global challenges such as climate change and the governance of artificial intelligence (AI). It should uphold the vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity, improve the implementation mechanisms of the China-proposed Global Civilizations Initiative (which calls for showing respect for diversity of civilizations, promoting common values and building bridges for exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations), and enhance its cultural soft power through exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.
Amid progress of globalization, fostering mutual understanding and empathy between the people of China and other nations becomes increasingly important. To this end, CICG has implemented innovative measures to build platforms for international exchange and dialogue. Its initiatives, such as the Orchid Awards (honoring foreign individuals or organizations who have substantially contributed to Chinese cultural exchanges worldwide), have gained extensive international influence, and the selection of candidates for the Second Orchid Awards has started this year.
CICG has also launched projects of promoting the Chinese civilization globally through facilitating the publication of Chinese cultural works overseas, strengthening cultural exchanges and boosting cultural trade, and has developed platforms for exchange and dialogue on national and global governance, people-to-people dialogues and youth exchanges. In 2024 alone, it hosted over 100 such events, attended by more than 10,000 Chinese and international guests. Events including the BRICS Seminar on Governance & Cultural Exchange Forum, the China-France Dialogue, the Beijing-Tokyo Forum, and the Dialogue Between the Civilizations of China and the LAC, are regularly held and have become our brands.
As global communication becomes an ever-larger network of players and resources, how can Chinese communication agencies better leverage their expertise and unique positions?
China faces both unprecedented opportunities and major challenges in navigating the shifting global landscape. To address these challenges, we must build a more effective system for global communication.
To amplify our voice, China needs a compelling and engaging narrative that connects it to the wider world, a narrative that centers around cultural elements and uses culture as a means for sharing ideas and influencing people. With their specialized strategies and global perspectives, Chinese communication agencies can foster a deeper understanding within the international community, reshape China’s global image and play an important role in addressing global issues.
Therefore, to meet the global audience’s demand for quality information on China, we should continue to improve our content by providing in-depth commentaries and stories that resonate with the global community. To ensure our message is delivered accurately, we should tailor our content to address the diverse needs of audiences from different cultural backgrounds. We should also better use data analysis and visualization tools to bolster both the credibility and appeal of our content. By harnessing the power of AI and other innovative technologies, we can more effectively tell the story of China.
At the same time, we must brace ourselves for algorithmic bias, technological hegemony and many other hidden threats. By working closely with our partners worldwide, we can strengthen our cooperation in the sharing of technologies and the creation of standards for global communication. This will help bridge digital divides, erase existing stereotypes and foster an open, inclusive and mutually trusting environment for communication. In doing so, we can ensure that our message is not only heard but also understood around the world.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has recently caused a global sensation with the release of its latest open-source large language model (LLM) at a much lower cost than its international counterparts. This year’s government work report also calls for the advancement of China’s AI Plus initiative. In your view, how can we better apply AI to improve the efficiency of our global communication?
AI is profoundly transforming human society. When it comes to global communication, the ability to leverage new technologies, such as LLMs, has become a key factor in shaping a country’s global influence and soft power.
At the state level, we should increase our support for the application of AI innovations in the field of global communication. We also need to focus on addressing our shortcomings in basic infrastructure and tech talent, and work closely with tech companies and institutions on using homegrown technologies to develop LLMs that are specially designed for international communication.
For the translation industry, which is an integral part of global communication, the evolution of AI technologies has also presented both opportunities and challenges. The rapid development of LLMs has redefined human-machine workflows and facilitated industrial upgrades and integration, and optimized the training of professional translators, all of which have greatly improved the efficiency and quality of our translations. CICG is collaborating with several other institutions on developing a multilingual translation platform. By using pre-trained LLMs for transfer learning and building an accurate and reliable database, the platform can provide customized translation services for diverse scenarios, which can facilitate exchanges under the Belt and Road Initiative (–a China-proposed strategy to boost connectivity along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes).
However, we should also keep in mind that every new technology is a double-edged sword. While AI can greatly improve our efficiency in generating new information, it also allows for the rapid proliferation of false information, making it increasingly difficult to detect. The Internet has provided a hotbed for harmful content and distorted public opinions worldwide by confining us to the “information cocoons” (where users are isolated from diverse information and eventually become trapped in a single viewpoint). This requires us to continuously strengthen digital governance by harnessing new technologies for the common good. –The Daily Mail-Beijing Review news exchange item
