Peking University, Jan. 3, 2013: PKU Council Chairman Zhu Shanlu met with Kevin Michael Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia and now Member of Parliament, on PKU campus on December 28, 2012. They had an in-depth reflection on the gains and losses of Beijing Forum over the past ten years and exchanged views on its future development.

 
Zhu Shanlu (left) met with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Michael Rudd (right)

Zhu Shanlu extended gratitude to Kevin Rudd for his attendance at the 2012 Beijing Forum and his keynote speech titled “The Future of Sino-US Relations: Building a 21st Century Pax Pacifica”  before exchanging views on the annual theme of Beijing Forum’s 10th anniversary with him.

“Beijing Forum turns ten years old in 2013. It is a golden opportunity to learn from the previous experience and lessons and look ahead to its future, so as to push Beijing Forum to a higher level.” Zhu Shanlu said.

He also pointed out that Beijing Forum should inspire the public to ponder over the opportunities and challenges that the world was confronted with after the financial crisis on a cultural and spiritual level. He hoped that the 10th Beijing Forum could come up with philosophy and concepts for the future development of man kinds.

Kevin Rudd spoke highly of the theme of the last Beijing Forum, “The Harmony of Civilizations and Prosperity for All”, and also expressed high expectations on the 10th Beijing Forum. “I hope that 2013 Beijing Forum can make full use of PKU’s advantages in the fields of humanities and social sciences to better serve as the bridge  between Eastern and Western cultures, so that Eastern philosophies such as ‘harmony in diversity’ and ‘harmony and prosperity’ can be introduced to more people in the Western world.” Kevin said.

During the meeting, Zhu Shanlu also introduced the status quo of discipline construction and development in PKU to Kevin Rudd, emphasizing that PKU was not only famous for its traditional advantages including literature, history and philosophy, but also proud of its uprising science and engineering disciplines which could now rival those of world-class universities. “PKU has always committed itself to attracting talents, promoting academic development and upgrading teaching facilities. In recent years, we have made huge progress.” Zhu added.

At the end of the dialogue, Zhu Shanlu invited Kevin Rudd to attend the 10th Beijing Forum to be held in 2013. Kevin Rudd readily accepted, and expressed his best wishes for the 10th anniversary of Beijing Forum via PKUTV.

Written by: Zhu Wenjia
Editted by: Chen Long
Source: PKU News (Chinese)