MESSAGE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA ON HARMONY DIPLOMACY

MESSAGE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA ON HARMONY DIPLOMACY

WORLD HARMONY IS IT ACHIEVABLE? WHAT PROMISES LIE AHEAD?
Monday, 2. November 2009, 18:01:23
FRANCIS C W FUNG, HARMONY DIPLOMACY, HARMONY RENAISSANCE, WORLD MEDIA SUMMIT, HARMONY CONSNESUS, TWELVE VIRTUES OF HARMONY, WORLD HARMONY, Time Warner, Google, XINHUA, Newsgroup, Japanese United Press, BBC, REUTERS, Tass, AP
WORLD HARMONY, IS IT ACHIEVABLE? WHAT PROMISES LIE AHEAD?BY FRANCIS C W FUNG, PH.D.Let us examine the World Media Summit held in Beijing Oct 8 to 10, 2009. This is a significant step towards a more harmonious world by bringing all the world media together for the first time of modern history. Some called it the Olympics of Media. 170 world media and over 300 delegates attended. These included the eight biggest world media house presidents, CEO’s from Xinhua, AP, Reuters, Time Warner, BBC, Newsgroup, Tass, Japanese United Press and Google. The concluding Joint Statement emphasized increased win-win cooperation in expanding world multicultural reporting and also specifically called for more diverse, accurate, fair and impartial reporting. We at World Harmony Organization (WHO) work for Harmony Renaissance to bring harmony, a universal value back. Harmony is being neglected because of the world is driven by racial, religious and ideological strife. Harmony Renaissance is needed as the ultimate resolution to unshackle us and to reverse the tide of human self destruction and environmental degradation. Harmony with mankind and with nature is necessary for our sustainable development and survival.World Harmony is achievable because the cycle of self destruction and deception is reversing. We can see it coming. The world is heading towards mutual win win development. We are beginning to be aware that world development is not a zero sum game. World Harmony can be simply defined as a multilateral world set on the course of win win development. This will release the energy for mankind to work for common prosperity.Harmony as a guiding faith is very broad. It includes peace within oneself, relations between people, within family, between citizens and nations, harmony among nations and between man and nature. Democracy is nothing but harmony between citizen and their government. Environmental ecology is simply harmony of man with nature. Harmony Diplomacy is the Golden Rule for Global Governance.The practice of harmony can be simply defined as the following twelve virtues: Tolerance, Acceptance, Respect, Equality, Gentleness, Forgiveness, Patience, Humility, Conservation, Ecology, Unity with Nature and Unity of Mankind. With these practices firmly in mind World Harmony is on the way to be achievable.What promises lie in the future? In the future we will see further growth of developing countries and multilateralism. This will lead to a more harmonious balance of East and West, North and South dialogues and cultural exchange. The world is poised for win win mutual development. World development is not a zero sum game as some might think. The best way to develop is openness and learning from the best of each culture so as to move towards common prosperity.The big media houses and others come together because of new challenges from the marching of the developing world and changes of technology and market orientation. Powerful world media working for more harmonious reporting is a major breakthrough for the cause of World Harmony. The Western powers have dominated the world stage and news reporting for the last two centuries. By conceding to cooperation and win-win development in world news reporting the stage is set for inevitable improvement of East West and North South relation. This is the important single step the world must take to avoid self destruction and deception. We are seeing the coming of a brave new world. We are very hopeful world harmony undertakings will flourish. Harmony is universal. It embraces all human relations and our relation with the universe. Harmony is the underlying operating principle of the universe. Without harmony mankind will self destruct and the universe will not be eternal. "Harmony Renaissance will release us from the bondage of human strife. It is the next wave of creative energy that mankind is waiting for. Harmony Renaissance will bring East and West convergence so mankind will reach higher accomplishments beyond European Renaissance."Francis C W Fung, Ph.D.Director GeneralWorld Harmony Organization.


It is important to cover good examples of harmony diplomacy





www.chinaview.cn 2007-06-25 10:45:06




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By Francis C. W. Fung, PH.D.
BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhuanet) -- World Harmony Organization(WHO) deems it important to cover outstanding examples of harmony diplomacy in work. This is the value we place on world harmony renaissance and world harmony diplomacy watch. When two of the largest East and West news agencies meet to renew friendship, mutual respect and trust it will have profound effect on even handed world news reporting. World understanding and harmony between East and West will surely be enhanced by this festival celebration. Xinhua News Agency and Reuters on Thursday, June 21,2007 held celebrations in the Great Hall of the People to mark five decades of cooperation. Xinhua President Tian Congming and Reuters Chief Executive Officer Tom Glocer unveiled a photo exhibition, comprising about 120 classic cultural and diplomatic exchange photographs, taken by correspondents from Xinhua and Reuters. The exhibition is a fascinating, historical record of a range of political, economic, scientific, technological, cultural, educational and sporting events over the years. The following are excerpts from Xinhua Net with ith opinion and concluding remarks from World Harmony Organization. "Over the past 50 years, Xinhua and Reuters have exchanged visits and staff at many levels and have signed a series of cooperation agreements," Tian said to the gathering. Reuters was the first Western news agency to forge a cooperation with Xinhua. In May 1957, the two news agencies signed a deal on news story exchange. "I am delighted to see how healthy the cooperation between our two organizations is," Tian said, citing a recent joint training class for Olympics reporters in Beijing. Tian said Xinhua-Reuters cooperation can blossom as long as the two sides abide by the principles of "mutual respect, close consultation, a long-term perspective, mutual trust and mutual benefit." "Over the last fifty years we have shown that an open and constructive relationship can produce great achievements," Glocer said in his address. Quoting the Chinese proverb "a book tightly shut is only a block of paper", Glocer said the Reuters-Xinhua relationship is an open book. "Today we move to the next of many chapters." Among the approximately 100 representatives at the celebrations were two pioneers of Xinhua-Reuters ties --- Peng Di, the first Xinhua correspondent in London, and 80-year-old David Chipp, the first Reuters correspondent in Beijing. Founded in 1931, Xinhua News Agency is the most authoritative news agency in China and an international provider of multimedia news and information services. Based in Beijing, Xinhua runs 33 domestic bureaus and 102 overseas bureaus. Xinhua provides round-the-clock news and information services in nearly 200 countries and regions in eight languages: Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Portuguese and Japanese. Senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Li Changchun on Thursday called on Reuters to report China as it is. "Reuters should be a bridge in helping the world obtain a better understanding of China and report China as it is," Li said in a meeting with a Reuters delegation headed by Reuters chairman Niall Fitz Gerald. Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, also hailed the good partnership between Xinhua News Agency and Reuters over the past fifty years. Li said exchanges and cooperation among news organizations of different countries have become increasingly important as the world has entered an era of information and globalization. Fitz Gerald hailed China's rapid development in economic and social sectors. He said Reuters would like to carry out a more effective partnership with Xinhua. As important as Xinhua News as a leader of world media, its professional and even handed reporting of world news, Xinhua is still relatively unknown in the U.S. Those who know, look at Xinhua with jaundiced eyes suffering from the ill effects of 50 years of cold war infection. They are so colored by the U.S. media some readers' vision to this day, unfairly shuns Xinhua news. WHO feels extreme injustice that this unfair misjudgment must not be left untreated. Xinhua's reporting stands out with the greatest integrity exceeding many Western news media. Most of all Xinhua has progressed with the times with a modern world outlook, whereas there are other medias remain short sighted and waddling in the sting pool of bygone days and engaged in confrontational, name calling, scavenging and mud slinging practices. One of the excuses for discounting Xinhua news is that it is affiliated with Chinese Government. This casual judgment without due diligence is even carried by a large cross section of Chinese Americans.
To quote an English sayings "Do not judge a book by its cover but by its contents" and "Judge a tree's merits by the fruits it bears." Simply put, as independent thinkers we must read and investigate before we mete out casual judgment. These days in international news Xinhua is a must read media to be in touch with the real world with a balanced view. One of the significant reasons for the lack of awarenesss of Xinhua by the U.S. public, is the ill effect of ethnocentric ommission of significant East and West exchange events as indicated here. This points out the importance of advocating harmony diplomacy. World Harmony Organization has the responsibilty and duty bound to continue our world harmony renaissnce and harmony diplomacy watch. The Motto for harmony diplomacy for the 21st Century is rightly so "Mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual development. Carry a strategic and long vision." The old American wisdom that is being revived by some "Speak softly and carry a big stick" is so 19th century. It has no place in today's necessary pursue of harmony diplomacy to resolve the extreme disparities of today's conflicting world.

Editor: Xia Xiaopeng




Harmony Diplomacy Essential for World Development

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By Francis C. W. Fung, PH.D.
"Freedom, Democracy and Harmony are three ancient universal human ideals that belong to the world and not to any one single nation. They are not entirely independent but intimately related. As a matter of fact, there exist fascinating relations among them that warrant immediate global study. Some may wonder why freedom and democracy have been so widely promoted during the last 400 years of human history, while harmony was barely noted on the world stage."
"In fact, Freedom and Democracy have been the most successfully used tools to promote international diplomacy in the 20th Century. Harmony, as a great unifying force in the on rush of globalization, has now come of age. Harmony is mankind's greatest common value. The conflicted world of today urgently calls for international democracy through the practice of harmony diplomacy."
"Nature imbues us with the instinctive knowledge that we are born free. The mountains, the wind and the lions are born free, not to mention any other of the myriad animals that remain free until captured. Despite being born free, powerful groups desperately yearn to enslave us. More than 2500 years ago the most ancient cultures scattered about different continents prohibited slavery seeing it as hideous. The institutionalized slave trade was most egregiously practiced in the new world until the American civil war put an end to it."
"Immediately following 9/11, George W. Bush conveniently thrust freedom centre stage to rally Americans with the resounding cry. The logic was that the terrorists hate our freedom and they are intent on taking it away. To be fair, American democracy as put forth by our forefathers, guarantees each citizen freedom from undue infringement through law and order. Freedom as an ideal is politically neutral, neither good nor bad.However, modern democracy is designed to prevent minority individuals from exceeding their rights granted by freedom."
"Bush's call for freedom diplomacy after 9/11 is neither necessary nor appropriate. Terrorists have not been empowered to take away our freedom, but the resulting regulation to counter-terrorism has. As warned by President Eisenhower, the military complex created by war may seriously threaten our democracy and hence our individual freedom. The greatest threat to our freedom today is our enslavement to the military and the industrial complex through their hijacking of democracy."
"Since time immemorial, the protection of human rights has occupied our consciousness. The fear of the all mighty unknown that sparked religious teaching was likely the catalyst for this type of thought. Teaching morals and common values developed along with harmony while democracy followed behind. Democratic systems as a means to guarantee individual rights and freedoms reached new heights when the American Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights were signed, giving way to the system of laws being enacted. Western diplomacy spread far and wide and profoundly changed the world during the 20th century."
"Democracy, in different forms, has now become a generally accepted governance system. Democracy grows best in the fertile soil of each individual nation without outside interference or occupation. American chastisement of other nations only offends their dignity. Many developing nations, after years of domination by imperialism, have nothing to cling to other than the very dignity being spoken of."
"Democracy is also no longer an import export item, as pointed out by Ban Ke-moon, the current Secretary General of the U.N. Due to the debacle of the US occupation of Iraq, democracy as an instrument of foreign policy has lost its luster and appeal. Diplomacy works best in these conflicted times when harmony principles are employed. Harmony diplomacy is a win-win, no-fault conflict resolution approach. It is time to minimize confrontations in today's conflicted world by using harmony diplomacy. It certainly is worth a try. Mutual win-win development can be more economically viable than war. We have spent close to 400 billion dollars on the Iraq war, fast approaching our expenditure on the Vietnam War, with no end in sight."
"When unity is needed human beings have proven quite capable. International unity can be reached only through international democracy, not unilateralism. International democracy will be the end result of major nations practicing harmony diplomacy. In her recent book "The Mighty and the Almighty" Madeleine Albright suggested that world harmony is the end goal of a more peaceful world."
"As noble as any religion may be, faith diplomacy has fallen short of uniting the world in harmony evidenced by the countless tragic faith-based wars of the past as well as the current conflict between the West and the Muslim world. Religions as we know them today all expect blind faith and acceptance of ethnocentric almighty images, quite often unique to a specific culture."
"Harmony's premise is tolerance, acceptance and respect for other cultures. It is all embracing, endearing and enduring. It neither dictates blind faith nor does it force acceptance of an institutionalized and ethnocentric image of the almighty. No particular personal attachment to the almighty is prescribed either. Personal attachment to the almighty is a double-edged sword. It draws those with faith closer, while alienating those without."
"Harmony is discovered through observation of nature as discussed in my other papers. It is nature's preferred way of propagation. Nature is all embracing and human beings are very much part of nature. It is possible to believe in as wide a universe as one chooses without adhering to blind faith. Our very survival and sustainable development is now urgently dependent on our harmonious relationship with nature. We deny our very existence by not working to improve our threatened ecology. Most of us agree about the vision of world harmony and international democracy. We can all participate in the harmony movement by speaking and practicing harmony diplomacy in all facets of our daily lives. We can practice goodness for goodness sake without preaching religion. Why use faith diplomacy, an indirect approach, when the direct approach, harmony diplomacy, is readily available? Harmony's resonance is growing and propagating. The Harmony Renaissance is the unavoidable tide. It is time to reawaken our innate human desire for harmony and to begin urging others to recognize the value of this noble ideal."
"The basic idea of world harmony is in common with all popular theories of world governance. It hopes to build a more understanding world through tolerance, respect, equity and acceptance of diverse cultures and governance systems as destiny for all mankind."
"Through harmony diplomacy major nations will support a stronger UN. A more democratic world will advocate the solution of world conflicts through consultation and harmony consensus. Unilateralism is to be rejected and peaceful resolution will replace war and violence. Harmony diplomacy will be the foundation of lasting peace. Without harmony peace will not last."
"In the pursuit of world harmony it is important to narrow the gap of the North-South/rich-poor disparity through win-win mutual development. This will create a world with a level playing field, which will enable the citizens of the world to enjoy all of the achievements of our great societies."
"In the democratization of international relations, just and equitable international political and economic orders can be established through dialogue, negotiation and reaching consensus. The end result of international democracy will release a new wave of world creative energy. Human accomplishments can thus reach a new height of development beyond European Renaissance."
"The Order of Nature is Harmony and Harmony is the Order of Nature. A harmony world is essential to save our ecology. To rally major nations to commit to a cleaner and better environment, harmony diplomacy must advocate a common ecology consensus. Central to harmony diplomacy consensus is built in awareness to curb global insatiable appetite for consumption. Continuation of current trend is not sustainable. Without harmony consensus, the resulting catastrophic global fight for resources will be more immediate than the effect of climate change. It is time for all to advocate less confrontational harmony diplomacy."
(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2007)


Harmony Diplomacy in Work

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By Francis C. W. Fung, PH.D.
The US media, which accustomed to confrontational cold war diplomacy, has been slow to recognize the signs of world harmony diplomacy on the rise. The profit-driven, corporate and military complex dominated American media looks sluggish when faced with the tide of win-win mutual development between nations.
It remains to be seen if the US media will finally learn world harmony diplomacy and move forward to the 21st century.
Besides the overbearing American foreign policy, the condescending attitude in the media for the past 50 years, is also to blame for the mistrust created between the States and other nations. A change of heart in American media will certainly help to create a better world understanding for the US government to continue practicing world harmony diplomacy.
The following are major current event stories showing signs of harmony diplomacy on the rise drastically under reported by the US media.
On Wednesday May 23, 2007, Chinese and American officials ended a key economic dialogue in Washington in agreement.
The meeting was co-chaired by Secretary of Treasury, Henry Paulson and China's Vice Premier Wu Yi.
During the two day Second Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), top economic officials from the two countries discussed topics covering areas of service, investment, transparency, energy and environment as well as growth balance and innovation.
As witnessed by the fact sheet jointly issued at the closing, the two sides reached consensus on how to move forward on financial services, civil aviation, energy and environment as well as signing a number of specific agreements.
One cannot help but notice that the tone of the fact sheet shows great diplomacy at work. This consensus is surprising because of the perennial trade friction between the two nations, particularly in light of the climate of the China bashing, which was resulted from the recent Congressional trade protectionism mentality.
In contrast to past foibles, President George W. Bush made the correct diplomatic choice for US-China relations, as well as for world harmony.
At a White House press conference, Bush said that the just concluded US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue is "important" and there has been some progress achieved at the dialogue, stating that "this is an important dialogue. And it's one that I thank the Chinese government for engaging in."
Bush also met with Vice Premier Wu Yi in the White House Oval Office and said he appreciates China's willingness "to work with strategic dialogues in order to put in place the type of measures that reflect a complex relationship."
To set the proper tone for the consultation and consensus, the principle negotiators from both sides were careful in their statements. "Thanks for the careful attention and joint efforts from both sides, the second meeting of the strategic dialogue achieved great success," said Wu. The economic and trade relationship between China and the US is one of the most complicated in today's world, she said. The SED provides an excellent platform for both sides to "further understanding and trust in terms of strategic issues."
Vice Premier Wu added "Equal consultation, cooperation and win-win have become the overall situation and defining nature of China-US relations, both being stakeholders and constructive partners."
"Politicizing economic and trade issues is absolutely unacceptable, since it is of no help but will make the situation more complicated, harm bilateral economic and trade relations or even cause serious negative impact on the progress of overall China-US ties," she added.
On his part, Paulson said that US and China both understood that "getting the economic relationship right is vital not only to our people, but to the world economy." Paulson also said, "The purpose of this on going dialogue is to have candid discussions and find ways to ease, rather than increase tensions."
"Now and then, the peace of the world and the progress of the world required close cooperation between the two peoples of the US and China" said Henry Kissinger at the opening of the dialogue. "The most advanced industrialized country and the country that is growing at the fastest rate have the unique opportunity to set an example for the rest of the world of cooperation and vision."
The consensus reached through the SED consultation clearly demonstrated the merit of practicing harmony diplomacy. Harmony is fostered by acceptance, respect, equity and humility. This type of no fault, win-win consultation can lead to complementary solutions between any two nations. The SED fact sheet may serve as a model of harmony diplomacy with humility, practiced by two great nations with wisdom.
Details of the six party talks on the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsular coming out on April 11, 2007 are very encouraging. It clearly shows that the two strong contending sides are giving ground and reached some consensus through long painful discussions and consultations. This is how harmony works through discussions, consultations and consensus. Until the announcement, the accord all seemed but impossible. Not so long ago President Bush called "North Korea as part of the 'Axis of Evil'." From World Harmony Renaissance perspective this event may spark a series of events that signal the beginning of harmony at East Asia.
By implementing the Nuclear Disarmament Pact, US, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea will have to help North Korea recover. That means major countries across both sides of the pacific will work together for mutual development. North East Asia development has a lot of potential. The Accord calls for "Within 30 days: Five separate working groups meet on denuclearizing, normalizing US-North Korea relations, normalizing of North Korea-Japan relations, economy and energy cooperation, and peace and security in Northeast Asia."
Be what it may, this proved the importance of harmony diplomacy to give the fair historical perspective and the whole aftermath of the cold war era. The need for mutual development will pave the way for a more harmonious world.
(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2007)


POWER DIPLOMACY MUST EVOLVE TOWARDS HARMONY DIPLOMACY UPDATED By Francis C. W. Fung, PH.D.BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhuanet) -- America as a young, dynamic, and endowed nation earned its place as the leader of world democracy during and immediately after the Cold War. The after effects of America winning the Cold War remained today, good or bad. The good is that the world has enjoyed unprecedented prosperity due to relative peace and stability. On the other hand the American public is constantly being reminded by their media and government that we are destined to be the leader of the world because God is on our side. What we should do as world’s major power is to advocate Harmony Diplomacy.Our self defeating arrogance is in contrast to the universal harmony principle that the more powerful we are, the more we need humility. The damaging consequence of deviating from this all encompassing truism is evident by the dilemma of our embroiled involvement in unilateral Iraqi war. As a result of continuing our Cold War Power Diplomacy we have too often infringed on the dignity of many disadvantaged nations in the world. After 9/11 we declared war against terrorism and were eager to launch the unilateral war on Iraq without giving diplomacy a chance.Our pride blinded us from seeing the need of dignity by the poor and disadvantaged. We have become immune to other nation's needs for development. Instead from our ethnocentric perspective, we continue to be critical of other striving nation's efforts to modernize. This lack of understanding of other nation's loss of dignity and desperate need of modernization did not go without notice by America's elite, experienced in foreign policy. In fact the extensive survey conducted by Pew Research Center involving 45,239 people and 46 nations from April 6 to May 29, 2007 found majorities in many countries reject the main planks of current U.S. foreign policy and express concern for forcing American style democracy.According to the polled results, there is a wide spread perception that the U.S. acts unilaterally in making international policy decisions. And majorities in most every country polled, including 97 percent in France, 80 percent in Argentina, and 75 percent in Lebanon, said the United States promoted democracy mostly where it served U.S. interests. This, according to Pew, helps explain why U.S. ideas about democracy are viewed as unilateral by vast numbers around the globe.Caution for change to a softer and more understanding American world diplomacy is being sounded in unison by many notable and seasoned formal high ranking diplomats such as Kissinger, Brezezinski, Albright and Slaughter. New theories such as Faith Diplomacy, Value Diplomacy and Diplomacy by Deeds are being advanced.In today's multilateral world, Power Diplomacy as preached by the bygone wisdom of "speak softly and carry a big stick" has lost most of its relevance. The unpopular unilateral Iraq War makes it clear that "speak loudly and carry a big stick" as practiced by the present administration has not worked so far either. In fact there are signs that Harmony Diplomacy is on the rise, witnessed by the softening of U.S. position in the Sixth Party denuclearization talk. North Korea has just declared its willingness to dismantle their nuclear facilities. US also removed North Korea from the list of evil countries. Is this sign of Harmony Diplomacy is working?On the other hand, in catering to the interest of the uninformed and proud American public, the theme of Power Diplomacy is still echoed among U.S. 2008 presidential candidates. In a July/August 2007 Foreign Affairs Journal article titled "Renewing American Leadership," fore running U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate, Barack Obama expounded Power Diplomacy as key U.S. foreign policy to revive American leadership.According to Obama "we must harness American power to reinvigorate American diplomacy. Tough minded diplomacy backed by the whole range of instruments of American power-political, economic, and military-could bring success even when dealing with long standing adversaries such as Iran and Syria."Through out Obama's foreign policy exposition, words such as "power, pushing, pressure, aggressive, tough, tough minded, American leadership and instrument of power" are used freely. Words such as dialogue, mutual understanding, trust, tolerance are noticeably absent. Instead, proud of our past Cold War confrontational expertise, the intensity of cold war diplomacy is called on to deal with a small band of extreme radicals. The war on terror advocated by Bush will certainly become an over kill that will unsettle world diplomacy for years to come. The world certainly can not afford to have another debilitating cold war. The over enthusiastic inclination to use confrontation and ever increasing force without consideration of neutralizing force with dynamic balance, totally neglects the first principle strategy in counter terrorism or any warfare for that matter. In Art of War, by Suntze, the most desirable way to win to win is not to wage a war. Dynamic balance of harmony is more fluid like in nature. Soft power can conquer hard power.A harmonious future for Asia and Europe hinges on wisdom that can steer the course of their interactions. So said delegates at the third annual Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Interfaith Dialogue, which wrapped up June 23, 2007 in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province. In the Nanjing Statement, issued at the conclusion of the event, participants from the two continents vowed to deepen and broaden the dialogue process to foster a peaceful and harmonious partnership. Building on the achievements of the first two meetings, in Bali in 2005 and Cyprus in 2006, the two-day dialogue co-hosted by China and Italy served as a platform for religious and political leaders and academics to address their diversity and commonality in faiths and deliberate on further tapping the potential of interfaith talks in enhancing mutual understanding in an era of globalization, a senior Chinese diplomats said. "In Chinese culture, harmony is underpinned by diversity. Seeking harmony while acknowledging differences means that a country or an ethnic group, while preserving its own cultural heritage, should be open and tolerant to other civilizations," he added. In a world wrought with uncertainties, it is vital to pursue mutual understanding through dialogue, and achieve harmony through tolerance, he said. If nations collide because of different values, globalization may be giving a new spin to the multiple values involved in international relations.A way to avoid conflict has long been sought. A seemingly uncomplicated approach is for nations to share peace and prosperity through dialogue and tolerance. The recipe of dialogue entails not imposing one's values or faith on others. It involves respecting different peoples' treasured values and beliefs. It is necessary to understand and appreciate, or at least tolerate, different cultures and religions. The ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Interfaith Dialogue, under the framework of the Asia-Europe Summit, is just such a platform. It brings nations together from two continents to address their diversity and commonality in faith and culture, with the hope of convergence for the sake of humanity. Attached is an excerpt of a recent article by WHO World Harmony Diplomacy Watch quoting People's Daily. President Hu Jintao made the speech on China's new foreign policy of building a harmonious world at the United Nations Summit marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the world body. The merits of his speech are self evident.His words received wide approval and the policy is thought fruitful in 2005. The policy helped to lift China's international status, fundamentally because of its pursuit of balance. That is, to balance national development against international responsibilities, economic benefits against political and security interests, relations with world powers against those with various countries, and reform against the maintenance of world order.In the spirit of "performing great deeds" China has decided to take responsibilities of a big nation. During his meeting with President Bush, President Hu said explicitly that the China-U.S. cooperation will be on global scale. For world harmony US and China must work together to reach harmony consensus. This means cooperation on many fronts, including environmental collaboration and energy common strategy. I hope our next president will take the hint and play the lead role. That is how best America can preserve our leadership.Editor: Pan Letian Source Xinhua News


HARMONY DIPLOMACY: THE GOLDEN RULE OF GLOBAL GOVERNANCEBy Francis C. W. Fung, PH.D.http://www.worldharmonyorg.net/The “Rule of the Golden Mean” is a Western doctrine for balancedliving and proper handling of human contradictions. A comparableSystem of Belief in the East is the “Way of the Golden Mean.” Contraryto conventional wisdom, the philosophy of the Golden Mean is notagainst progress. It is the highest value of progress through dialogueand consultation. Its true essence is to prevent ideological extremismfrom taking hold. It is definitely opposed to the current religiousconfrontational strife. That is why it is the value of Golden Mean. Thisbroad East and West concept of balance, when earnestly appliedglobally, can be the solution for resolving extreme disparity betweenrich and poor, minimizing religious confrontations and restoringecological balance for sustainable development.In the current desire for good global governance we must also beginwith Harmony Diplomacy. Harmony Diplomacy, as defined here, can bethe Golden Rule of Global Governance. Harmony Diplomacy can beconceived as the common value of the most fluid-like, dynamicbalance; encompassing tolerance, mutual respect, acceptance, equityand humility to achieve world harmony. Truth in world affairs, unlikemathematics, often is the Golden Mean between two opposite sides.When one powerful nation forcing its belief on other weak nations asthe only absolute truth, it ignores the reality of diversity and defiesreason. This is well documented by Al Gore in his most recent book,“The Assault on Reason.”The above theory, advancing human common aspirations in today’sconflicted world, has been resonating worldwide. The author inresonance with world harmony has also published widely articlesadvocating Harmony Diplomacy. “Harmony Diplomacy Essential forWorld Development”, “Power Diplomacy Must Evolve Towards HarmonyDiplomacy”, “Harmony Diplomacy in Work”, “Harmony Diplomacy:China’s Commitment to World Harmony” and many other relatedarticles can be seen on Google, Yahoo search and Xinhua Net.Good global governance is the foundation for a harmonious world. Topursue world harmony is the common destiny for the human race.Good global governance must include new world political and economicorder to build international democracy. We must promote globalcooperation through mutual win-win development and resolve conflictsthrough dialogue and consultation. We must strengthen the UnitedNation through needed reform to discourage unilateralism andextremism. All these global undertakings can only begin when majornations of the world start practicing Harmony Diplomacy.A grand strategy of Harmony Diplomacy to build world harmony mustbe able to face the challenges of today’s unilateralism, extremism, richand poor disparity and ecology unsustainability. The importantelements of a grand Harmony Diplomacy strategy must includedialogue and consultation, win-win mutual development, unity indiversity, tolerance and openness, equity and humility. HarmonyDiplomacy must act through equal, friendly and open dialogue andconsultation to achieve mutual understanding, trust and respect. Thisis to accomplish the greatest possible harmony consensus amongnations of the world.Harmony Diplomacy is to seek commonality and minimizeconfrontational difference. In the desire to foster win-win commondevelopment we must take a long strategic view.The reality of the world is multi cultural and not all in sync of the pathand stage of development. We must accept and tolerate differenteconomic and political development. Old colonial mentality and bigpower chauvinism will never be accepted again. By forcing our cultureand value on weak nations is counter productive to HarmonyDiplomacy. The best governance system is a nation’s own harmonioussystem developed from within in active interaction with globalization.The objective of Harmony Diplomacy is to pursue a higher level ofhuman accomplishment beyond European Renaissance through WorldHarmony Renaissance. Harmony is an ideal; Renaissance gives it life.The human race relieved of cultural conflicts, political infighting andreligious strife will be invigorated by new creative energy. This newfound vigor will bring humans to the next phase of true globaldevelopment that we are waiting for.To be more specific, through greater Harmony Consensus we willminimize the chances of war and bring about more lasting peace.Without Harmony Consensus, peace can only be temporary. Whennations set their sights on win-win mutual development, commonworld prosperity can be realized. In so doing, the rich and poordisparity can be reduced and the North and South gap breached. Theworld will be more level. All nations can finally enjoy the fruits of ourcommon cultural and economic accomplishments.Harmony Consensus, encompassing harmony with nature is the orderof nature. It will rally world citizenship to be more conscious andunited to protect our common environment. For world sustainabledevelopment we must at last move in lock step to strive to conserveenergy and resources and protect the environment. As severe as theeffects of climate change may be, the world will run out of preciousresources sooner because of the current wonton consumption.Most of all, the current world order is far from democratic. HarmonyDiplomacy, through the essential principle of dialogue, consultation,negotiation and harmony consensus, can pave the way for a more justand democratic world order. In Harmony Renaissance, we can finallyrediscover the wisdom of tolerance, acceptance, mutual respect andhumility. The harmony universal common value will give the humanrace the necessary true inner peace and strength, to face the diverseand daunting challenges of a world in catastrophic disharmony andextreme self- destruct- selfishness.Francis C. W. Fung, PH.D.Director GeneralWorld Harmony Organization