驻欧盟大使在中欧青年交流年开放日的讲话

理解源自沟通
——在“中欧青年交流年开放日”上的讲话
中国驻欧盟使团团长 宋哲大使
2011年5月6日

Communicating for Better Understanding
Welcoming Remarks by H.E. Ambassador Song Zhe for the Open House at the Mission of China to the EU
6 May, 2011

尊敬的各位来宾，
青年朋友们：

Distinguished guests,
Dear young friends,

上午好！

Good morning!

欢迎大家出席中国驻欧盟使团的“开放日”活动。与往年不同，今年的“开放日”活动是“中欧青年交流年”的重要项目之一。在春意盎然的五月，中国驻欧盟使团及驻各成员国使馆都将敞开大门，欢迎欧洲的青年朋友们走进中国驻外机构。中欧青年周、中欧青年论坛等大型活动也将在中国陆续举办。可以说，中欧之间到处洋溢着青春的律动，传递着青春的讯息，交流着青春的生机。

Welcome to the open house of the Chinese Mission. This year’s open house is rather special. Because this May, all Chinese diplomatic missions in the EU member states will open their doors to the young people. This collective move actually constitutes a flagship event of the EU-China Year of Youth. While we welcome you in our embassies and missions here, young people in China are getting involved in China-EU Youth Week, Youth Forum and other like events. We have every reason to expect that youth exchange will become the signature of China-EU relations throughout this dynamic and vigorous year.

青年是世界的未来。中欧青年广泛交往，深入交流，增进友谊，相知互助，对于中欧关系的长远发展，对于中欧各自的稳定繁荣，对于世界的和谐美好，都具有积极的促进意义。中国古代圣人孔子曰：“有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎”，强调朋友间往来沟通会令人精神愉悦，有助于增进相互了解，深化对人生和世界的认识。德国哲学家哈贝马斯在其“交往行为理论”中提出，沟通应具有民主、多元、开放的特征，相互理解是交往行动的核心。回顾历史，我们清楚地看到，小到普通家庭，大到国际社会，只要各个成员之间进行平等、密切、坦诚的交流，就能够更加客观地看待对方，更加透彻地认识对方，更加深入地理解对方，也能够更加平衡、稳妥、审慎地处理好彼此之间的关系，而这样一种关系反过来又能够促进各成员间的良性互动与交流。可以这样认为，人与人之间加强沟通交流，有益于促进社会的团结与进步，国与国之间加强沟通交流，有益于实现世界的长久和平和持续发展。

As we often say, young people are our future. The friendship and trust our young people develop through exchanges and contacts benefit the future of China, Europe, and the world. The Chinese philosopher Confucius said well over two thousand years ago, “How happy we are, to meet friends from afar!” Because he believes that exchanges with friends promote intellectual enlightenment, facilitate better understanding, and offer deeper insights into the world and life. German philosopher Jürgen Habermas wrote in The Theories of Communicative Action that mutual understanding, a key element of the communicative action, will be achieved through democratic, diverse and open dialogues. History renders their views highly pertinent. And for both members of a family and countries in the international community, equal, candid and close exchange and communication help people develop fair views and make people more capable of understanding and appreciating each other. Based on that, we are likely to adopt a balanced and prudent approach towards each other, which works better in promoting our relationship. And a better relationship will in return create favorable conditions for further exchange and communication. Such a healthy cycle of communication makes a society united and prosperous among individuals, and makes the world moving towards long-term peace and sustained growth among different nations.

那么，今天中欧青年人走到一起，交换看法，交流思想，首先应当达到一个什么样的目标呢？我认为，既不是草率地下判断、作结论，也不是拼尽气力去劝导对方、说服对方，而是要建立起一个全面、综合、立体地观察和看待对方的认知结构。我们知道，立体地观察一件物体，必须把眼光放到纵、横和垂直（即XYZ）三条轴线上。观察一个国家、一个民族也不例外，不妨沿着以下“三条轴线”启动我们的相互认知之旅。

Today, when you come together to discuss China and Europe, what is most likely that you could achieve? I don’t think it will be judgments or conclusions. Neither would I like to see you trying all out to knock the other side out in argument. Instead, I wish that above all you will help each other to set up a perception structure in order to get a comprehensive view of the other. To make an analogy, we all understand that in order to get a comprehensive view of an object, we need to lay our eyes in a 3D space just like a Cartesian coordinate system consisting of horizontal, vertical, and depth axes. Observing a nation or its people is no different. So why not launching our journey of mutual understanding following the same three-axis approach?

一是从世界文明发展的纵轴看。在人类发展史上，各种文明兴衰更替，生息演进。中国和欧洲都是古代文明发祥地，都为人类文明的发展进步做出过重要贡献。世界文明始终是在多元文明的碰撞、交汇与融合中发展前进，今天的世界文明不是由某一种文明派生而来，也不会被某一种文明长期主导。符合历史规律、有益人类进步的文明成果将留芳千古，有悖时代发展潮流的将沉入历史的泥沙。

The horizontal axis records the evolution of human civilization. The world history is a chronicle of the rise and fall of great cultures and powers. But mankind as a whole grows ever stronger. Home to ancient civilizations, both China and Europe have also contributed our enormous share to the development of humanity. That said, the world has never been, nor will it ever be, dominated by an individual civilization for good. That’s why today, we simply cannot trace up entire human civilization to a single root. The world today is the result of centuries of clashes, exchanges, melting and converging of different cultures and civilizations. History will make the choice of our legacy and dispose of matters inconsistent with the trend of times.

二是从国际格局发展的横轴看。今天我们所处的时代，经济全球化发展迅猛，各国相互依存不断加深。评估一个国家的综合实力和发展潜力，要将更多的权重放在其为全人类生产创造物质和精神财富的能力及贡献上。这就解释了为什么当前世界政治经济格局经历着重大而深刻的变化。不论是G20的出现和发展，还是世界经济、贸易、金融体系的变革，都从不同侧面体现了全球产业格局的变化和新兴经济体作用上升。有人把这种变革说成是力量转移，我认为这是促进国际体系朝着更加公正合理的方向发展。

The vertical axis records the changes in international order. Greater interdependence is the prime feature of our globalised world today. Under such a context, the overall strength and development potential of a country is increasingly defined by its capacity and contribution to promoting the welfare of the world. The emergence and empowerment of the G20 and the reforms of world economic, trade and financial system all suggest that the global industrial structure is changing and roles of emerging countries are strengthening. Instead of calling this process “power shift” as some people do, I would rather say that we are on the track towards a more fair and just international order.

三是从一国自身发展的垂直轴看。每一个国家、每一个民族的发展都历经起伏，在探索实验中曲折前行，不会永远一帆风顺。中国通过长期的艰苦奋斗和30多年的改革开放，才真正找到了适合自己的发展道路，并仍在前进的道路上不断自我完善。欧洲在上世纪经历两次大战的创伤后，才找到和平的处方，而走过半年多世纪的一体化道路依旧崎岖不平。我们既不应静止地看待一个国家，随意为他国贴上某种标签，也不应用自己的标准去衡量另一个国家，更不应以本国的发展模式和政治体制强加于人。

The third axis, the depth axis, marks the development path of individual countries. For any nation, the road to development cannot be all the way straight ahead. We all share moments of pride. But there are also times when we slipped. The important thing is that we learned our lessons and improved ourselves. China has worked hard and experimented through more than three decades of reform and opening up to finally lay our feet on a suitable development path. And we are not done perfecting ourselves to meet new challenges. Europe has gone through the ordeal of two World Wars before finding the right prescription for peace, and fifty years into integration, the journey towards a united Europe remains a bumpy ride. When looking at other countries, it’s important that we do not evaluate them using one’s own standards or impose one’s own political system and development model. We must abandon static perspectives and reject the habit of willfully pinning someone a political tag.

虽然我比各位青年朋友年长几岁，但今天我不想把自己对中国、欧盟以及中欧关系的看法灌输给你们。今天是你们年轻人相互沟通交流的时间。我仅以自己的人生阅历和经验，向大家提供一点观察和分析问题的思路，希望中欧青年一代都能从上面提到的这“三条轴线”角度去观察、了解对方，以便形成符合事实、全面客观的观点和看法。年轻人思维活跃，善于思考，在今天这个全球化、信息化时代，应当以更加开放、宽容的心态，加强沟通交流，增进相互了解。希望通过交流，中欧青年能够摒弃不同文化、制度方面的歧见，更好地开展合作，共同应对全球性挑战，为中欧各自更加美好的未来，为建立更加稳定、繁荣、和谐的世界而不懈努力。

Now, I’ve lived for more years than many of you have. But I’m not going to pride myself on being a veteran and plant in your heads my views on China, Europe and our bilateral ties. After all, today is more of an occasion for you the young people to talk. What I was trying to do is to offer you, through my personal experience, some observations and perspectives on how to set up a fair perception. I hope that three axes approach I mentioned will in some way help you develop a truthful, comprehensive and objective image of the nation and the people on the other side. Growing up in an era of globalization and information explosion, you all have much more bright and brilliant minds. My hope is that you all have an open and tolerant heart, and will continue talking to each other to build better understanding. I’m deeply convinced that through communication, you will be able to cross over cultural barriers, remove bias over different systems, establish effective cooperation to meet global challenges, and contribute to the peace, stability, and harmony of China, Europe, and the world.

今天是我们使团“开放日”活动的序曲，本月17日我们还将为前来参加“中欧青年周”活动的中国青年代表团举行大型招待会，欢迎今天到场的各位欧洲青年朋友届时再次光临，同来自中国各行各业的青年代表继续交流对话，进一步加深对中国的认知和了解。我相信，我们能够像中国总理温家宝在青年年中方开幕式上所说的那样，“把中欧友好合作的种子播撒在每个青年的心里，我们就可以携手共担前进道路上的任何风雨，我们的合作之路、友谊之路就会越走越宽广。”

Today is only the first part of our open house. On the 17th of this month we will host also here a reception for the Chinese delegation attending the China-EU Youth Week. We invite all of you to come back on that date so you can meet and talk to the Chinese youth representatives from all different sectors of society. To conclude, I wish to share with you the vision described by the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during the opening ceremony of the EU-China Year of Youth held in Beijing. He said, “The seed of friendship should be sown in every young heart. With this foundation, we can handle any storm together on the way forward, and ours will be a broad road to cooperation and friendship.”

谢谢大家！

Thank you!