A Whirlwind Visit to Beijing for the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence

TRANSCEND MEMBERS, ASIA--PACIFIC, BRICS, 5 Aug 2024

Jan Oberg, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service

Let me take you on a swirling trip to Beijing – to a unique conference, to people, institutions, fun and beauty, street views, media, dinners and more.

27 Jul 2024 – Much to my surprise, I had been invited as TFF’s director by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and the China Institute of International Studies, CIIS, to participate in the highest-level celebration of the 70th Anniversary of Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence in Beijing on June 28, 2024. These famous principles are:

• mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,
• mutual non-aggression,
• mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs,
• equality and cooperation for mutual benefit, and
• peaceful co-existence.

I left Lund and went to Copenhagen Airport – the train via Malmö and over the bridge as usual not on time – on the 26th of June, ready for some 9 hours to Beijing – only 9 hours, you may add because Air China is allowed, in contrast to Western airliners, to fly over Russia. AirChina CA 878 landed in Beijing on the 27th at 10 AM, and I was whisked into a taxi that took me to Hotel Jinglun about 4 kilometres from Tiananmen Square and around the corner from the iconic “big pants” building of CCTV and CGTN.

Dr Bao Zhipeng from the China Institute of International Studies, CIIS (see above) waited for me there as did TFF Associate Liu Jian. I also met the two other Scandinavian guests, Stephen Brawer and Hussein Askary from BRIX, the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden.

Since you cannot operate in China without the super app WeChat and payment apps like AliPay on your phone, the first thing you want to do upon arrival is to get a local sim card and phone number; using your foreign mobile phone would be prohibitively expensive; no Chinese would call you via Sweden and, for many functions, you need a Chinese subscription and number. So we all walked a few hundred meters and got that fixed, very cheap, and then had a delightful late Chinese lunch together in the same shopping complex.

All photos by me if nothing else is indicated and they are “raw”/unprocessed.
You may enlarge any photo by clicking on it.

Back at the hotel, I took a quick rest – it’s a 6-hour time difference – and shower. It was well over 30 degrees Celsius, and I had to be prepared for dinner with the editors of China Investment, the fine magazine that has published several of my comprehensive analyses over the last couple of years, for instance, this one on an entirely new global peace and security system.

Meeting them, as I also had last November, is always a great joy, with much serious discussion and laughter, plus delicious food. Also, very nice, the editor of CGTN’s “Dialogue,” Xu Qinduo, suddenly joined us (second from the left); he and I recently had this conversation about democracy and global governance. And we were to meet the next day.

June 28, 2024, starts with a short morning walk around the quarter when the temperature is still reasonable, then a quick mixed Western and Chinese breakfast, and at 8:15 AM we’re all ready in the lobby for the buses that shall take us down the Jianguomenwai Da Jie Avenue.

The Chinese definitely know how to organise things and handle a lot of people getting to, in, and out of such a building; lots of young volunteers are involved, constantly coordinating with each other on their phones and, I assume, using the WeChat app.

Every time I get here, last in November 2023, the enormous size of Tiananmen Square surprises me. And what a building that Great Hall is, built in the 1950s, I am told!

At the bottom left, Dr. Bao Zhipeng of CIIS mentioned above

 

Since it takes quite some time for all to arrive and get seated, I take the one-in-a-lifetime chance to quickly shoot a few pictures of the hall and its large, magnificent art pieces that decorate the walls – here displayed a little helter-skelter just to give you an impression:

Finally, the meeting started, and President Xi Jinping spoke about the history, the present and the future of humanity’s cooperation and peace spun around the 70-year-old Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence – or Pancheel. This is a country where the highest authorities speak – and speak well both conceptually and politically – about peace. There is not a “us” versus “them,” but a global “we” – humanity – and his perspective is long-term visionary, what is it we must all do together to make the world an ever-better place. So, breadth in space and time. Please read the whole speech here and compare it with the typical Western leaders’ speeches. Here is CGTN’s short video excerpt, and here is its intro.

I cannot think of any present Western leader who has given – or could give – a speech about the long-term global future based on cooperation and peaceful coexistence. The NATO’s Washington Summit that happened to be held a few days later only produced a document of militarism, false threats and condemnations of others, confrontation and no sense of being part of a common humanity.

I have written a comparative analysis for The Citizen in India and Global Times in Beijing, also pointing out the Five Principles do not match possessing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, in short, offensive deterrence.

Sadly, while there were Indian scholars present, official India had decided to not participate in this celebration of the Five Principles in Beijing.

Into the buses again. This time they bring us to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. Here are a few shots from the entrance hall and dining hall:

Before the – indeed elegant, delicious and comprehensive – lunch, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi delivered a short speech about the Five Principles, followed by several former heads of state, prime ministers, foreign ministers, and leaders of parties and international organisations.

While listening to it all, I could not help seeing the very compelling, huge painting of mountaintops at the end of the dining hall. So, before leaving and walking through a small part of the beautiful park, I took some pictures of it and also of another magnificent artwork in one of the arrival halls:

The latter was created by Chinese doctor and artist, Dominic Man-Kit Lam (1947); it is Chinese ink on rice paper (7,2 x 8,4 m!)

Then followed the rest of the afternoon, various panel discussions. The one I was assigned to can be seen here – and elegantly chaired by former vice minister and founding chairperson of the Center for International Security and Strategy, CISS, Madame FU Ying.

I had been invited to give a three-minute mini-lecture from the audience and did so on the Five Principles, nonviolent conflict resolution, and the need to do “transarmament” toward an alternative global defensive defence and human security system, which was received quite well, (perhaps also because I did not read from a manuscript like most others during the day), among them the Indian Gandhi-inspired columnist, politician and adviser, Sudheendra Kulkarni (see below).

Then it was time to give some comments to the national television CCTV, and run to catch the bus back to the hotel. It had been an intensive day, but it was not over yet. I had to be ready in my room before 19.30 to participate in a panel discussion about the Five Principles on CGTN’s Dialogue:

After that, I had dinner at the hotel with Sudheendra Kulkarni which was highly rewarding for me. We began sharing what we had done in our lives and, of course, our life-long interest in Gandhi. I told him that I had been walking in the footsteps of Gandhi about 20 years ago, and his face lit up. Since he was deeply concerned, as I said, that official India had not participated in this day’s celebration of the Five Principles, I asked him to kindly teach me about China-India relations over time, and he gave me the pros and cons of both sides, i.e. the intellectual’s four-fold table and not the narrow-minded two-fold table with “us” – the good guys – and “them” – the bad guys.

He also strongly advised me to read the books by Jawaharal Nehru, India’s first prime minister and probably, second only to Gandhi, the most important – and global-oriented – leader of India. It turned out that his 700-page book, “The Discovery of India” from 1946 is freely available in the first edition on the homepage of India’s Ministry of Culture, just click on this image:

And talking of books… It turned out that we had a very dear friend in common, Shastri Ramachandaran in Delhi. I have known Shastri since the 1980s when we first met at the journalism high school in Kalmar, Sweden. Later, we were both teaching for years at IUPIP – International University of People’s Initiatives for Peace – in Rovereto, Italy, where together with our friend, Swedish-Italian philosophy professor and nonviolence world expert Giuliano Pontara, we tested various grappas during the siesta – which we called “Gandhian water” – and smoked cigars. Those were indeed the days!

And then Sudheendra suddenly says: You know, Shastri has just published a book about India and China. It is so good that I bought a few copies to take with me and give to interested people at this conference; would you like one? Of course, I said, many thanks! It is called “Beyond Binaries. The World of India and China,” and it is a fine analysis based on Shastri’s many trips and longer stays in China. It should become a bridge-builder. Shastri speaks about his book here.

On Saturday July 29, 2024, I moved to another hotel in the Wangfujing, Dongcheng area closer to the Tiananmen Square – walked the few kilometres over there because when you walk, you see more – including all the beautiful flower arrangements along the boulevard. Most of them look like extended, rolled-out botanical gardens.

Saturdays and Sundays are not the best days for meetings and some of my Beijing friends were out of town. So I spent the day at my computer, planning Monday’s very packed program and acquainting myself with this very diverse part of town, snapshotting away with my iPhone camera ready.

I could not help thinking back to my first visit here in 1983. Believe it or not, some 200-300 meters from Tiananmen Square lived people in very small houses with their pigs and chickens and a small stove in front of their doors. I’m told that today you have to be way beyond the 6th ring road today to see a peasant. And here are some snapshots of what it looks like today:

In the evening I had dinner with CGTN ‘Star,’ Li Jingjing. She has her own YouTube Channel, and she introduces it in this manner: “As the world moves into a new multipolar reality, it is more important than ever to understand China and the global south. So here, I try to move beyond the mainstream talking points and bring you a new perspective. I was born and raised in China and educated in journalism both in China and the UK. Had traveled across the world, and had worked as an editor and reporter for several media outlets in China. I’m tired of seeing my own culture and country being misrepresented, so I’ve decided to use my own social networks to show the sides of stories that many media in the West ignored, twisted, misunderstood, or misrepresented. If you want to hear real stories from China, if you are willing to be challenged and hear the other side of the story, follow my journey, I’ll show you the world through my lens.”

And here is her page on CGTN. It won’t take you many minutes to sense how Li Jingjing radiates positive energy, frequent laughter, jokes and an attitude to life à la “Yes, I don’t buy all the negative narrative crap. I offer my audience positive aspects and human stories, and I understand the West too because I have lived there.”

She also writes an informative newsletter on Substack, China Up Close. It felt good to have a mutual give-and-take and a creative dialogue – across East and West – over a few hours with a fine media personality instead of just being interviewed by one.

Sunday the 30th, working on various articles and postings in the morning, then I had lunch with editors of Global Times, and we were joined by a staff member of The China Academy in Shanghai. I sometimes write analyses of international peace and security for Global Times and, in addition to very informed discussions of various global issues, it was very nice to finally meet the people ‘live’ whom I have worked with over a couple of years via emails and WeChat. All young, welcoming, dynamic, informal and so easy to connect with at both the human and the professional level.

From left: Leo from The China Academy in Shanghai, ego, Tian Tian Bai & Xia Wenxin, both editors at Global Times.

I never tire of walking the streets of China with their myriad people, colours, facades, lights, building styles – a blissful blend of everything, old and new, and then the children everywhere… See what I mean?

Also, if you should think anything else, it is totally safe to walk anywhere at any time of the day. Often, people will reach out to you and strike up a conversation, practising their English, even connecting on WeChat. Every walk is a cross-cultural learning adventure. In one word: welcoming!

Monday, July 1, is my last this time and it is packed, as I said. To get around, you need your phone on the go for all kinds of communication, but this morning, my phone subscription seems to have expired. Flagging down a taxi in the street is virtually impossible, you need an app like AliPay. I see myself being late or never turning up at the right place. And with 6 million cars in Beijing, transport over long distances is not an easy piece of cake – that is, if you cannot communicate. If you can, China works brilliantly (in contrast to the West…).

This is what I showed to the taxi driver the hotel helped me get. With such a map of a small spot in a 22 million-resident mega city, it’s only to lean back and hope for the best. And off we drove for 45-50 minutes – many long queues – and I was delayed for the meeting with Professor Shiming Fan and Associate Dean Professor Dong Zhaohua at the School of International Studies at Peking University. Fortunately, I was met at one of many campus gates and guided to a cafeteria-like area where they waited for me. They were very sweet and understanding, and we had an intensive exchange of what our respective institutions do and how to perhaps cooperate in the future.

Professor Shiming has been a visiting scholar at Oslo University and had a good sense of Scandinavia. We managed to exchange a bit on the difference between security studies and peace studies, the latter seemingly less developed at the university. So, right before the guide intervenes to tell us that we have to end the meeting for me to catch another taxi, I am invited to give a guest lecture on peace studies and international affairs the next time I come to Beijing. A great honour!

Then, back to the hotel to be picked up by Professor Bo Peng. He has a PhD from Aalborg University, Denmark, speaks Danish and has recently returned to China – as has his Aalborg professor, Li Xing. He takes me to what I understand to be the most prestigious – and huge – social science institution, CASS – China Academy of Social Science.

Over lunch, I have the honour of dialoguing with several professors at the Institute of World Economics and Politics, IWEP, thus Director and Chairman Zhang Yuyan, and senior fellows Lang Ping and Gao Haihong. The meeting took much longer than planned and covered a series of international topics and views about the role of science. They took a serious interest in TFF and what we define as peace research – as well as alternative security and possible peace politics for the emerging multi-polar world.

I must have said something reasonably interesting because I was also invited to give a guest lecture there. I can hardly wait to meet more scholars at this highest-ranking academic institution and learn more about how they think about science and the world’s future.

Rushed on to get my phone subscription fixed and then yet another taxi to the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament, CPAPD, where I met with Deputy Secretary-General Madame Yan Yinghu. A very good mutual listening to who we are, what we do and then sharing views on the global situation. Obviously, with global military expenditures higher than ever – 2400 billion dollars in 2023 – we agreed that there is still a long way to go before dis-armament becomes stronger than re-armament.

However, also during this meeting, I emphasised that we do not need only disarmament, we need transarmament with a new way of thinking about civilian conflict resolution coupled with defensive civilian and military defence structure and human security for each country so that we can realise the noble goal of common security, the abolition of nuclear weapons, and satisfy our legitimate needs for self-defence without threatening others and thereby reduce arms races and militarism.

And finally, the last appointment before turning homeward was the TV program “China Talk” at China Diplomacy in the New Era. As usual with Chinese media, things are so well-prepared, questions have been discussed and finalised in writing beforehand, a time is a time, the stipulated length is kept and there are no attempts at “framing” and no secondary motives. The guest enjoys a lot of respect – in contrast, if I may, to what I have often experienced in Western media as I have written about in detail here.

It was a delight and much fun to work with “Leila” – Li Xiaohua – who is obviously a very experienced editor of this distinguished program. The fact that the interviewer has cards with questions or themes enables you both to deviate from them, and Li suddenly wanted to know what the difference was between ‘security’ and ‘peace.’ This opens up for something else but Q&A, namely dialogue – and I like that.

Li and her colleagues, assistants and cameraman invited me to have a beer with them afterwards. I could not have wanted a better way to end my visit to Beijing. I’ll be back in September, passing through with a Norwegian-Swedish delegation going to visit Xinjiang. That’s when I hope to see some of the people you have also met above as well as make new friends. Because networking and building personal relations is what it is all about, not the least in China.

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2 Responses to “A Whirlwind Visit to Beijing for the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence”

1. anaisanesse says:

   6 Aug 2024 at 06:27

   Thanks so much Jan BUT the error right at the start, having 2028 as the year of the meeting was disorienting as it seems the whole thing was a fantasy until actually continuing!!!!

   Reply
   • Jan Oberg says:

     6 Aug 2024 at 08:53

     My apologies! And thanks a lot for seeing it AND letting me know. And thanks to Antonio for re-posting it, a huge job with all those photos! JAN

     Reply