Reflections on "Peace"

This year, a number of large-scale exhibitions and commemorative activities have been held in the Mainland, Hong Kong and around the world to commemorate the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, and the 70th anniversary of the Restoration of Taiwan. I am honored and honored to participate in them. President Xi Jinping said at the China-Japan Friendship Exchange Conference in May this year: "Don't forget the past, and the future will guide you. Remembering the history is to create the future; not forgetting the war is to maintain peace." The mainstream aspirations of the people, however, wars occur from time to time around the world, and the common people, especially the elderly and the weak, women and children, are the most hurt. Why is this happening?

When I was young, I would occasionally hear my elders recount the hardships of "beating the Japanese boy", groveling and wandering. Seeing the TV screen, news reports of war from time to time, seeing the injured and helpless people and the ruins, I feel very sad in my heart. Why do human beings kill each other? In the following years, when it comes to birthdays, his wish must be "world peace", so he also hates war. He also resists all things related to war, such as the classic "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and the animation "Super Dimension Fortress" that most boys love to watch. At that time, I naively thought that if everyone gave up all weapons together, no one would be victimized by the war. Today, I have another experience of war and peace.

We are familiar with the way of expressing friendship. In the West, there is a handshake, and in China, there is a bow. Many years ago, I heard my predecessors say that the reason is this: Westerners generally have swords. People are good at grappling and put their hands away when making a bow, which means giving up the attack. Therefore, both of them have become good gestures to each other in different cultural systems. In addition, the origin of clinking glasses with each other when drinking was originally to prevent the other party from poisoning their own wine, because when clinking glasses, you can splash your own wine into the other party's cup, so that "the foundation of mutual trust is established", and everyone can drink happily ( I don’t know when it started, it is popular in China to clink glasses with one high and one low, which distorts the original meaning of clinking glasses, because the wine in the low place will not be splashed on the high place). These seem like anecdotes, but if you want to go deeper, it turns out that under the surface of friendship and peace, there are a lot of wrestling and checks and balances hidden behind them.

Regarding the literature on peace, I read Huntington's "The Clash of Civilizations" a few years ago. This book has sparked heated discussions in the academic circles. It analyzes the past, present and future world situations and points out that war and conflict are the source of Due to the conflict of "cultures" in different regions, the future world will no longer be dominated by the West, but will be a conflict between the three major civilizations of the West (Christianity), the East (Confucianism) and Islam. When countries were weak in the past, we all had a lot of understanding of Western civilization in order to absorb each other's strengths. Now that China is prosperous and strong, it is time for the West to learn our Chinese long-standing culture. In fact, many foreigners are learning Mandarin, some of which are more standard than me, and Confucius Institutes are being established all over the world. Such benign cultural exchanges will definitely have a positive impact on promoting mutual understanding and seeking world peace.

At the end of the 18th century, the philosopher Kant's treatise "Permanent Peace", in which the theory and vision for the establishment of a world federation, seems to have been tested and practiced in the United Nations established after World War II. However, some countries, despite their status as permanent members of the UN Security Council, often do not abide by the decisions of the meeting. As President Xi Jinping pointed out when he attended the UN Peacekeeping Leaders Summit in New York at the end of September: "The resolutions of the UN Security Council should be fully implemented, no country should act beyond its authority, and peacekeeping operations should formulate and implement withdrawal strategies in a timely manner according to the local situation and the will of the people. ." in one sentence. Since 2004, Japan has been striving to become a permanent member of the Security Council in alliance with other countries. Japan, which became a non-permanent member for the 11th time in October this year, is the country that has been elected the most. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended China's military parade in September, and by threatening to freeze funding support to the United Nations, he opposed UNESCO's inclusion of the Nanjing Massacre Archives in the Memory of the World Register. Exposing the hoarding of a large amount of raw materials for nuclear weapons does not give any sense of "safety" to serve on the "Security Council", let alone the dream of "normalization".

"Do not do to others what you do not want to do to yourself." This is a famous saying that I saw when I visited the Red Cross Museum in Geneva, Switzerland more than ten years ago, representing China's humanitarian standpoint. , all bring out similar messages, which can be regarded as the core concept of interpersonal peace. And the inner peace of the self seems to be diverse, and it depends on each person's own cultivation and different experiences. As for international peacekeeping, I no longer naively think that we can succeed by destroying weapons and disarmament at the same time. As the saying goes: "Prepare for the best and plan for the worst." Therefore, China insists on peaceful development on the one hand, but holds a military parade on the other hand. China and Japan are both friendly and undercurrent. The contradictory actions and performances, and the origins of shaking hands and clinking glasses, are no longer surprising to me today.

(Originally published in the tenth issue of "Strait Love" (album commemorating the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War), December 2015)