Macau, China, Dec. 16, 2025 (Lusa) - Macau's Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, O Lam, on Tuesday called for the launch of a global initiative to promote dialogue and cooperation between civilisations.
O Lam's appeal came during a speech at the opening ceremony of the inaugural International Forum on Civilisational Exchange, which brings together 40 experts and leaders from a dozen countries over two days.
Among the guests are academics from Portugal, mainland China, Egypt, Indonesia, Tunisia, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada.
The programme includes speeches by the president of the China Observatory, Rui Lourido, and Maria José de Freitas, an architect working in Macao and president of the scientific committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) on shared built heritage.
O Lam challenged Forum participants to "launch a “Macau Initiative”, looking at all civilisations equally, promoting dialogue and cooperation".
The secretary argued that the city, which was under Portuguese administration for more than 400 years, "was a pioneer in dialogue and integration", as well as in"‘harmonious coexistence" between civilisations.
O Lam rejected the “clash of civilisations” theory of influential American academic Samuel Huntington (1927-2008) and argued that world history proves that "progress is never separated from mutual learning".
Also at the opening ceremony, the president of the Macao Cultural Institute, which organises the forum, reiterated the territory's "commitment to participating in global dialogue between civilisations".
Leong Wai Man argued that the semi-autonomous Chinese region has the potential to "build a platform for dialogue that transcends the borders between nations".
She stressed that Macao "has always had an open and inclusive attitude towards accepting the positive influences of foreign civilisations", citing the Portuguese pavement in the historic city centre as an example.
The Forum also marks 20 years since the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) classified Macau's historic centre as a World Heritage Site in 2005.
The Chinese deputy minister of information also pointed to "the marks of more than 400 years of fusion and coexistence" of civilisations that have made Macao a "cultural bridge connecting China to the world".
Wang Gang said that, in addition to respecting differences, civilisations must "learn from common values", among which he highlighted freedom and democracy.
Although China is, in practice, a single-party regime, since 2019 the Chinese Communist Party has advocated the political concept of “people's democracy throughout the process”.
Beijing claims that this concept promotes the continuous participation of citizens in the governance of China, even in the absence of universal suffrage and direct election of the country's leadership.
VQ/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
