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SUBJECT [May 15] China hosts CDAC, Ukrainian Parliament passes Ukrainian language bill
DATE 2019-05-15
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PHOTO: Feng Yongbin/China Daily. Chinese President Xi Jinping, his wife Peng Liyuan, and dignitaries pose for a group photo before a welcoming banquet in Beijing on Tuesday for the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC), which starts from 15 May.

 

China will be hosting a Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC) in Beijing, China from 15 May to 22 May 2019 under the theme “exchanges and mutual learning among Asian civilizations and a community with a shared future”. During the event an opening ceremony will be hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping and six parallel sub-forums will be conducted. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Chinese Ministry of Education will be organizing a parallel panel on “Safeguarding the Diversity of Asian Civilizations”.

 

More than 2000 delegates from 47 Asian and other countries attended the event, including heads of state, government officials, and high-level government representatives from UNESCO and other international organizations, educational institutions, and think tanks. Asian civilization week, Asian civilization tours, tourism fairs, Asia cultural carnival and exhibitions, and Asian food festivals will be held on the sidelines of CDAC.

 

The idea of hosting CDAC was proposed by President Xi Jinping at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) held in Shanghai, China in 2014. The conference seeks to promote intercultural dialogue in view of building an “Asian Community of Shared Future” which will focus on cultural diversity, exchanges and mutual learning of Asia civilizations, enhance Asians’ rich cultural lives and contribute to vibrant regional development. The conference is also seen as pursuance of the fifth pillar (people-to-people exchanges) of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

 

During the banquet on Tuesday evening, President Xi said that CDAC is in line with the general trend of cooperation and development in Asia and the expectations of people of all countries for exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. He emphasized that CDAC will serve as an exchange and mutual learning platform for the common development of various civilizations. Xi said Asian civilizations have exchanged amid openness, grown together thanks to inclusiveness, and developed through innovation, and added that China adheres to the protection and inheritance of its fine traditional culture, promotes exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations, and contributes to the progress of human civilization.

 

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulous, Singaporean President Halimah Yacob, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena are among the dignitaries who attended the CDAC.

 

 

 

 

 

PHOTO: Pavlo Conchar/SPOA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) Speaker Andrei Parubiy (right).

 

On May 14, the Ukrainian parliament refused to abolish the law “on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language,” which envisages the use of Ukrainian language in almost all spheres of life.

 

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) has rejected all four draft documents cancelling the results of the vote on the Ukrainian language bill, with the necessary majority standing at 226 votes. The Speaker of the Parliament Andrei Parubiy signed the law, which will now be passed to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for approval.

 

Opposition lawmakers have criticized the passing of the bill, citing procedural violations such as a lot of “button-pressing” during the April 25 vote on the bill, and claiming that the law does not comply with the constitution.

 

Under the new law, the Ukrainian language will become mandatory for state authorities and local governments, all educational institutions, hospitals and the service sector. Special language inspectors will monitor compliance, and they will be empowered to attend any state agency’s meetings, collect documents from public organizations and political parties for examination, and issue fines.

 

Russia’s envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Alexander Lukashevich, has harshly criticized the law. According to him, Ukrainians have been de facto divided into Ukrainian –speaking citizens and “outcasts,” whose opportunities to study and receive social services while using native language will be significantly limited.

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also noted that the law provides for exceptions for English and other EU languages, saying that “this means that the only target of the attack is the Russian language, which is spoken by the vast majority of Ukrainian nationals.”

 

BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr)