Former Prime Minister of UK Visits PKU-北京大学国际合作部

Former Prime Minister of UK Visits PKU

2014-07-08 22:33:36

On the morning of June 12^th, Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister and founder of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, visited Peking University (PKU), and attended a discussion on the topics of religion and faith with scholars from the Department of Philosophy, the School of International Studies, the Department of Sociology, and the School of Foreign Languages of PKU. Li Yansong, Vice President of PKU, and Yan Jun, Secretary General of Beijing Forum, received the guest at Linhuxuan.

During the meeting, Vice President Li Yansong first extended warm welcome for Mr. Blair’s revisit to PKU, and introduced the latest development of the course Faith and Globalization offered at PKU. Tony Blair has established bonds with PKU for a long time. And his team also has established cooperative relations with PKU for several years. Vice President Li Yansong invited Tony Blair to serve as a commissioner of PKU’s International Advisory Committee, with Tony Blair accepting the invitation gladly.

Then Tony Blair received an interview from a PKU student journalist. He said in the interview that his Faith Foundation and he always attach great importance to cooperative partnership with PKU, and he hoped that a bridge can be built to smooth communication among different ethnic groups and different cultures. He also noted that China’s future success depends on whether China can continue to deepen its opening to the outside world, and expected that Chinese youth can help the world better understand China and facilitate international exchanges and cooperation.

After the interview, Tony Blair attended a discussion at Linhuxuan chaired by Yan Jun, Secretary General of Beijing Forum and Deputy Director of the Office of International Relations at PKU. Tony Blair discussed with PKU scholars about the new situation of Chinese religion, the development of Christianity in China, the localization of Buddhism and the development of Islam. Both sides agreed that people should handle religious issues with more open mentality and the purpose of religion is to promote solidarity and friendliness of the mankind rather than produces estrangement and division. Besides, Tony Blair also talked about strengthening Faith Foundation‘s collaboration with PKU and explored ways with PKU scholars to improve the form and content of the course Faith and Globalization at PKU.

Written by He Yicheng

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Former Prime Minister of UK Visits PKU