CRI听力:2nd Int'l Asian Congress Concludes

The two-day session attracted around 400 diplomats and scholars from countries including China, India, and Japan.

At the meetings, participants discussed a rich variety of topics related to politics, economy, sociology, science and history.

Sponsored by Poland's Asia Pacific Society, the conference aims to help people better understand Asia and attract more people to Asia.

Adam Marszalek is President of the Asia Pacific Society. He says most seminars and discussions centered on China.

"Compared with the last conference, this year's attracted more attendees from broader fields and is dominated by China-related topics. Of the more than 300 academic papers we have received, most focus on China's economy, politics, religions and ethnic groups."

Lin Jian from Chinese Embassy to Warsaw says the meetings can help promote the Sino-Polish cooperation in trade and culture, especially between local governments of the two countries.

He is also upbeat about the future development of ties between China and countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

"The cooperation between China and Poland is facing two crucial opportunities. One is the '16 plus 1 cooperation' formula which was launched three years ago and aimed to boost collaboration between China and the 16 countries in central and eastern Europe. The other is China's Silk Road initiative that has attracted many participant countries, including Poland and its neighbor nations. We believe these two platforms can benefit Sino-Polish relations."

Krzysztof Szumski is the former head of the Asia Department at Poland's Foreign Ministry. He suggests there is broad common ground between China's Silk Road initiative and Europe's renaissance effort.

"We should realize that China is now the second largest economy in the world and will become the largest within 20 years. Over the past years, China has adopted flexible policies to combine its diplomacy with economics. Its Silk Road initiative is appealing to both Poland and the whole of Europe. If combined with this initiative, Europe's renaissance effort may get new momentum."

Besides China, people at the conference also discussed the rise of Asia.

Jerzy Bayer, once a Polish diplomat to China, says Asia has been a growing priority in Poland's foreign policy.

"Relationships between Poland and Asian countries are becoming better and better. Our foreign ministry has spent more time and energy on Asian this year than ever. In the past, Asia-related issues lacked attention. But it has changed due to Asia's growing role in both global economy and politics."

Most participants at the meetings recognize the great changes in Asia and the continent's growing role in the world. Meanwhile, they suggest that more efforts be made for study on Asia's future development.

For CRI, I'm Zhao Jianfu.