Dear students, faculty, and friends,

Good morning!

Now comes the moment we say goodbye to each other. We are here today to witness a very important occasion of your life. Wearing customized graduation gowns, you are savoring the sweetness of harvest. In the past years, you have worked hard on your studies. Now you have successfully transformed from a “miner of knowledge” to a “sword-forger in practice”. On behalf of Chairperson Xie Jiangling of the University Council as well as over 1,600 faculty and staff members of BISTU, I extend our warmest congratulations to the 3,990 graduating students of this year! You will embark on a journey to seek truth, to contribute to the wellbeing of our society, and to bridge the gap of misunderstanding.

Today we are riding the tide of a new age where new form of civilization takes the place of neo-liberalism and where a community with a shared future for mankind is changing the narrative of “them vs us”. Over the past four year, or even longer time, you have armed yourselves with unique competences. Meanwhile, you start to shoulder more important responsibilities. It is time that you walk out of classrooms and campuses to see the world, to talk to various civilizations, and to fight for the peace that human beings deserve in the new era. This is indeed another graduation thesis for you: to redefine “success” and “responsibility” and to make individuals the “macros” which could better our world!

We are meeting with the best of our times. Here comes to us the new technology revolution represented by artificial intelligence, intelligent automation, and bioengineering. Knowledge economy enables everyone to enjoy the benefits of our times. Under the premises of near-zero marginal cost and unlimited research and innovation capacity of AI, absolute scarcity of materials has become a past tense and sharing is the optimized choice left to humans. Therefore, China indicates that we will definitely become a trendsetter of the new age, considering our institutions advantages.

However, we are still in an era of uncertainties. The clouds generated from regional conflicts, trade frictions, territorial disputes, etc. are hovering above each one of us. The debate on tariff will eventually come to an end, though it is still ongoing. On the grand picture of times, the standard of “relative losses being greater than absolute gains” will be trashed at the end of the day. “Momentous transformation of the world” will guide us towards “new form of civilization for human beings”. The new form will reconstruct social productivity, build a whole-new dialogue system, and bring along a “China paradigm”. And you are the core pioneers of the paradigm.

Looking back to history, we can clearly identify the gene of peace of China people. In colonial history, “Naval diplomacy” usually comes along with oppression and exploitation. Comparatively, Zheng He’s treasure voyages to the West during Ming Dynasty in the principle of “modest receiving based on generous giving” sowed the seeds of peace and friendship. It is, to some extent, version 1.0 peaceful development initiative advocated by China. Epitaphs of Persian merchants excavated in Quanzhou--- a proof of trade facilitating peace--- forms a sharp comparison with colonial exploitation. In philosophical terms, “within four seas, all men are brothers” becomes a community with a shared future for mankind. The Daoist “non-contention” philosophy is reflected in China’s non-alignment policy, the Belt and Road initiative, RCEP, etc.. China is bringing stable momentum into world economic cooperation.

Back to present, practices of China highlights the wisdom of co-existence of development and peace. Market share of Chinese corporations in global infrastructure is rising and cooperation in green infrastructure is speeding up. The Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway has significantly reduced inter-city commute time. China-Laos Railway activates the “multiplier effect” in regional economies. These facts are actual proofs of “mutual development being the best peace enforcement”. We had suffered from wars and chaos. However, we uphold the diplomatic principle of “good neighborliness and friendly partnership” and we advocate peace in the world. Instead of building military alliances like NATO, China adheres to, and practices, the basic principles of "non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third parties". Saudi Arabia and Iran resumed diplomatic relations under China's active mediation in 2023. A new pathway was thus identified by China in solving regional disputes.

This year marked the 80th anniversary of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. It is also the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the UN. In 1931, China became the first country to fight against Japanese aggression and fascist war. The unyielding Chinese people fought gallantly and finally won total victory against the Japanese militarist aggressors, making indelible contributions to the World Anti-Fascist War. People in some parts of the world are still suffering from wars. We shall not take peace for granted, because there are people fighting for and safeguarding our peace. In the past year I have visited the US twice: I delivered “Global Citizenship in the 21st Century” delivered on commencement ceremony of Oakland University and the speech of promoting educational globalization on Annual Conference of Association of International Education Administrators. Now it is time for you to continue. As young people of the new era, you have your own, unique responsibilities. I sincerely hope that you will become a qualified global citizen.

To begin with, the peace can only be secured through strengths. Publicity of relating data offers a certainty to the current turbulent global affairs: China values peace; China wants mutual development; China is strongly against hegemony. And you are the core strengths for China to face with the “momentous transformation of the world”. Some foreign experts assumed that China has made substantive progresses in technology and has built up sustainable technological innovation capacity based on domestic talents and resources. As a matter of fact, you are the key in the transformation and your efforts will help build a greater China.

Next, you shall re-construct your cognition system and break yourselves from the notion “superiority of a certain civilization”. Human civilization as a whole is composed of various parts. Each civilization in this world is a unique reflection of human wisdom. We must transcend the binary mindset of “either-or”. Innovation and Talent Introduction Base for Advanced Optoelectronic Devices and Systems, a state-level research platform, attracts 55 leading scholars and experts from over 10 countries like the UK, the US, Germany, etc. Innovative breakthroughs are achieved in photonic chips and intellisense as eastern thinking and western thinking converge here. It shows that wisdoms of different civilizations, when merging in research, would give birth to technological revolution which could reshape our future in the field of aeronautics and astronautics, biomedical treatment, etc. I sincerely hope that you will review and examine innovation with “Chinese coordinates of 5000-year-civilization”. You will see evolution of technologies, the advantages of combining eastern holistic thinking with western logical thinking, and great changes coming along with intercivilizational mutual learning.

Finally, you shall take initiative in practice and compose a global narrative of peace. It is not grand narrative. It is a competence with the reach of every Chinese citizen, especially young people. Each “native” on internet is a “freelance diplomat” for global peaceful narratives, which is mirrored in “internet refugees flooding into RedNote”, “IShowSpeed” live-broadcasting “China travel”, and American people’s call for JD Vance to go and take a look at China. You, as outstanding graduates of BISTU--- a university based on digitelligence, have numerous ways to join the global narratives of peace. You can use Blockchain technology to establish a whole-chain digital archive for international aid because of its immutability. You could become a “translator of peace” and refer to the experience of BISTU organizing Looking China – Youth Film Project with Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalun (ESCAC) to transform eastern wisdom, such as “breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting”, into visualized safety solutions understandable by international communities. You could also initiate a young people peace laboratory--- for instance, establishing a digital agricultural workshop in Africa to merge China’s intelligent irrigation technology with local nomadic culture; or building a workshop dealing with ocean debris in Malaysia via combining “harmonization of nature and humanity” with marine ecological civilization. Anyway, you are capable of turning peace narratives as a concept into true, palpable life scenarios.

Your graduation today is more a start of “civilization dialogue” than a ceremony. From this moment on, you have transformed from a knowledge receiver into an ambassador of peace. Just like codes firstly successfully executed in the laboratories, you will begin writing a new program which could possibly reshape the world. Imagine what historians would say in 3025 about your generation. I am convinced that they would document it this way: “At a time when the notion of civilization clashes almost prevails, BISTU graduates in 2025 paved a new road for world peace with technological innovation and cultural inclusiveness. They reconstructed the protocols of civilization dialogues, reshaped the channels of cultural communication, and planted ‘harmony without uniformity’---the traditional Chinese philosophy--- in the framework of world peace.”

Dear students, the secret to China’s development is in the past glory as well as in your contributions. The true symbol of China’s peaceful rising is that we will greet a more peaceful world because of your efforts. Please bear in mind “to ordain conscience for Heaven and Earth, to secure life and fortune for the people, to continue lost teachings for the past sages, and to establish peace for all future generations.” I am confident that you will break the barriers of thoughts with your knowledge and you will create a peaceful world for the future!

Thank you all.