On May 15, 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that “we should have greater confidence in our civilizations” in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations. This sentence impressed me, who were present at the conference when President Xi made these remarks. With historical context in mind, our civilizations should have our respective confidence. Every civilization is an inseparable piece of human civilization, so Asia’s various cultures should have their own confidence, which should be conveyed through their people. We should improve friendship and exchange between peoples of different countries, and on that basis build a community of of common interests and shared future.The pursuit of a better life remains a common aspiration for all mankind. What then is civilization? Civilization is the accumulated achievements in the process of people moving from the wilderness to settlement and progress and development, all of which can be exchanged and drawn from along the way. Dialogues between civilizations are crucial because they could reduce unnecessary, often artificial, tensions that tend to tear mankind apart. But abstract dialogues would typically be limited to a small group of selected elites from the civilizations concerned, and may thus be of little influence. Such dialogues should instead be open and practical in nature, with maximum participations from all stakeholders, such that they could indeed be instrumental in furthering a shared community of mankind.I have several suggestions in this regard. The first is about tourism, which was also mentioned by President Xi. I think too many Asians travel to countries outside Asia while numerous great destinations on their own continent are neglected—I do the same thing myself. There are a lot of things that we can do to improve this situation. For example, we can build convenient railway and highway networks between different countries in Asia. At the same time, we can launch direct flights between Asia’s major cities. My homeland is Sabah, Malaysia, which is now connected to a dozen major cities in China through direct flights. So now tourists visiting Sabah are mostly Chinese. Tourists from coastal cities can reach Sabah by cruise ships departing Xiamen in China’s Fujian Province.When people have the chance to travel outside of the narrow confines of their daily lives, they would per force have to learn and accustom to the cultures of their travel destinations. They would also have to interact with the local populations. Even the local cuisine that they partake of would often be eye openers. In doing so, hopefully people would learn to appreciate the vibrance and variety of cultures that are thriving around the world. It also lays out a basis for the understanding that is crucial for dialogues between civilizations.In addition, civilizations and their dialogues should be sustainable. China saw the second Belt and Road summit concluded earlier this year in Beijing, perhaps with results out of the expectations of many observers. The Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, was first proposed by President Xi Jinping of China six years ago in Kazakhstan with the conceptualization of a Silk Road Economic Belt aiming to spark development along the ancient continental Silk Road. The next year, when visiting Indonesia, President Xi introduced the “seafaring” version of the initiative, the 21st Century New Maritime Silk Road, tracing the ancient sea routes that have witnessed trading and exchanges between the East and the West.Well, over the past half a decade, as the BRI gradually came into full force, the regions along the Belt and Road have experienced tremendous, sometimes fundamental developmental transformation. Among the five BRI principles is that of policy coordination, which saw China signing up memorandum of cooperation or strategic partnerships not only among its immediate neighbors, stretching as far as Italy and Switzerland in Europe. In line with the principle of facility connectivity, many infrastructural projects with Chinese involvement have been sprouting all along the Belt and Road, linking China by sea, air, land and also online with its neighbors near and far, and connecting them with one another as well in a vast network of modern infrastructures.From the Chinese perspective, linking up vast, previously unconnected regions with state-of-the-art infrastructure was perhaps a well-intentioned move, based on China’s own hugely successful developmental experience. In China itself, there is this saying of first building road then prosperity will come along. Indeed, the many high-speed rail lines and highways linking cities big and small in China, for example, have spurred hitherto unseen growth almost wherever they reach. The more entrepreneurial Chinese citizens - and there are many of them - would make use of the reach of these advanced infrastructures to develop previously remote regions in order to better their own livelihoods and the community in the process.Seeing the somewhat dated infrastructures of its many developing neighbors, China was perhaps quite anxious in trying to assist them to improve their physical linkages, not the least with China, so that some other BRI principles, such as trade facilitation, capital fluidity and ultimately people-to-people bonds could be laid out more efficiently. And that was perhaps the main theme of the first BRI summit two years ago, summing up some of the mainly infrastructural projects that have been carried out and announcing new ones, with financial packages in the forms of funds and loans to back up. Many of the regions along the BRI do need such infrastructural upgrades in order to unleash their developmental potentials which have thus far been Limited by a lack of basic amenities, such as access to electricity and yes, roads.But merely two years later, both the global socioeconomic and geopolitical scenes have shifted somewhat. On the one hand, although socioeconomically new wealth has been created not the least along the BRI even in the continuing worldwide economic downturn, it has often not been fairly and effectively spread across all socioeconomic strata in many regions. And the sustainability of such wealth creation is then called into questions. On the other hand, geopolitically the United States which remains the world’s largest economy has increasingly and unabashedly practiced isolationism, ditching the concept and practice of free trade which it first advocated for the longest period after the Second World War, in favor of rabid protectionism disguised as “America First”, setting up frankly quite negative example for the rise of openly protectionist measures around the world. It is one thing to put up non-tariff barriers to deter entry into a national market by foreign business participants; it is quite another thing to bluntly raise tariffs. The former moves send shivers down the spine of multinational corporations; the latter moves would create systemic ripple effects on the world economy.And the second BRI summit was unveiled against these somewhat convoluted backdrop that. There was a distinct shift in the summit’s thematic emphasis from “hardware” construction in the past to perhaps what can be called “software” promotion at present. President Xi in his speech stressed the importance of high-quality development that is open, clean and green for BRI programs. This renewed emphasis on refining the BRI projects is anticipated to be more welcome across the BRI regions, as openness would mean increased participation by all stakeholders, both local and foreign, and hopefully from all strata in the affected community, in the implementation of the BRI projects.The “cleanliness” here refers to joint efforts in combating corruption and abuses which have plagued many developing countries, not the least some along the BRI. But most importantly, the BRI projects should be “green”, namely they should be environmentally invasive only minimally, with optimal usage of renewable energy and sustainable resources. Many countries are starting essentially from scratch in their developmental stage, and they must start it right, in tune with the aspirations of their people and the preservation of their precious environment. There is no doubt that the BRI regions need capital injection, but it must be done in a clean and sustainable manner, with the bulk of the investment going toward uplifting the livelihood of the local people and conserving their natural environment.Key points in President Xi’s BRI Summit speech echoed both the yearnings among many BRI countries for “two-way traffic” in BRI dealings as well as continued practice of free trade. These include the announcement of further measure in deepening and broadening China’s reform and opening-up process, with China’s huge domestic markets pledging to procure even more foreign goods. This is of course in stark contrast to the some other countries’ frequent threats of tariff hikes to deter foreign goods from entering the their markets.There was also a subtle, renewed emphasis on further building up of people-to-people bonds in the BRI summit. And that, ultimately, would perhaps the ultimate achievement of the BRI, so that a community of shared destiny and thus peace and prosperity would come to fruition, and a sustainable one at that.The third suggestion is about education. For example, people in many English-speaking countries learn German or French, and the resources to do so have been plentiful for centuries. But in Malaysia, it is still very difficult for us to learn the Thai language. There is almost a complete lack of Thai language majors in Malaysian universities. I think people from different Asian countries should learn more about each other’s languages. Universities in Asian countries can organize winter camps or summer camps to facilitate exchange between schools on foreign languages.I think it is very important to learn each other’s languages. Many Chinese students come to Malaysia, and Malaysian students in Beijing are always on my mind. I think they can become envoys for cultural exchange to improve this relationship in the years to come. Xiamen University is quite famous in Malaysia and has even established a branch school in the country. I hope more well-known universities in Asian countries come to Malaysia to conduct exchange, which will facilitate reciprocal learning.And my fourth suggestion is a radical one. I think UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee should prioritize heritage protection requests jointly submitted by multiple countries. For example, hawker food was jointly proposed by Malaysia and Singapore. Hopefully, the proposal makes the cut. By essentially encouraging countries to focus on their shared heritage, it is hoped that civilizational dialogue could germinate in the process of cultural cooperation.Solid, open and practical proposals for dialogues between civilizations should be favored as nations go about with their developmental paths. Tourism, the environment and education are three areas where commonalities and cooperation could be found and promoted. When countries see the inevitable common features in their respective cultures and civilizations, they will make their baby steps toward a community of shared future for mankind.