On September 3, 2026, the Second Global Business Summit on Belt and Road InfrastructureInvestment to Accelerate the SDGs was held in Singapore. Featured as a landmark addition to the Summit's program, the roundtable forum themed "Collaborative Development of Maritime Silk Road Culture and Flourishing of World Civilizations" was held. Grounded in the Belt and Road Initiative's core principle of connectivity, the forum focused on the preservation and innovation of Maritime Silk Road culture heritage and cross-culture dialogue and mutual learning among civilizations. Through keynote speeches and a high-level roundtable dialogue, participants discussed the contemporary value of Maritime Silk Road culture and explored approaches and practical mechanisms for the collaborative development and dissemination of diverse cultures — supporting closer people-to-people ties and deeper cultural understanding among countries along the Belt and Road and advancing the inclusive coexistence and flourishing of diverse civilizations worldwide. Chairperson Zhao Yifang of Huace Film & TV noted in her keynote address that culture serves as the invisible infrastructure of the Belt and Road Initiative. Citing the historical drama "Swords Into Plowshares" as an example, she explained that the series draws on the peaceful history of the Wuyue Kingdom, which ceded its territory to the Song Dynasty in order to preserve peace and protect its people. The wisdom of peace it conveys resonates with the United Nations' vision of peace and sustainable development. Going global with culture, she said, is not a one-way export but a search for the greatest common denominator of emotion among different civilizations — putting into practice the core principle of Chinese civilization: harmony in diversity. She shared that Huace Film & TV is driving cross-sector collaboration between film/TV IP and cultural heritage, partnering with the Zhejiang Provincial Museum to present the exhibition "The Reign of Peace, Harmony Under Heaven". The company is also expanding into AI technology and vocational education for the film and television industry. In July this year, Huace joined the United Nations Global Compact, becoming the first mainland Chinese film and television enterprise to do so, with the aim of leveraging the platform to facilitate the flow of capital, talent, and creativity among Belt and Road partner countries — strengthening cultural connectivity and promoting mutual learning among civilizations. The roundtable was moderated by Ms. Linda Painan, Founder and Chair of the Global Economic Development Alliance. The panelists were: Mr. Andi Rahim, Secretary-General of the UN Global Compact Network Indonesia (IGCN); Ms. Fu Xiaoping, Executive President of Fujian Chunlun Group; Ms. Wang Yan, Vice President of the Hangzhou Drama Center at Huace Film & TV Group and Producer of "Swords Into Plowshares"; and Mr. Xu Jiaxing, International Affairs Director of Cosmo Looper. During the roundtable discussion, panelists drew on their professional expertise and first-hand experience to engage in in-depth discussion on key topics including the opportunities, challenges, institutional mechanisms, innovative pathways, and international cooperation involved in the collaborative development of Maritime Silk Road culture. Through the exchange of diverse perspectives, the panel built consensus and produced a series of industry insights combining theoretical depth with practical value. Mr. Andi Rahim, speaking from a multilateral cooperation perspective, pointed out that global cultural exchange must guard against the tensions created by uneven development. If commercial interests are pursued alone while fairness among civilizations is neglected, outcomes risk sliding into a zero-sum game. He proposed a "triple connectivity" framework for multilateral cultural cooperation: first, hard connectivity — enabling the cross-border flow of infrastructure and data; second, soft connectivity — advancing the alignment and collaboration of platforms and institutions across countries; and third, people-to-people connectivity — mutual understanding at the cultural level, which is also the most enduring form of connection. The core of multilateral cooperation, he emphasized, lies in finding consensus acceptable to all parties, rather than requiring one side to compromise toward the other.Fu Xiaoping, Executive President of Fujian Chunlun Group, noted that for the tea industry to go global, culture must lead the way — enterprises need to build strong cultural confidence in their own heritage while also respecting the cultural differences of overseas markets, so that products can truly take root locally. She introduced a progressive concept of "harmony" in tea culture, moving from the individual to the global: tea appreciated alone embodies harmony and tranquility; between two people, harmony and respect; within a family, harmony and togetherness; across a nation, harmony and unity; and across the world, harmony and peace. Tea, she said, can serve as a medium connecting diverse cultures worldwide.In its production and business practices, Fujian Chunlun Group has actively developed carbon-sink tea gardens and recycled processing waste into derivative products, pursuing a path of sustainable internationalization. Overseas, the company has integrated tea into Michelin-starred dining experiences in France, and partnered with the Confucius Institute in South Africa, passing on tea craftsmanship to empower local youth entrepreneurship. Drawing on the company's operational experience, Fu Xiaoping placed particular emphasis on the principle that brands going global must put culture first — with special attention to both cultural confidence and respect for local context. Wang Yan, Vice President of Huace Film & TV Group's Hangzhou Drama Center and producer of " Swords Into Plowshares ", drawing on her experience in drama production and overseas distribution, noted that global demand for quality storytelling continues to rise — but the challenge for film and television going abroad is no longer whether to expand internationally, but how to use a universal audiovisual language that enables overseas audiences to truly understand the story and connect with it emotionally. " Swords Into Plowshares " takes "peaceful coexistence" as its core value, moving away from stylized, larger-than-life period drama narratives in favor of a warmer, more grounded portrayal of history. In terms of overseas distribution, the series has been translated into over 20 languages and released across 73 countries and regions, with localized content adaptation and distribution strategies tailored to the characteristics of audiences in different regions.Mr. Xu Jiaxing, Director of International Affairs of Cosmo Looper, shared insights on bringing intangible cultural heritage and traditional culture to global audiences. He noted that Silk Road goods like silk, porcelain, and tea carried diverse civilizations' aesthetics, beliefs, and worldviews — and that cultural communication must reject didacticism in favor of replicable, sustainable models.Citing Dunhuang as a case study, he described culture as being in constant collision and renewal, with Dunhuang as a microcosm of millennia of civilizational exchange. He argued that international communication of traditional culture shouldn't be confined to static exhibitions, but should tap local cultural roots, connect with shared global sustainability issues, and use material media to bridge past and present — citing his team's installation The Folding of Time, made from recycled materials from the Dunhuang site, as an example of making culture tangible. He added that individual cultural innovation projects can scale by drawing on the strength of social organizations.Closing the forum, moderator Ms. Linda Painan summarized the discussion with three key words: understanding, trust, and cooperation. She noted that the spirit of the Maritime Silk Road is not about one civilization replacing another, but about civilizations enriching one another and achieving mutual success through their differences. True globalization is not simply about "going out," but about "going in" — engaging deeply with local markets, communities, and mindsets to earn genuine trust. She called on governments, international organizations, cultural institutions, and industry to work together to continuously build channels for civilizational dialogue and forge real, meaningful connections of value. The inheritance, innovation, and collaborative development of Maritime Silk Road culture are, at their core, a two-way engagement among the world's diverse civilizations — one of mutual learning and shared flourishing, not the one-way export of a single culture. Grounded in the Belt and Road Initiative's core principle of connectivity, deepening cross-sector, cross- regional, and cross-civilizational cultural cooperation can effectively break down barriers between civilizations, build consensus for development, and strengthen the foundation of people-to-people understanding. Going forward, all parties will treat this roundtable at the Singapore Summit as a new starting point, continuing to deepen resource sharing, joint industry development, and cultural collaboration — building a platform for ongoing civilizational dialogue that fosters the diverse, inclusive, and symbiotic flourishing of the world's civilizations, and injects deep and lasting cultural momentum into the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative and the implementation of the global sustainable development agenda.
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