Int'l attendees highlight mutual learning among civilizations at Shanghai conference

Global scholars attending the recently-concluded World Conference on China Studies in Shanghai have highlighted the importance of promoting mutual learning among civilizations, while stressing China's perspective on development offers valuable lessons for the international community to learn from.

The second edition of the World Conference on China Studies wrapped up on Wednesday after gathering around 500 guests from over 50 countries and regions around the world.

Themed "Historical and Contemporary China: A Global Perspective", the two-day conference featured various forums, activities and an exhibition focused on urban civilization.

Hundreds of international experts, researchers and scholars engaged in in-depth discussions, with many attendees pleased to have the opportunity to exchange views and share ideas with their peers.

"Staging an event like this, which is bringing together some 500 scholars from all over the world, is a fantastic opportunity not just to discuss China's place in the world and China's development, but also to interact amongst the scholarly community, which studies global politics today," said Richard Sakwa, Emeritus Professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent.

"I think it's a great moment in history to be speaking about the global perspectives and the Chinese perspective on how the world is developing and how the current situation in general is. So I think this is a great opportunity to keep doing this mutual understanding between civilizations," said Lucia Neirotti, cooperation executive of Uruguay's National Agency for Research and Innovation.

The conference also called for deepening studies and broadening knowledge about China across a wide array of topics including history, society, and culture, while the country's development achievements were also of particular interest to a number of attendees.

Some noted China's modernization journey offers valuable insights for the development of their own countries, highlighting opportunities for international cooperation in fields like manufacturing, trade and technology.

"For me as a designer, if we could learn to engineer our products in line with Chinese manufacturing processes, that allows us to engineer products that are going to be functional, aesthetic, and also cost effective. So the more understanding there is between China and Ireland in the manufacturing sector, the higher quality products that will be produced and distributed globally," said Finn O'Driscoll, an industrial design engineer from Ireland.

Int'l attendees highlight mutual learning among civilizations at Shanghai conference

Chinese tech giant ByteDance, parent company of the popular short-video app TikTok, has signed binding agreements to divest the app's most assets in the United States and form a joint venture with a group of mostly American investors, in a crucial step toward avoiding a U.S. government ban, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a memo sent to the company staff on Thursday.

Under the agreements, ByteDance will retain 19.9 percent of the business, while U.S. cloud computing giant Oracle, private equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX will each hold 15 percent. The remaining 30.1 percent will be held by affiliates of ByteDance's existing investors.

The move follows U.S. President Donald Trump's order in September this year to delay the enforcement of a law that would ban TikTok unless it was sold.

Although the transaction will not be complete until Jan 22, 2026, the move enables TikTok, used by more than 170 million Americans, to continue operating in the United States.

In April 2024, during former President Joe Biden's administration, the U.S. Congress passed a law to ban TikTok over what it called national security concerns, unless the app was sold.

The law was set to go into effect on Jan 20 this year, but was pushed back multiple times by Trump, while his administration worked toward a deal to transfer ownership.

TikTok parent ByteDance signs deal to sell US operations in joint venture move