Foreign experts hail Xi's congratulatory letter to 44th session of World Heritage Committee

Aerial photo taken on July 16, 2021 shows the Fuzhou Strait International Conference & Exhibition Center, the main venue for the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO, in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province. (Xinhua/Song Weiwei)

China has strived to protect cultural and natural heritage, provided inspiration for other countries, and contributed to protecting the world's cultural and natural heritage and facilitating dialogues between civilizations, experts and scholars have said.

BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Experts and scholars across the world have spoken highly of Chinese President Xi Jinping's congratulatory letter to the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO, which opened Friday in Fuzhou, capital of east China's Fujian Province.

The world's cultural and natural heritage is an important outcome of the development of human civilization and natural evolution, and an important vehicle for the exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations, Xi said in the letter.

China has strived to protect cultural and natural heritage, provided inspiration for other countries, and contributed to protecting the world's cultural and natural heritage and facilitating dialogues between civilizations, experts and scholars have said.

"I am delighted that President Xi Jinping is taking this issue head on," said Lyazid Benhami, vice president of the Paris Association of French-Chinese Friendship, noting that China is stepping up efforts in the protection and restoration of heritage.

Guests attend the opening ceremony of the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, July 16, 2021. (Xinhua/Song Weiwei)

Protecting and restoring temples and monuments in China also means making the heritages available to all mankind, said Benhami, also founder of Mulan Road, a communication agency specialized in France-China relations. "The historical and cultural heritage promotes exchanges through discovery, and facilitates the understanding of our different civilizations."

Recalling his working trip to China's Shanxi Province in 2013, Benhami said he has visited ancient pagodas, caves and statues there, and was "amazed by the importance and the quality of the ancient Chinese heritage," which also reflected China's efforts in heritage protection.

Balmukunda Regmi, chairman of Nepal China Social Relation Academy, said that China has made exemplary achievements in the conservation, inheritance and utilization of cultural and natural heritage.

In his view, China "understands the heritages as precious legacy from the nature and predecessors." He recalled that while supporting Nepal in post-2015 earthquake renovations of cultural heritage, Chinese technicians have provided technical trainings to Nepali workers.

Artists perform at the opening ceremony of the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, July 16, 2021. (Xinhua/Song Weiwei)

Noting "China is pioneering creation of a community with shared future for humanity," Regmi said he expects stronger cooperation and exchanges between Nepal and China in various fields, including in heritage protection.

Hamed Vafaei, head of the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Tehran, said that what Xi advocated to "well protect, inherit and make good use of" the world's cultural and natural heritage shows that China has paid great attention to a sustainable and all-round development.

Xi emphasized strengthening exchanges and cooperation, which is important to the protection of the world's heritage, Vafaei added.