BEIJING - "We need to encourage different civilizations to respect each other and live together in harmony while promoting their exchanges and mutual learning as a bridge of friendship among peoples, a driving force behind human society, and a strong bond for world peace," Chinese President Xi Jinping said in 2014 at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris.

Seven years have passed, but Xi's vision of civilization featuring diversity, equality and inclusiveness in his UNESCO keynote speech is still reverberating in a world that is grappling with the raging COVID-19 pandemic, as well as global political and socio-economic challenges.