Synopsis: IRIC director-general Kin Phea tells the 2026 Hehe Culture Forum in China that lasting harmony requires justice, respect for international law, and tangible benefits for ordinary people.

Lasting world peace must be anchored in justice, national sovereignty and tangible benefits for ordinary citizens rather than the interests of powerful states, a leading Cambodian scholar told an international forum in China.

Scholars, government officials, diplomats and cultural representatives from several countries attended the 2026 Hehe Culture Forum in Tiantai, Zhejiang province. The three-day event ended yesterday.

Speaking at the forum, Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute of Cambodia, said dialogue and cooperation must be accompanied by respect for international law and the legitimate rights of all countries.

Drawing on Cambodia’s experience of war and peacebuilding, he said he visited communities affected by armed conflict along the Cambodia-Thailand border earlier this month, where families faced uncertainty over returning home, children’s education and livelihoods.

“I was reminded that for ordinary people, peace is not an abstract concept. It is the ability to sleep without fear, send children to school and plan for tomorrow,” he said.

Phea said the Chinese philosophy of Hehe, which promotes harmony while respecting differences, offered lessons for countries seeking peaceful coexistence. He said Cambodia’s history showed how cultural exchanges could strengthen national identity, citing Angkor as evidence of how different influences transformed into a distinctive Khmer civilisation.

“No civilisation possesses all the answers, and no nation, however powerful, should assume that its history gives it the right to determine another nation’s future,” he said.

He said harmony must be based on justice rather than the absence of conflict, adding that peace required institutions, restraint, reconciliation and economic opportunities.

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