Building bridges for peace and understanding

The Chinese entrepreneur considered in the same spirit as Western business leaders such as Donald Trump, Anthony Robbins and Richard Branson will be the keynote speaker at a forum at Southern Cross University’s Gold Coast campus tomorrow evening (Thursday, April 12).

Guo yu (Alex) Wang will speak at the ‘Peace Forum: Building Bridges for Peace’ which is being hosted by the Centre for Peace and Social Justice at SCU, from 6pm. A Chinese trade delegation comprising bankers and industrialists will also attend.

“He is held in high esteem in China and there is even a quote by him that has been placed on The Great Wall of China at Ju Yong Guan in honour of his achievements,” said forum organiser Professor Bee Chen Goh from the University’s School of Law and Justice and co-director of the Centre for Peace and Social Justice.

“The quote was ‘Resource integration and exchanging value to create unlimited possibilities’. We are delighted that Mr Wang will speak at the forum and we look forward to meeting a number of significant business people from China as well.”

Mr Wang was born in rural China to a working class family and left home as a teenager to seek work. He was in the military for seven years where he learned the importance of team work, self-discipline and leadership.

He developed an attitude of cooperation and the skill to integrate resources to achieve higher goals and while these early beginnings were tough it helped build a foundation that led to him developing the current business resource integration platforms so well known in China.

Mr Wang is now the chairman of Global Sources in China and its subsidiary in Australia, Global Business Resources, based at the Gold Coast, as well as his highly successful architecture and interior design company Shanghai Jin Xin, based in Shanghai. His companies turn over in excess of $200 million annually.

He has won numerous awards and has been listed among China’s top 10 entrepreneurs of brand building and in China’s top 100 stars of their own businesses in 2009. Mr Wang is also the author of Break Through and Create.

Professor Goh said this peace forum was not a traditionally–themed peace event.

“In our globalised world, it is important to build bridges across our multicultural communities,” she said.

“Promoting inter-cultural understanding, enhancing inter-communal relationships and advancing peace and harmony are our noble responsibilities as world citizens. Engaging in endeavours in business and commerce, particularly through resource integration, is a way in which we can play a part in building bridges for peace for the global community.”

The forum will be held at Room 1.29 at the Gold Coast campus. The event is free and open to the public. To book your spot email bgoh@scu.edu.au

Photo: Alex Wang