BEIJING, Nov. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- On July 1, 2004, Guangzhou won the competition to host the 16th Asian Games. The port city of the ancient "Maritime Silk Road", will once be again entrusted with enhancing ties between China and other Asian nations.
In March 2009, a replica wooden sailing boat, the Cocachin, a symbol of the Guangzhou Asian Games "Maritime Silk Road" concept, set sail from Kuwait; nearly 30 countries and regions along its route welcomed this "ambassador of peace, friendship and Asian culture across the world".
Since their debut in 1951, the Asian Games have witnessed the unyielding desire of Asian people for harmony and cooperation.
They are a weathervane of peace in the region. The "blessing to Guangzhou Asian Games global relay", an Internet activity launched by NetEase, received positive responses from netizens of more than 100 Asian cities in Malaysia, Japan and other Asian nations and regions.
In an Asia inhabited by nearly two-thirds of the world population, the Asian Games have become Asia's largest sports gathering and a "symbol of unity" throughout the region, as Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, president of the Olympic Council of Asia, described them.
A look at some of the themes of previous Asian Games, from the "peace and friendship" of the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games to the "unity, friendship and progress" of the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing and "Asian harmony" at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, show that the host cities have repeatedly promoted a spirit of "harmony, friendship and cooperation".
