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Remarks by H. E. Ambassador Wei Ruixing at the Reception to Celebrate the 66th China's National Day
2015-09-30 15:27

(Radisson Blue Hotel, September 28th, 2015)

H. E. Mr. Algirdas Butkevicius, Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania

Hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers,

Deputy Speaker Algirdas Sysas and Hon Members of the Seimas,

Excellencies and Members of the Diplomatic Corps,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Good evening! My wife and I feel very much delighted and greatly honored to have you here tonight joining us to celebrate China’s National Day. I wish, on behalf of the entire staff of my Mission and in my own name, to extend to all of you our warm welcome and best wishes. I also wish to avail myself of this opportunity to express my deep appreciation and sincere thanks to the friends from all walks of life who have been supporting China’s development and making great efforts to the friendly cooperation between China and Lithuania.

The forthcoming October 1st marks the 66th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China. 66 years are a short while in the Chinese history, but the past 66 years, which have witnessed earthshaking changes in China, were quite unusual for the Chinese people. Since the founding of the new China, particularly since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policies in late 1970s, the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, with their concerted efforts, have successfully transformed a poor, backward, semi-colonial and semi-feudal old China into a new one, and have made remarkable achievements in economic development and social endeavors. With years’ development, China has now become the second largest economy in the world, the largest country in terms of foreign trade and foreign exchange reserve, and the third largest country in terms of direct investment in foreign counties. China’s overall national strength has been constantly enhanced. There have been great improvements in the material and cultural life of the Chinese people, who are now enjoying a greater comfort and an improved quality of daily living.

Last year, China’s economic growth increased by 7.3%, and the total amount of GDP exceeded for the first time $10 trillion; the total volume of foreign trade exceeded $350 billion; 13 million new jobs were created; the average income per capita increased by 6.9%. This year, which is the final year of China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan, has witnessed generally smooth and sound economic and social development in China in the background of slow recovery of world economy. In the first half of this year, China’s GDP growth was 7%, which was a relatively fast and steady rate, making 30% contribution to the world economic growth. The Chinese Government is now pushing on the structural reform, rationalizing the industrial make-up and stimulating the vitality of market and enterprises, so as to maintain a high and medium economic growth rate.

China’s development can not be separated from the world while the development of the world also needs China. China pursues an independent foreign policy of peace, and has been dedicating itself to safeguarding the world peace and promoting the common development. The Chinese Government will firmly follow the road of peaceful development and continue to implement the strategy of opening to the outside world for mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation. China is ready to work together with the rest of the world including Lithuania for peaceful international environment and common prosperity.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War as well as the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the founding of the United Nations, a year of great significance. In 1931, the Chinese people rose up to resist against the Japanese aggression, and through 14 years’ extremely hard and bitter struggles and by suffering great casualties, finally defeated the Japanese aggressors in 1945. The Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, which made indelible historic contributions to the eventual defeat of the Fascist forces worldwide, constituted a glorious page in the history of the World Anti-Fascist War. On September 3rd, China held a series of commemoration activities, including a military parade, to mark the Anniversary, in a bid to memorize the history, honor the martyrs, cherish peace and open up the future together with the people of the world. Leaders or senior representatives from 60 countries and international organizations gathered in Beijing to attend the commemoration activities and witnessed China’s firm resolve to safeguard the world peace.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of China-EU diplomatic relations. China and EU have held a series of activities, including the successful visit to China by President Shultz of European Parliament in March, the 5th China-EU High Level Strategic Dialogue in May in Beijing, and the 3rd Round of China-EU High Level People-to-People Dialogue this month in Brussels. Particularly, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and the EU leaders held the 17th China-EU Summit in Brussels in late June, after which the two sides issued the Joint Statement of the Summit and the Joint Statement on Climate Change, and signed a series of agreements of cooperation in the field of science and technology, intellectual property, regional policy and the Customs. All these have enriched and deepened the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Since the establishment of China-Central and Eastern European Countries Cooperation (“16+1”) over 3 years ago, the leaders of “16+1” have held regular summits, relevant mechanism in the field of trade and economy, culture, education, health, transport, tourism, etc. have been set up, and positive results have been yielded in practical cooperation, particularly some big projects have made substantial progress. The 4th Summit of “16+1” will be held in late November this year in China. The Chinese side looks forward to Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius’ attendance of the Summit and believes that mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Lithuania within “16+1” framework will be further enhanced.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The past 24 years since China and Lithuania established diplomatic relations have witnessed continuous consolidation of our bilateral relations, featuring frequent high-level exchanges, promotion of mutual understanding and mutual trust, fruitful exchange and cooperation in various fields, and coordination in international affairs. Since the beginning of this year, our bilateral relations have made much headway with the joint efforts of both sides. In June, Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli paid a successful official visit to Lithuania, during which he held bilateral talks with Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius and met with H. E. President Dalia Grybauskaitė respectively. The leaders had in-depth exchange of views on further developing the bilateral relations between our two countries, as well as on strengthening China-EU relations, China and Central and Eastern European Countries Cooperation and on international and regional issues of common interest, and reached important consensus, giving a new impetus to our mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields.

This year, our two countries signed the agreement on mutual recognition of academic certificates of higher education and a MOU of cooperation in health sector. The Ministries of Foreign Affairs held political consultations, and the Joint Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation of China and Lithuania held a regular meeting. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (QSIQ) sent a joint working group to have meetings with the Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture and the State Food and Veterinary Services, and two teams of experts paid on-site visits to some facilities, making preparations for export of Lithuanian agricultural products to China. China Merchants Group signed several MOUs of cooperation with relevant Lithuanian government departments and enterprises. The international conference with the theme of “One Belt, One Road---Visions and Opportunities” was held in Klaipeda, attracting more than 100 entrepreneurs of transport and logistics sector, including those from China and Belarus.

Amity of the people holds the key to country-to-country relations. We are pleased to see that a good momentum has been maintained in the people-to-people and cultural exchanges, as well as local exchanges and cooperation between our two countries. Following the successful Baltic Arts Festival in China last year, China held a Cultural Festival in Baltic States this year. The Inner Mongolian Art Troup and the National Peking Opera Theater of China respectively offered splendid performances to the Lithuanian audiences, while Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theater and Lithuanian National Drama Theater visited several Chinese cities and staged wonderful shows. Delegations from Shandong Province, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Lianyungang City of Jiangsu Province and Ningbo City of Zhejiang Province respectively visited Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda to promote the local exchanges and cooperation.

Further development of China-Lithuania friendly and cooperative relations is in conformity with the common interests of the two peoples. Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and Lithuania. The Chinese Government is ready to take this occasion as an opportunity to work with the Lithuanian Government and people to expand and deepen the mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields, so as to ensure the healthy and sound relationship and lift our bilateral ties to a higher level.

In conclusion, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to each and every one of you for joining us at this auspicious occasion, and wish you all an enjoyable evening.

Now I wish to propose a toast:

To the prosperity and the wellbeing of China and Lithuania and the two peoples,

To the further development of China-Lithuania relations,

To the health of all distinguished guests,

Cheers!

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