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| 2019-09-29 03:15 | |||
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Honorable Mr. Hagos Ghebrehiwet, Head of Economic Affairs of PFDJ, Distinguished Ministers, Respected colleagues of diplomatic corps, Dear compatriots from Chinese enterprises, Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, Kemey Amsikum! First of all, let me extend my warmest welcome to all the guests of tonight's reception! On 1st October 1949, at the rostrum of Tian An Men in Beijing, Chairman Mao Zedong solemnly declared the founding of the People's Republic of China and its Central People's Government. Since then, the Chinese people stood up, embarked on a new journey with the people becoming the masters of the country, and opened a new brilliant epoch of China's long development history! Meanwhile, the founding of the People's Republic of China strengthened the world's peace forces and made historic contribution to the peace, democracy, justice and progress of mankind! Over the past 70 years, China has changed tremendously, from standing up by founding the new China, to becoming more wealthy through reform and opening-up to the world. Now we have gained more strength and prosperity! China experienced profound social and economic transformations. Its aggregate national strength and international influence have made historic breakthroughs. Today's China has entered a new era, and we are ushering in bright prospects for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation! China's GDP reached more than $13.6 trillion (USD) in 2018, increasing by 174 times compared with the early years of new China, which accounts for about 1/6 of the world's economic aggregate and guarantees China's status as the world's second largest economy. China has become the world's largest industrial country, being the top producer of more than 200 industrial products. Last year, China's per capita gross national income (GNI) was close to $10,000, having increased by 135 times compared with that of 1949. During the same period, China's total food crop output has grown from 200 billion Jin to 1.32 trillion Jin. Chinese people's average life expectancy has risen from 35 to 77. Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, Over the past 40 years since reform and opening-up, China has lifted more than 700 million people out of poverty, which contributed over 70% to global poverty alleviation. By 2020, that is next year, China will complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and eradicate poverty, including rural population! From 1976 to 2018, the percentage of China's forest coverage went up from 12.7% to 23%. China's high-speed railway is 30,000 kilometers in length, and its expressway is 143,000 kilometers, both ranking the first in the world. In today's China, we have put in place a nine-year compulsory educational system, covering 93.8% of the right-age population. Since 2012, China's educational expenditures have taken up 4% of its GDP for 7 years in a row. Now China has 519,000 schools of all levels and types, with 276 million students and trainees in all levels and types of education. In 2018, the total number of college graduates reached 8.2 million. In social security, China has built a basic pension insurance system covering more than 900 million people and a basic health insurance system covering over 1.3 billion. In the field of science and technology, for many consecutive years, China has led the world in terms of total number of research and development (R&D) professionals, as well as engineers. It also ranks second in the world in R&D spending. China has made remarkable achievements in manned space flight, lunar exploration, quantum communication, 5G digitization, deep-sea exploration, super-computing and information technology and application. This list can be much longer. But let me summarize it with one sentence only: with economic, social and ecological civilization construction being advanced collaboratively, China's prosperity has been emerging, and the people's aspirations for a beautiful life are coming true. Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, The past 70 years also witnessed China's deep integration into and interactions with the world. Today's China, standing confidently in the world's oriental part, and being a constructor of the world peace, a contributor to global development and a vindicator for the international order, is playing a bigger role in human progress and approaching the center stage in world affairs day by day! Since 1990, China has sent almost 40,000 military personnel on peace-keeping missions, now ranking the first among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. For many consecutive years, China has contributed over 30% of world economic growth, acting as a main stabilizer and propeller for world economic growth. China sticks to multi-lateralism and free trade principle to push forward the building of open world economy, and actively participates in all kinds of activities of international organizations such as the UN. Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, Against the backdrop of spreading unilateralism and protectionism, China has added certainty and stability to the changing and increasingly chaotic world. This has showcased a major country's responsibilities and commitments. President Xi Jinping proposed the building of a shared community of common destiny for mankind and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the core concepts of which have been incorporated into a large number of documents of various international organizations. So far, we have signed 195 BRI cooperation documents with 136 countries and 30 international organizations. The trade of goods and investments among China and participating countries have created new sources of tax incomes and employment opportunities. A report of the World Bank indicates that the full implementation of BRI will get 32 million people out of medium poverty, and will increase the global income by 3%. The BRI has contributed China's wisdom and solution to the global economic governance and growth. Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, How was China able to rise from the ashes and achieve historic feats? In my opinion, basically there are three factors leading to this. The first one lies in the leadership of the CPC. The CPC always regards the pursuit of happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation as its own aspirations and goals. To this end, it has carried out self-revolution and self-improvements, conducted theoretical and practical innovations according to the the changing circumstances. The CPC is committed to deepening reform and promoting law-based governance. All these enable the Party to lead the Chinese people to constantly blaze new trails in the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The second reason lies in socialism with Chinese characteristics. A Chinese saying goes like this, "whether a pair of shoes are suitable or not, only the feet know". Combining Marxism with China's practical circumstances, and learning from various civilizations, China has deepened reform and innovation. Then we embarked on a right path that is suitable for us. That is socialism with Chinese characteristics, which created great motivation for our national development and eradicated poverty and backwardness for the people. The third factor is the Chinese people's strenuous efforts. In January 2017, at the opening ceremony of Davos World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, President Xi Jinping pointed out in his keynote speech, that "China's historic achievements have been made through the Chinese people's sweating, shedding blood, and bearing bitter hardships". This is true. Today's China is fundamentally created with our people's hard work and wisdom, rather than from receiving bounties from others, not even to mention from making profits at others' expense! Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, Maintaining our sovereign and territorial integrity and realizing our national reunification are common aspirations of the whole Chinese nation. Yet certain stubborn forces seeking "Taiwan independence" are still carrying out their separatist plots. Recently in Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, some radical forces and violent activists seek to disturb public order, destroy public facilities and assault and injure police officers, on the excuse of so-called "freedom and democracy". These violent behaviors severely undermined the rule of law and normal social order of Hong Kong, severely damaged the livelihood and interests of Hong Kong residents, and severely challenged the bottom line and principles of "One Country, Two Systems". Any separatist action is making futile effort. The whole Chinese nation will be firmly opposed to it! Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, In the contemporary world, any country cannot exist or develop only by itself. China also cannot make it without support and help from different international cooperation partners. China will unwaveringly develop friendly cooperation with all countries based on the five principles of peaceful co-existence. We will hold high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and win-win results, remain committed to the building of a new type of international relations of mutual respect, fairness and justice, cooperation and win-win solution, and work together with all to build a shared future of common destiny for mankind. In the context of Chinese culture, we take "living in harmony with others" as the most precious principle. China's development will not constitute a threat to any country. To whatever extent China develops, it will never seek hegemony, aggression or expansion. China will always respect the right of different peoples to independently select their development path and maintain international fairness and justice. China is opposed to imposing political wills onto others, opposed to interference in others' internal affairs, and opposed to strong powers unilaterally bullying the weak! Anyone should refrain from forcing or coercing China to sacrifice its core national interests! Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, On 24th of May this year, we celebrated the 26th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Eritrea. Our two countries and peoples have been good friends, good partners and good brothers in the past, and we will still be so in the future! During the past 3 years, as the Chinese ambassador to Eritrea, I have been greatly impressed by the country and the people here. The Eritrean and Chinese peoples enjoy similar societal values such as peace-loving, perseverance, resilience, self-reliance and readiness to help. These common values have been embodied in our past struggles for independence, and now they are continuing to propel our national development! Our two peoples enjoy profound friendship. Although they are far away from each other, their hearts are close and connected. Even before Eritrea achieved independence, both sides set up close relationship! Over the past 26 years, that traditional relationship between China and Eritrea has yielded new outcomes from time to time. Mutual political trust has been consolidated. Bilateral pragmatic cooperation in different sectors has been expanded. People-to-people and cultural exchanges have turned closer day by day. Cultural and sports exchanges, training and scholarship studies have been conducted effectively. Since last year, Eritrea and Ethiopia have made historic peace, and regional states have improved their relations. This has created conducive circumstances for regional peace and stability as well as promotion of economic cooperation. It is well worth noting that Eritrea has played, and is still playing a significant role in making this possible. Eritrea's constructive endeavors have been widely and highly commended by the international community. In the new era, China and Eritrea should make concerted efforts to seize the opportunities of the BRI and implementation of the "Eight Actions" of Beijing Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), jointly push forward our bilateral ties, to make it walk steadily in sustainable manners and reach afar ! Let us set a good example for the building of a closer China-Africa community with a shared future, to better serve the well-being of our peoples! Now, please join me in a toast: To the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, To the friendship between Chinese and Eritrean peoples, To peace and prosperity of the world, To the happiness and good health for all the guests and friends here, Cheers!
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