Your Honorable Vice-Chancellor Dato Paduka Dr Hj Ismail,

Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Dear Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Xiawu hao! Good afternoon!

I am very delighted to attend the Opening Ceremony of the first Chinese Language and Culture Week, which is jointly organized by the Language Centre of Universiti Brunei Darussalam and the Chinese Embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan.

China is an ancient civilization with a history of 5,000 years. Accommodation, harmony and peace are the major characteristics of the Chinese civilization, whereas harmony is the most cherished philosophy among all the tenets of the Chinese national ideology.

Harmony means peace. From ancient times, the Chinese culture has been emphasizing that people should be friendly toward each other and countries should live side by side in peace and do not resort to war or violence. Harmony also allows differences. Musical instruments, having different tones and pitches, produce pleasant melodies when working together. A society, a country and the world also needs harmony for common development and tolerates difference for complementarity.

China's history of friendly exchanges with the outside world has been exemplifying her consistent practice of befriending her neighbors, respecting differences and pursuing harmony. More than 2,000 years ago, China had exchanges of envoys, trade in commodities and cultural interactions with her neighboring countries. The westward trip by Envoy Zhang Qian of the Han Dynasty had chartered out a "Silk Road" across the Euro-Asia continent. 600 years ago, Zheng He, the great navigator of the Ming Dynasty, led the then largest fleet in the world to the "Western Seas" for seven times, reaching out to more than 30 countries and regions across Asia and Africa, including Boni which is now Brunei Darussalam. The wreckage of Zheng He's vessels and the chinaware fragments have been unearthed in Brunei's offshore areas and are now exhibited at Brunei Museum. Jalan Ong Sum Ping, named after a general of Zheng He, in Bandar Seri Begawan, and the Tomb of Boni King Maharaja Karna in Nanjing of China also bear witness to the traditional and harmonious friendship between our two countries and peoples.

What Zheng He and other Chinese envoys brought to the outside world was peace and civilization, which fully reflected the good faith of the Chinese people in forging friendship with foreign countries and their peoples.

Now, the world is witnessing a new round of such a friendly intercommunication, that is the Torch Relay for Beijing Olympics-the Journey of Harmony. China's passion for the Olympics is not an alleged thirst for prominence and recognition. We embrace it because the ideals and values of the Olympic Games are akin to ours. Mankind's eternal pursuit of peace, friendship and harmony is what the Olympic flame represents and is at the very heart of the Chinese civilization.

However, there are some people or forces attempting to politicize and sabotage this Journey of Harmony-the Dalai Lama clique and its supporters. As is known to all, the Lhasa incident which took place on March 14 of this year has drawn worldwide attention. Now the facts have proved that the incident was premeditated, organized and masterminded by the Dalai clique, and is a vital part of the "Tibetan People's Uprising Movement" organized by the clique and the "Tibetan Youth Congress". Their vicious intention was to undermine the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games and split Tibet from the motherland. This violent and criminal act is a betrayal to the Olympic Charter and a blaspheme to the Olympic spirit. The Dalai clique's attempts to seek "Tibet independence" through disruption of Beijing Olympics are both shameful and doomed to failure. We firmly believe that the Beijing Olympics will score a great success.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Nowadays, globalization is advancing vigorously and people of all nations have had their destinies more closely intertwined. Therefore, exchange and dialogue among civilizations have become more important and urgent than ever before. It is highly necessary for all civilizations to deeply understand and modestly learn from each other. I hope this Chinese Language and Culture Week will provide the Bruneian people with an opportunity to better understand the profound and brilliant culture of China.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude to Universiti Brunei Darussalam for its considerate arrangements and valuable cooperation. I would also like to thank Hua Ho Department Store, First Emporium Department Store and Sunlit Company for their kind support with which we have been able to visualize this Chinese Language and Culture Week.

I wish this event a complete success!

Xiexie! Terima kasih!