Dear students from various colleges and universities,

Welcome to the Chinese mission. Mr. Stanley Crossick, Professor Gustaaf Geeraerts and Professor Jing Men, thank you for participating in today's discussion about what China's peaceful development means to Europe and the World.

A month ago, I went to the College of Europe and gave a lecture on China's development over the past century. I took most of time explaining the historical and philosophical rationale of China's choice of peaceful development. I also explained how China's growth was paralleled by a thriving China-EU relationship and why China actively promotes its cooperation with Europe.

To make it brief, as China grew stronger in the past century, particularly the last three decades of reform and opening-up, the country became more tightly connected to the outside world. As this took place, China was determined to play a constructive role in promoting world peace and global prosperity. It took an active part in international affairs and spared no effort to expand cooperation with all partners, including the EU.

What China has delivered to the world stands proof that China's peaceful development, besides benefiting the Chinese nation itself, serves world peace, stability and prosperity. It also brings opportunities to Europe as well.

Talking about China and Europe, I think we benefit a lot from our partnership. Take the European companies for example; they are doing extremely well in the Chinese market. Even today, when the global economy is stumbling under the impact of the financial crisis, European companies are still able to maintain sound business in China.

Last week, Volkswagen China announced that its first quarter sale registered a 6% rise than a year ago, and it managed to sell more than one hundred thousand cars in March alone, making a new record for the company's single-month sale. Last February, China sent a trade and investment promotion delegation to Europe, who signed purchase contracts worth 13 billion US dollars with European companies. Among them, the Hainan Airline spent 1.2 billion on 20 airplane engines made by Rolls Royce.

As I said at the College of Europe, the low-cost high-quality products from China save the European families a lot of money. I'm not sure whether you are right now wearing or using anything China-made, but I am quite sure you must have something at home that is made in China, because I find in a supermarket nearby, almost all the coffee machines, ranging from 40 to 300 Euros, are manufactured in China.

China also benefits a great deal from the complementary cooperation with Europe. The Chinese companies producing those coffee machines provide jobs to the people from countryside and help increase their family income. What is more, as the EU is the biggest technology supplier to China, the technological transfer helps many Chinese enterprises improve their productivity.

China and Europe both suffered the scourge of war several times in the last century. Both highly cherish peace and are committed to maintaining world and regional peace. We have conducted good cooperation dealing with the international hotspot issues. One example would be our recent endeavor to find proper solution to the Iranian nuclear issue through constant consultations and mediations. It's part of our joint effort, together with other members of the international community, to promote peace and stability in the Middle East region.

I wish the above-mentioned facts present you a few dimensions of the comprehensive and strategic partnership between China and the EU, and I hope that you will uncover more in the following discussions.

My fellow students,

Today, I would say you are no less important panelists than our professors. I wish you enjoy the debate, ask whatever questions you have, speak out whatever you think of, and argue with whoever you disagree. I firmly believe that truth is generated from genuine debate. Moreover, I wish you a bumper harvest of ideas, most of all a multi-dimensional and circumstantial understanding of China, a sensible and impartial assessment on China's development, and an in-depth and logical analysis of China's future and its external influence. Finally, I expect the discussions to be wide-ranging and rich in contents, but I hope you'll be able to proceed from the following three basic points.

First, China is open and the Chinese people are open-minded. The Chinese nation has always been open and inclusive to other cultures and civilizations. We have a history of candid exchange and intellectual interaction with other nations and peoples that have different traditions, culture, mentality, values, level of development and social system. Although we are now pursuing our own path of development, and we do achieve a lot on account of our own policies and hard work, we are keen to learn from others, especially from their experiences towards success and progress.

We never deny that there are problems and defects in the process of development, and we welcome constructive suggestions and well-intended criticisms. What we disapprove is willful imposition of ideas or standards without looking at China's own history, culture, system and level of development. I heard that when I visited the College of Europe, some students asked their teacher in private if it was impolite to ask the Chinese ambassador questions about human rights. Such courtesy and respect is appreciated. But all Chinese diplomats including myself would like to exchange views with you in an open, frank and honest manner. We believe such exchange will give you a fresh image of China and more comprehensive view of China's development, including on human rights. Therefore, I suggest that we should have an open, free and thorough discussion today.

Secondly, China always views its relationship with the EU from strategic height and long-term perspective. title="w:Mencius"Mencius said, "Having climbed the East Peak of title="w:Mount Tai"Mount Tai, the title="w:Lu (state)"Lu state seemed small to title="w:Confucius"Confucius. Having climbed to the top of title="w:Mount Tai"Mount Tai, the whole world below seemed small." If we stand high, we will look far and see many more. And we'll be able to identify the correlation of all the points on the landscape. Our vision will become progressive, objective and comprehensive.

China never views its relations with the Europe with a static, one-dimensional or fragmented vision, nor does it handle the individual cases of disputes with a narrow mind. On the contrary, we always pursue a solution that conforms to the overall interest of our relations and take into consideration our cooperation in longer term and boarder sphere.

I'm happy to find that very often, the Europeans who have been to China would have a more objective and balanced view on the China issues and would be less puzzled by some of China's problems. That's not only because they enjoyed their China trip and fell in love with China, but also for the reason that they witnessed in person the growth and change of China, obtained first-hand knowledge about the complexity and diversity of China's challenges, and therefore came to understand that China should and must go its own way in pursuit of development and prosperity. They also understand how important the EU-China cooperation means to both sides.

Thirdly, China's foreign policy focuses on peace and cooperation. China is committed to peaceful development. When we say peace, we mean regional and world peace that is arduously maintained by all parties concerned, we mean peaceful methods for resolving disputes and conflicts. China supports negotiations and consultations. We oppose the use of force or threat to use force. On this point, we share wide consensus with the EU both in theory and in practice.

China is actively promoting cooperation with all other countries. When we say cooperation, we mean cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit and aimed at common development. Today, when everyone in the world talks about interdependence and globalization, there could be no more colonial exploitation. And it is neither ethical nor feasible to sacrifice others' interest for one's own development. China does not pursue self-interest in disregard of others' welfare.

In our cooperation with other countries, including both the developing and the developed, we would give full play to each side's comparative advantages and bring substantial benefit to all parties and peoples involved, and we wish such cooperation contributes to everyone's social and economic development. We believe such cooperation will stand the test of time and will be sustainable. A European friend once told me that he saw China as the stabilizer of international peace and propeller of global economy. In fact, that's exactly the role we are trying to play. We hope that with further growth and progress, China will be able to make greater contributions to world peace and development.

Dear professors, students, friends,

I wish you a pleasant day in the Mission. I believe the panelists present today share my expectation that in the future, you will take an active part in promoting China-EU relations for the sake of common progress and prosperity.Thank you.