On 22 September 2024, Chinese Ambassador to Sweden Cui Aimin attended the Reception for Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China and delievered remarks. The full text is as follows:
Your Excellency Mr. Benjamin Dousa, Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Sweden,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,
Good afternoon!
Welcome to the reception for celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. On behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Sweden, I wish to extend our warm welcome to all the guests present here today, and our sincere appreciation to friends from all walks of life who have long cared for and supported the development of China-Sweden relations.
Over the past 75 years, the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, have continuously forged ahead and realized the two major miracles of fast economic development and long-term social stability. In particular, after entering the new era, the Chinese nation has achieved the great transformation from standing up and growing prosperous to becoming strong, succeeded in advancing and expanding Chinese modernization, created a new form of human advancement, and embarked on a new journey toward building a modern socialist country in all respects.
China has maintained stability and unity through its social governance. We have taken active steps to develop whole-process people’s democracy to ensure that people manage state affairs through various channels and in various ways in accordance with the law. We have vigorously promoted ethnic unity and progress, and delivered a happy life for people of all ethnic groups. We are committed to exercising law-based governance on all fronts and improving the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. We are committed to the Chinese path of human rights development, and have actively participated in global human rights governance.
China’s economic development has scored achievements that capture the attention of the world. China’s total economic output has risen from 67.9 billion yuan when New China was founded to nearly 126 trillion yuan in 2023, making China the second largest economy in the world. China has contributed over 30% to world economic growth for many years in a row. We have promoted high-quality development, boosted our strength in science and technology, and made solid advances in green development. China has made important contributions to global scientific and technological innovation as well as climate governance.
Chinese people’s living standards have been significantly improved. China’s per capita GDP has grown from 119 yuan when New China was founded to over 89,000 yuan last year. With a people-centered philosophy of development, we have ended absolute poverty once and for all, completed the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, made solid progress toward prosperity for all, and built the largest education and social security system in the world. People’s sense of fulfillment, happiness and security has been greatly enhanced.
China has made significant contributions to world peace and development. China stays committed to the independent foreign policy of peace. It has actively expanded global partnerships based on equality, openness and cooperation, and is a staunch force for peace, stability and progress of the world. The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence proposed by China have become universally recognized norms of international relations. The vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, put forward by President Xi Jinping, has lit up humanity’s path of social development. The Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative have provided China’s wisdom and solutions to improve global governance. These concrete actions have demonstrated China’s sense of duty as a major, responsible country.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,
Recently, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was successfully held. A new blueprint has been drawn for further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization. It is thus an epoch-making milestone. More than 300 important reform tasks were put forward at the plenary session and they shall be completed by 2029 when the People’s Republic of China celebrates its 80th anniversary. This will provide a solid underpinning for advancing Chinese modernization. It will also offer more new opportunities for China and other countries to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and pursue common development. In the first half of this year, China’s GDP grew by 5%, its newly-established foreign-funded enterprises increased by 14.2% year-on-year, and it has attracted 500 billion yuan in foreign investment, all of which reflect the strong confidence of the international community in China’s development prospects. China will remain firm in deepening reform, promote high-quality development with active efforts, foster new quality productive forces at a faster pace, and pursue high-standard, institutional opening up, so as to make greater contributions to world development and prosperity.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,
Over the past 74 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Sweden, relations between our two countries have been developing steadily. Significant outcomes have been achieved in our cooperation across the board. We have been each other’s largest trading partner in the Nordic region and in Asia respectively for many consecutive years. Fruitful outcomes have kept emerging in many areas of practical cooperation, including scientific and technological innovation, green and low-carbon development as well as sustainable development. Rich and colorful exchange events have been held in such areas as culture, education and sports. This has provided important impetus for economic growth and green transition, enhanced the mutual understanding and friendship between our two sides, and improved the well-being of our two peoples. China’s high-quality development and high-standard opening up will bring new opportunities for all countries, including Sweden. The Chinese side is ready to work with the Swedish side to continue exploring the potential for cooperation, sharing development dividends, putting our ideas into actions, turning our vision into reality, and breaking new ground in China-Sweden mutually beneficial cooperation.
Coming up next, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra that has travelled from afar will present a grand performance with their exquisite skills. Let’s immerse ourselves in a symphony that harmoniously blends the beauty of eastern and western civilizations, celebrate the 75th birthday of the People’s Republic of China, and express our best wishes for a brighter future of China-Sweden relations!
Thank you!