Honorable President Baradić,
Honorable Members of parliament,
Good Morning! It it my pleasure and honor to meet friends from the Parliament of Croatia "on the cloud". Thank you so much for joining us today when we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). At the outset, I wish to express my heartfelt special thanks to President Baradić and the members of the Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group Croatia-China for your thoughtful arrangements for this event. All the friends present here today are great promoters of China-Croatia bilateral relations and have been committed to China-Croatia friendship for a long time. I am very much looking forward to the conversation with you today.
Now I would like to take this precious opportunity to share with you some of my views on relations of China-Croatia, exchanges of the two legislatures , the 100th anniversary of the CPC and prospect of China.
China and Croatia are long time good friends and partners. Over the past 29 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, our bilateral relations have maintained sound and steady development based on mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and win-win results. Since last year, China and Croatia have stood by each other in times of adversity and fought the epidemic hand in hand. The "diamond-like friendship" between the two countries has been further forged and enhanced. Last month, Yang Jiechi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs paid a successful visit to Croatia. H.E. Yang Jiechi held friendly and fruitful meetings with Croatian President Zoran Milanović, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. They had in-depth and candid exchanges on China-Croatia relations, China-EU relations and cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries and reached broad consensus, injecting new impetus into the development of China-Croatia and China-EU relations.
Exchanges between the legislative bodies are an important part of China-Croatia relations. In recent years, the legislatures of China and Croatia have maintained close communication and cooperation and played an important role in promoting the development of bilateral relations. In 2019, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković attended the Second China International Import Expo and met with Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, which enhanced mutual understanding and trust between the two sides. During the meeting between Speaker Gordan Jandroković and H.E. Yang Jiechi last month, both sides expressed willingness to continuously promote bilateral relations and friendship between the two peoples through strengthening parliamentary cooperation and other means. At the very beginning of the establishment of the friendship group in the new Croatian parliament, I had a phone call with President Baradić to extend congratulations. We hope that the group will play more constructive and positive role in promoting exchanges between the legislatures of our two countries and enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.
Members of Parliament,
The century of changes in the world and the global epidemic are overlaying each other. The international situation has reached a new watershed and countries are increasingly interdependent. Although China and Croatia are far apart and have different social systems, they face many common challenges and share broad common interests. The two countries have maintained exchanges of governance experience for a long time, learning from each other , enhanced mutual understanding and created a favorable political atmosphere for cooperation in various fields.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the CPC. Under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people have found a road of socialist democracy that suits China's history and national conditions and meets the needs of contemporary China's social development. The socialist democracy practiced in China is the most extensive and whole-process democracy. It embodies the will of the people, accords with China's national conditions and is supported by the people. China has no intention to export its model , but we will steadfastly and firmly stick to the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. A peaceful world should accommodate diverse civilizations, and a stable order should contain different systems. China hopes to continue to strengthen friendly exchanges with Croatia's government, legislature and political parties and enhance exchanges on governance so as to better serve the two peoples.
Members of Parliament,
The changing seasons mark the passing tie. Over the past 100 years, under the leadership of the CPC, China has achieved many miracles including long- term rapid economic growth, long-term social stability and peaceful rise rarely seen in the world, which have made great contribution to the world peace, stability and prosperity. In just a few decades, China has completed the process of industrialization that took Western developed countries several hundred years to complete. It has become the world's second largest economy and built the world's most comprehensive modern industrial system. China has the world's largest 5G mobile network and high-speed railway network. The Chinese people's support for their government and the CPC has always been the highest in the world, reaching over 90 percent. With the support of the people, the CPC has grown from a small party with more than 50 members to the largest ruling party in the world with more than 91 million members. More and more people in the world pay close attention to and study the CPC, hoping to decode the success of this century-old party.
The prosperity of the government lies in the obedience of the people's will, and the abolition of the government depends on the opposition of the people's will. The history of the CPC is a history of striving for the happiness of the people and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The living standards of the Chinese people have continued to improve. The middle-income group now exceeds 400 million. China has built the world's largest social security system, with basic medical insurance covering more than 1.3 billion people and basic old-age insurance covering nearly 1 billion people. The average life expectancy of Chinese citizens has risen from 35 years when the People's Republic of China was founded to 77.3 years now. 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty, and the arduous task of eliminating absolute poverty has been accomplished. In the fight against COVID-19, the CPC has been at the forefront, with more than 39 million Party members fighting on the front line and more than 13 million Party members participating in volunteer service activities. China treats all babies born more than 30 hours old and the elderly over 100 years old equally and provides free medical treatment. The CPC, which is committed to doing everything for the people and relying on the people in all its activities, has won the broadest support and advocacy of the Chinese people.
Members of parliament,
The CPC is the very choice of the Chinese People and it is a party that strives not only for the happiness of the Chinese people but also for the progress of mankind. The CPC and the Chinese people have come a long way from suffering and are fully aware of the value of peace and development. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China has never initiated war or conflict, nor occupied an inch of other countries' land. It is the only country in the world that has written peaceful development into its Constitution. Some people believe that a strong country is bound to seek hegemony, but China has accumulated thousands of years of historical wisdom that hegemony is bound to decline. We are committed to the equality of all countries, big or small, rich or poor, strong or weak. We respect the right of people of all countries to independently choose their development paths and oppose the use of the strong to bully the weak or to seek supremacy. No matter in what stage China has developed, China will never seek hegemony,will never bully others and will never seek power politics. China has always been and will always be a force for peace, development and progress.
Looking into the future, no matter how the international landscape may shift, China will always stay on the right side of history, build world peace, contribute to global development, uphold the international order, and make greater contribution to the common well-being of mankind and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. Based on the new stage of development and the new concept of development, China will actively build a new development pattern featuring domestic cycles as the mainstay and mutually reinforcing domestic and international cycles to meet the people's ever growing need for better life by gradually solving the problems of unbalanced and inadequate development. All these will also provide new opportunities for the development of Croatia and other countries in the world.
Members of parliament,
After 29 years of development, China-Croatia relations have reached a new starting point. Next year, we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries. Both sides should take this opportunity to make the top-level design of the relations between the two countries, overcome the pandemic outbreak impact, deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields of construction of infrastructure, science and technology innovation, green energy, agriculture, tourism, health and sports, implement the results of "One Belt and One Road "construction, the China-Central and Eastern European Countries Summit, continuously explore and expand converging interests between the two countries, building more bridges of connectivity and common prosperity.
To promote greater development of China-Croatia and China-EU relations for the benefit of the people of both sides requires the care and support of people from all sectors of society, including all members of parliament present here today. Let us work together to upgrade China-Croatia and China-EU relations to a new level, boost cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries, and make new contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind and jointly achieving common development.I am confident with our joint efforts , China and Croatia relations will enjoy more shining and broad prospect, Both countries and both peoples will enjoy better lives !
Thank you!