Your Excellency Jan Hoogmartens, Head of Cabinet of the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Your Excellency Niclas Kvarnström, Managing Director for Asia and Pacific of the European External Action Service,

Your Excellency Zhu Jing, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the People’s Republic of China to the European Union,

Excellencies,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear friends,

Good evening! Bonsoir! Goedenavont! Guten Abend! 大家晚上好！

很高兴邀请大家今晚和我们一道共同庆祝中华人民共和国成立75周年。I’m delighted to welcome you here this evening to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. As Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Kingdom of Belgium, I would like to extend warm greetings and heartfelt thanks to friends from across the sectors who have cared for and supported China’s development and China-Belgium friendship over the years and decades.

Over the past 75 years, under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Chinese people have worked hard together, made remarkable development achievements and opened a spectacular chapter of Chinese modernization. China has become the world’s second largest economy, biggest trading and manufacturing nation in goods and strongest growth engine and green development engine in terms of EVs, wind and solar power.

China has attracted investment from over 1.2 million foreign investors in cumulative terms, and built the biggest high-speed railway network and express highway network on the planet.

We have, once and for all, resolved the problem of absolute poverty in China, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, and built the largest education, social security, and healthcare systems in the world, ensuring that the gains of modernization benefit all our people fairly.

China is committed to pursuing peaceful development, carrying out friendly cooperation with all countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and building a community with a shared future for humankind.

Not long ago, the 20th CPC Central Committee held its third plenary session, making systemic planning for further deepening opening up comprehensively and advancing Chinese modernization. A clear message was sent out at the plenum: China will build a high-standard socialist market economy, promote high-quality development, and pursue high-standard opening up.

With Chinese modernization, China will continue to bring more stability and certainty to an increasingly unstable and uncertain world and create vast market space and valuable cooperation opportunities for all countries.

Belgium was among the first countries to participate in China’s reform and opening up, and has benefited together with China immensely along the process. As China embarks on a new journey of further deepening reform comprehensively and advancing Chinese modernization, China and Belgium will have more converging interests and embrace broader cooperation prospects. We welcome more Belgian businesses to invest and do business in China, and vice versa for Chinese businesses, opening up new horizons for practical cooperation between our two countries.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear friends,

This year marks the tenth anniversary of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s historic state visit to Belgium and the establishment of China-Belgium all-round partnership of friendly cooperation.

In less than four months since my arrival here, I have been impressed by some of the highlights of China-Belgium relations in 2024.

In 2024, we have seen important high-level exchanges between China and Belgium. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo paid an official visit to China. Chinese Vice Premiers Ding Xuexiang and Zhang Guoqing came to Belgium respectively for important meetings and met with the Belgian leader.

In 2024, China-Belgium practical cooperation has moved forward steadily. In the first eight months of this year, China-Belgium trade exceeded 23 billion euros. A growing number of high-quality agri-food products have been shipped from Belgian farms to the dining tables of Chinese customers. The Cainiao Liège eHub and Cosco Shipping (Port) Zeebrugge Terminal have continued to serve as important bridges and logistic hubs to link up China with Belgium and Europe at large.  

In 2024, China-Belgium cultural and people-to-people exchanges have continued to deepen. At the beginning of this month, in the 23rd “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students, Benjamin Herman (何杰明) from Ghent University competed with outstanding contestants from 138 countries and proudly won the global champion.

Since the beginning of this year, China’s visa-free policy for Belgian citizens has been implemented smoothly, and the number of direct passenger flights between our two countries has increased to 17 a week, lending a fresh impetus to stronger mutual understanding between our two peoples.

Many of you may have strolled through our cultural exhibits just now. This is exactly what the charm of cultural diversity is all about. To quote from Mencius, a great philosopher in ancient China, “it is only natural for things to be different”.

Given the different histories, cultures and social systems of China and Belgium, it is only natural for us to have different views on some matters. When the winds of change blow, we’d better build more bridges and windmills, not walls. We’d all be better off having more communication and dialogues, meeting the challenges together rather than fighting among ourselves as individual human beings and individual nations.  

As long as we respect each other and pursue mutual benefits, we will be able to draw on each other’s strength and thrive together, and build a brighter future for the China-Belgium all-round partnership of friendly cooperation.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends,

Though I cannot compete with Benjamin Herman, the new global Chinese proficiency champion from Belgium, for either French or Flemish, I dare to challenge him with my Chinese skills in nature. Now please allow me to address my fellow countrymen and countrywomen in Chinese.

在比华人华侨、中资机构和留学生是连接中比两国和两国人民的桥梁和纽带，为促进彼此相互了解、友好合作、发展进步作出了积极贡献。祖国和祖籍国的政府和亲人们始终牵挂着你们。借此机会，我要对大家道一声国庆节快乐。使馆会继续秉持“以人为本，外交为民”理念，为大家在比工作、生活、旅居提供更热心、更贴心、更暖心的服务保障。

To conclude, I wish to say Happy Birthday to our great motherland of China and wish her prosperity and our people happiness.

I wish China-Belgium friendship a promising and prosperous future.

I wish all of our distinguished guests good health and every success.

Thank you.