From October 15 to 17, organized by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries(CPAFFC), Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government of the UK , the British Embassy to China and hosted by Dalian Municipal Government, the 4th China-UK Regional Leaders Summit is held in Dalian, Liaoning Province. Over 200 Chinese and British delegates including Mr Song Jingwu Vice President of the CPAFFC, Mr Tan Zuojun Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Liaoning Provincial Committee and Party Secretary of Dalian, Mr Chen Lvping Vice Governor of Liaoning Province , Mr Xiao Yi Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Jiangxi Provincial Committee and Party Secretary of Fuzhou, Mr David Sterling Head of Civil Service of Northern Ireland, Dame Barbara Woodward British Ambassador to China, Ms Christina Scott Minister & Deputy Head of the British Mission to China, Ms Eva Bolander Lord Provost of Glasgow and Mr Dan Javis MP Mayor of Sheffield Region attended the summit. Under the theme Together Creating the Golden Era with a Global Vision, Chinese and British delegates shared experiences in fields of Green Innovative and SMEs, Aging Population and Elderly Health-care, Exchanges and Cooperation between Chinese and British Universities as well as Vocational Education Serves Local Development and had site visit to the Dalian Area of China(Liaoning) Free Trade Zone and Dalian Donggang Business District. Witnessed by Chinese and British VIPs, 7 MOUs in trade and investment, higher education，vocational training，science and technology as well as sports exchanges have been signed during this summit between China and British regions. Launched by the CPAFFC and its UK partner in the frame of the  China-UK High Level People to People Dialogue, the China-UK Regional Leaders Summit is first local cooperation mechanism between  China and the UK which has already been successfully held 3 times.          

The CPAFFC Vice President Ms. Lin Yi met with Mr. Acquino Vimal, the newly-appointed Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) of the Indian Embassy in China on October 16th. Vice President Lin Yi warmly welcomed Mr. Vimal and highly appreciated the substantial support from the Indian Embassy for the past years. She looked forward to collaborating with the Embassy on more people-to-people as well as local governmental exchanges in 2019. Mr. Vimal thanked Ms. Lin for meeting him despite busy schedule. He said that the Embassy greatly values the good collaborative relations with the CPAFFC and put forward many proposals on future cooperation. Ms. Tang Tuimin, Deputy Director General of the Department of Asian and African Affairs was present at the meeting.       Photographed by Jiao Tianjiao  

Mr. Li Xikui, Secretary General of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries(CPAFFC), attended the closing ceremony of 9th Formula Student China on October 13th, and awarded the winners.       China Friendship Foundation for Peace and Development (CFFPD) donated to Xiamen University of Technology and Lushan College of Guangxi University of Science and Technology. Secretary General Li Xikui attended the donation ceremony. He said, the aims of the donation are to train more automobile talents, give college students a lot support in realizing automobile dreams and promote the development of automobile industry. He hoped that this time, these college students take part in the Formula Student China as participants; tomorrow, they would be promoters of automobile industry, and in future, they would be contibutiors of national development. At last, Secretary General Li wished the college students a better result in future. The 9th Formula Student China was donated and developed by the Automobile Talents Development Fund (ATDF) from CFFPD. The aims of this ATDF are to donate and support the training of the Chinese automobile talents and the exchanges and cooperation of China automobile industy with foreign countries.                

On the afternoon of Oct. 12, Vice President Lin Yi met with a good-will delegation from Izmir Province of Turkey, headed by Vice Governor Mr. Cemil Ozgur Onegi. Madam Lin Yi briefed on the work of the CPAFFC, especially on its people-to-people friendly exchanges with Turkey in recent years. She expressed that the CPAFFC would like to set up a platform for promoting relations between local governments and people-to-people friendly exchanges in various areas between China and Turkey. Mr. Cemil Ozgur Onegi and other delegates said that Turkey enjoyed geographical advantage of linking Asian, European and African Continents. Since the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward, the relations between China and Turkey have been positively advanced. Our two countries should enhance contacts in economic and tourist areas. They also expressed willingness to establish contact with the CPAFFC, promoting friendly exchanges between local governments and people from two sides. Mr. Ni Xiaojing, Deputy Consul General in Izmir attended the meeting.      

On October 10th,Vice President Xie Yuan met with U.S. Texas Houston Museum of Holocaust (HMH) delegation in Beijing. Vice President Xie briefed the delegation about the work and function of CPAFFC and said that the history of China-U.S. cooperation during the Second World War should be remembered. CPAFFC would like to strengthen cooperation with HMH and other friendly organizations to pass on traditional China-U.S. friendship and promote sound development of our bilateral relationship. Chairman of board of HMH Benjamin Warren said that HMH will expand next year and step up cooperation with its Chinese counterparts to help more people learn more about U.S.-China cooperation during the Second World War.      

From October 3 to 5, Vice President Xie Yuan attended the 18th biennial Edgar Snow Symposium held in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. and delivered a speech at the opening session. Minister Xu Xueyuan of the Chines Embassy to the U.S. ,Acting Consul General Liu Jun of the Chinese Consulate General in Chicago, Governor Jeff Colyer of Kansas, Mayor pro tem Scott Wagner of Kansas City, President Nancy Hill and President-Elect Jim Mckusick of the Edgar Snow Memorial Foundation and more than 200 other delegates from China and the U.S. attended the symposium. In his speech, Vice President Xie Yuan said, The Chinese people will never forget, 48 years ago, Mr. Snow, together with Chairman Mao,  ascended the Tiananmen Gate Tower, an act signaling the forging of friendship between China and U.S.,sending a good will to the other side of the Pacific Ocean, and devoting civil wisdom and power to the normalization of China-U.S. Relations. Next year marks the 40th anniversary of China-U.S. diplomatic relations. Over the past four decades, the two countries have witnessed dramatic changes across the world. China-U.S. relations have evolved profoundly and will continue to grow. Today, we are gathered here to honor the memory of Edgar Snow, to revitalize and promote his legacy, to cherish and preserve the sound momentum he has created, and to unleash the full potential of people-to-people diplomacy, imbuing new energy to a sound, steady and growing China-U.S. Relationship. During the symposium, Director General Zhang Heqiang attended panel discussion Global Economic Development and Cultural Exchange. The CPAFFC delegation also witnessed the passing of a Resolution by Kansas City Council recognizing its Sister Cities relations with Yan’an and Xi’an and visited the Edgar Snow Reading Room in Miller-Nichols Library in UMKC. The Edgar Snow Symposium is a biennial event. The 18th symposium opened on October 4 and lasted 4 days. Edgar Snow, American writer and journalist, was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1905. In 1936, in spite of difficulties, he visited Shaan-Gan-Ning Boarder Region and completed a book Red Star Over China, which extensively covered facts about the CPC and the Red Army, unveiled the Chinese revolution to the world and made an international impact. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the publication of Red Star Over China. 

On September 28th, Zhao Leji, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC, together with his delegation and Pham Minh Chinh, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) , secretary of the CPV Central Committee and head of the CPV Central Committee Organization Commission, attended the opening ceremony of the Photo Exhibition on China’s reform and opening up and Vietnam’s reform and innovation drive. The Exhibition was sponsored by the CPAFFC and the Vietnam union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) at the Vietnam-China Friendship Palace in Hanoi. CPAFFC President Li Xiaolin and VUFO Executive Vice Chairman Don Tuan Phong accompanied Zhao Leji and Pham Minh Chinh at the Exhibition. This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up and 32th anniversary of Vietnam’s reform and innovation drive. The 100-picture Exhibition reflected the remarkable achievements made by China and Vietnam in national building as well as the common aspirations of China and Vietnam in advancing cooperation on mutual benefits and the development of China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation. Zhao Leji met with Pham Minh Chinh before attending the opening ceremony.

At the Invitation of the Prospective and Innovation Foundation, Vice President Hu Sishe led a four-people CPAFFC delegation to France from September 19th to 22nd , to attend the Special Sino-French Forum held on the International Day of Peace (September 21st) at the UNESCO’s headquarter in Paris. Under the theme of “One Hundred Years After the First World War, What Lesson Can We Draw for Humanity?”, the Forum is jointly hosted by 11 organizations including CPAFFC, the Prospective and Innovation Foundation. Charles de Gaulle Foundation, the Association of Wu Jianmin’s Friends and the Charhar Institute. It is aimed to commemorate the spirit of sacrifice of the Chinese laborers who went to France during the First World War, remember history and advocate peace in this centenary year of the end of World War I. Mr. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former French Prime Minister and President of the Prospective and Innovation Foundation, Mr. Qu Xing, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. Joseph Zimet, Director of the French First World War Centenary Partnership Program, Mr. Hubert Védrine, former French Foreign Minister, Mr. Shen Yang, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to UNESCO, and many other Chinese as well as foreign guests attended the Forum. In his speech at the opening ceremony, Vice President Hu Sishe pointed out that it was of great significance on this special day of International Day of Peace to recall the memories of Chinese laborers in the First World War. “An important point to eliminate war is to clear the misunderstandings, prejudice and hatred among different cultures, races, beliefs and languages to strengthen people-to-people ties.” After the conference, Vice President Hu Sishe received an exclusive interview from CCTV-Fran?ais. In the evening of the same day, a Sino-French Peace Dinner was held in the name of CPAFFC. Guests including Mr. Qu Xing, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, Mr. Jacques Godfrain, President of the Charles de Gaulle Foundation, and Mr. Zhao Bin, Minister-Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in France attended. CPAFFC delegation has actively communicated with both Chinese and foreign representatives, introduced the Association and its activities, and cordially invited the foreign guests to participate in our 2018 China International Friendship Cities Conference in November. During the visit, the delegation attended the unveiling ceremony of the statue of Chinese laborers at the Gare de Lyon railway station in Paris. Mr. Zhai Jun, the Chinese Ambassador to France, Mr. Jean Bernard Bros, Deputy Mayor of Paris and Special Representative of the Mayor of Paris, Mr. Buon Tan, President of France-China Friendship Group at the French National Assembly, Ms. Catherine Baratti-Elbaz, Mayor of the 12th Arrondissement of Paris, Mr. Li Xiaochao, Chinese sculptor, and over 200 overseas Chinese as well as local citizens witnessed this important moment. Besides, the delegation also paid a visit to UNESCO, Charles de Gaulle Foundation and the Permanent Delegation of China to UNESCO, and exchanged views on further strengthening contact and cooperation. Photographed by Li Fang, Wang Qi

On September 21, Vice President Lin Yi met H. E. Dr.Sai Mauk Kham, Former Vice President of Myanmar, who was on a visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA). Vice President Lin Yi firstly conveyed the greetings by President Li Xiaolin to Former Vice President Dr.Sai Mauk Kham and thanked his great support to the people-to-people friendship during the Presidency. She introduced the exchange programs co-hosted by CPAFFC and Myanmar-China Friendship Association(MCFA) and expressed the willingness to make concerted efforts with the Myanmar side to enhance the inter-connectivity between the two peoples in terms of culture, youth, education and charity fields. Dr.Sai Mauk Kham said that Myanmar and China enjoyed time-honored traditional friendship and the leaders of the older generations established deep and profound friendship, which need to be inherited and carried forward by the younger generations. Through high-level contacts, establishment of sister cities and people-to-people exchanges, Myanmmar and China have further developed bilateral ties and promoted the traditional “Paukphaw" (fraternal) friendship between the two peoples to comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation. He hoped that the two countries could pay greater attention to people's petition and continue to cooperate for more people-to-people exchange programs and let the bilateral friendship be deeply rooted in the hearts of the two peoples.        

Vice President Xie Yuan attended Michigan-China Friendship Banquet hosted by the State Government of Michigan in Shanghai on September 21. On behalf of the CPAFFC, he awarded the honorary title of Friendship Ambassador to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder during the event. Vice President expressed his sincere gratitude and respect to Governor Snyder for his active efforts in promoting the development of China-U.S. relations, especially sub-national exchanges and cooperation. He said, since assuming office in 2011, Governor Snyder had been visiting China on an annual basis, setting a record among U.S. Governors, in terms of both times and frequency. It had exemplified the great resolve he had in developing ties with China and the confidence he had in China-U.S. relations. The honorary title of Friendship Ambassador was awarded to Governor Snyder as a recognition to his contributions to China-U.S. friendship. Governor Snyder thanked the CPAFFC for honoring him with the title of Friendship Ambassador. He said U.S.-China has its ups and downs, but we should focus on the long-term effects instead of short-term. The best way to promote our bilateral relations was to show the Federal our good will, friendship and all the benefits it has brought about to our people at the sub-national level. In the past 8 years, Michigan had been doing a great job in its economic recovery. The relationship with China was one of the most important factor in Michigan’s return to being great again. He also hoped to strengthen business, education, culture and tourism cooperation with Chinese localities, especially enhancing people-to-people connections so that both sides could continue to grow and prosper together.