Project launching conference on “strengthening experience sharing of Chinese urbanization, promoting building of urban cluster along Maritime Silk Road” was held in the auditorium of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on June,15th. Mr. Chen Yuan, Vice Chairman of the 12th CPPCC and Director of Silk Road Planing Research Center, attended the conference and made an important speech. Mr. Song Jingwu, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), was also present and delivered a speech concerning the main tasks of CPAFFC and this project.           Photographed by Chen Lei

Mr. Song Jingwu, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), met with the union of Chinese Residing in Japan delegation on June, 13. During the meeting, Vice President Song first expressed warm welcome to the delegation and made an introduction about the history and the tasks CPAFFC had made during promoting people-to-people cultural exchanges with foreign countries. Vice President Song hoped that overseas Chinese residing in Japan would continue spreading Chinese culture as friendship ambassadors of cultural exchange between China and Japan. He also expected them to make use of their own advantages to actively devote themselves to the exchanges and cooperation of the two countries and make more contributions to the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. Mr. Liu Hongyou, President of the union of Chinese Residing in Japan, thanked Vice President Song for taking time to meet the delegation and focused on report on the opportunities and challenges the union of Chinese Residing in Japan had confronted with. Therefore, President Liu hoped that CPAFFC could give support in the cultural exchange programs of the two countries and also expected to establish a long-term relationship with CPAFFC to make more contributions to increasing the mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.           Photographed by Xiu Yilin        

Art Exhibition in Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of China’s Reform and Opening-up, which was co-hosted by China Friendship Institute for International Art Exchanges (CFIIAE) and Rong Bao Zhai (Tianjing), and was organized by Rong Bao Zhai Painting Institute, was held in the auditorium of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) on June,12th. Calligraphers and Painters got together and presented their works as gifts to the exhibition to commemorate the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up. Mme. Li Xiaolin, President of CPAFFC, Mr. Tang Hui, Deputy General Manager of Rong Bao Zhai, Mme. DOLANA MSIMANG, the Republic of South Africa Ambassador to China, Mme. Shani Calyaneratne Karunaratne, Charge d'affaires of Embassy of the Republic of Sir Lanka in China, Mr. Han Win Aung, Minister Counsellor of Myanmar Embassy in China, Mr. TAKAMOTO FUKUDA, Cultural Counsellor of Japanese Embassy in China, Mr. Wang Heshan, Secretary General of CFIIAE, Mr. Wang Bin，General Manager of Rong Bao Zhai (Tianjing), and hundreds of personages from the art circle in Beijing, attended the exhibition. President Li Xiaolin expressed in her address that reform and opening-up records the great journey of common progress of China and the rest of the world. China has lived up to its responsibility as a major country. From “bringing in” to “going global”, from WTO accession to the Belt and Road Initiative, which meets its people’s aspiration and follows the trend of the times. The paintings and calligraphy writings exhibited this time were just the good opportunities for the painters and calligraphers to sing of beautiful scenery of homeland and a better life of Chinese people and to express their best wishes of realizing Chinese Dream for a new era. South Africa Ambassador DOLANA MSIMANG said that, the whole world had witnessed the great changes in China since the beginning of China’s reform and opening up forty years ago---once poor China had now become the second biggest economy in the world, which made remarkable achievements.  DOLANA MSIMANG expressed that, South Africa, my homeland, and the whole African Continent, both of which had benefited a lot from this policy. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Africa. DOLANA MSIMANG also hoped that both countries could continue standing together and supporting each other, which push forward the bilateral relations to a new level. Mr. Tang hui, Deputy General Manager of Rong Bao Zhai and President of Rong Bao Zhai Painting Institute said that, reform and opening up had changed China and even influenced the world. Therefore, he decided to keep up with the pace of reform and opening up and gradually transformed Rong Bao Zhai into a comprehensive cultural enterprise with calligraphy writings and paintings, stationery, woodcuts, framing and repair, auction and mortgage, publishing and printing, education and training, tea culture, import and export and others as one. Rong Bao Zhai has now become a typical representative in the field of art in China. This exhibition aims at showing a prosperous country through these works and describing the great achievements China had made since the reform and opening-up. Multiple works of Beautiful Flowers in Prosperous Times and Beautiful Mountains and Rivers in Prosperous Times created by famous painters and calligraphers were exhibited on the opening ceremony. Some of these works were respectively presented to the Embassies of South Africa, Sir Lanka, Myanmar and Japan to collect. The organizers decided to donate a part of earnings made from the other works to Xing (County), Shanxi province to improve the art and culture education of the youth there. This Art Exhibition displayed near 70 pieces of valuable works painted by seven artists including Tang Hui, Wang Yunshu, Yi Feng, Gao Yongqian, Fan Yi, Chang Chang, Yun Yao, who were recommended by Rong Bao Zhai Painting Institute. These works  mainly depicted the beautiful scenery of homeland and a better life of Chinese people after the reform and opening-up. The exhibition would be held until the 15th of June.      

On June 9, the 2018 Annual Meeting and General Assembly of the Swiss-Chinese Association was held in Zurich. Anderies Diener was elected as new president of the association. Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard, Former President of the Swiss Confederation and Head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications, attended the meeting and delivered a speech on the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation between Switzerland and China. CPAFFC Vice President Song Jingwu, Chinese Ambassador to Switzerland Geng Wenbing and Swiss Ambassador to China Jean-Jacquesde Dardel attended and addressed the meeting. Swiss media and academic representatives participated in a round table discussion on the Belt and Road Initiative. Song Jingwu signed a cooperation agreement on behalf of the CPAFFC with the Swiss-Chinese Association.                  

Co-hosted by the CPAFFC and Ningbo Municipal People`s Government, the 2018 China-CEEC Mayors Forum was held in Ningbo on 8 June. Focusing on the theme of `Deepening Local Cooperation for Belt and Road Implementation`, local leaders, scholars and entrepreneurs from China and central and Eastern European countries were gathered to exchange ideas on internet and trade facilitation, investment liberalization and pilot zone for economic cooperation, and innovation and SME cooperation. Before the Forum, Mr. Qiu Dongyao, Mayor of Ningbo City, and Mme. Lin Yi, Vice President of CPAFFC jointly held a meeting with guests from China and CEE countries. At the opening ceremony, Mme. Lin Yi, Vice President of CPAFFC, Mr. Hrnciar, Deputy Speaker of Slovak National Assembly, and Mr. Qiu Dongyao, Mayor of Ningbo City, gave speeches respectively. Altogether 300 delegates attended the forum, including over 20 local leaders from Chinese provinces and cities such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Liaoning, Sichuan, Henan, and over 20 CEE local leaders such as Mr. Hrnciar, Deputy Speaker of Slovak National Assembly and Mayor of Martin, and also representatives of China-CEEC friendship associations, embassies and consulates, scholars and entrepreneurs. At the closing ceremony, participants from China and CEE countries jointly proposed the establishment of China-CEEC Cities Cooperation Committee.             Photographed by Xiu Yujia

On June 8, 2018, CPAFFC Vice President Hu Sishe led the delegation of “Art of China Tour” to meet with Kiyoshi Ueda, President of the National Governors’ Association of Japan and Governor of Saitama Prefecture. During the meeting, Hu Sishe said that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Japanese Peace and Friendship Treaty. China-Japan relations are at a significant moment serving as a link between past and future, and facing a rare opportunity for improvement and development. Not long ago, Governor Kiyoshi Ueda and CPAFFC President Li Xiaolin co-chaired the "China-Japan Governor Governor's Forum", which played a positive role in promoting exchanges and cooperation between local governments of the two countries. He pointed out that the friendly exchanges between China and Japan had always been a very important task for the CPAFFC. Even when the relations between the two countries faced difficulties, the association was always attaching importance to promoting the people-to-people friendship between China and Japan, which laid a solid foundation of public opinions for the high-level exchanges between the two countries. Hu Sishe specially thanked Kiyoshi Ueda for his contributions to the friendly exchanges between China and Japan as the president of the National Governors’ Association of Japan and Governor of Saitama Prefecture, and expressed his hope to see more pragmatic exchanges and cooperation in the future. Kiyoshi Ueda thanked the CPAFFC for its active commitment to friendly exchanges with all walks of life in Japan. He said that he was willing to work with the CPAFFC to carry out unremittingly friendly exchanges between the people, inherit and carry forward the tradition of Japan-China friendship, and continue to contribute to the improvement of the friendly relations between the two countries, regardless of the general political environment.         Photographed by Liu Wenwen

Mr. Hu Sishe, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), paid an official visit to former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in Tokyo on the afternoon of June 7. Vice President Hu appreciated Mr. Yukio Hatoyama for giving support in the work of CPAFFC and working for the development of the friendly relationship between China and Japan for a long time. Vice President Hu said that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’ s visit to Japan in May had achieved a complete success, which would bring good opportunities  for the bilateral relations to develop. CPAFFC would be dedicated to promoting the exchanges and cooperation between the two peoples and making efforts on consolidating the base of the friendly relationship between the two countries. Mr. Yukio Hatoyama spoke highly of the active role by CPAFFC in promoting the bilateral ties and said that it is needed to inherit and carry forward the spirit of the friendly relationship of the two countries by more and more Japanese people. Therefore, the friendly relations of the two countries would become more steady and last long time if the peoples of the two countries keep strong friendly relations. Both sides also exchanged their views on recent international hot issues and how to develop exchanges and cooperation in future.         Photographed by Yu Xiaodong

On the evening of June 7, 2018, the welcome reception in honor of the delegation of Russian friendly personages and veterans’ relatives was successfully held in the Peace Palace of the CPAFFC. Chen Yuan, President of the China-Russia Friendship Association and former CPPCC Vice Chairman, Li Xiaolin, CPAFFC President, Dmitry Mezentsev, Chairman of the Russia-China Friendship Association and Chairman of Russia’s Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, and Evgeny Opasov, Vice Chairman of the Russia-China Friendship Association and Head of the Association of Veterans of the WWII and Military Service of Russia, attended the reception. Chen Yuan, President of the China-Russia Friendship Association and former CPPCC Vice Chairman, delivers a speech Chen Yuan and Li Xiaolin addressed the reception. On behalf of the China-Russia Friendship Association and the CPAFFC respectively, they welcomed the new and old Russian friends from afar, and thanked them for their important contributions to the China-Russia friendship over the years. They also stressed that President Putin would soon pay his first state visit to China in his new term as president. The two associations felt honored to receive the friendly personages of the two countries and relatives of the Russian veterans to participate in the people-to-people and cultural activities in the framework of the high-level visit, which reflected not only the two governments’ care and attention to the people-to-people friendship between the two countries and their trust and support to the two associations, but also the two associations’ active engagement in promoting the China-Russia relations at the people’s level. More than 70 people, including the leaders and representatives of the China-Russia Friendship Association and the Russia-China Friendship Association and relatives of the Russian veterans, attended the reception. China Philharmonic Male Choir and Chinese Soprano You Hongfei gave a wonderful performance which was warmly welcomed with friendly atmosphere. The reception served as a great warm-up for President Putin’s upcoming visit to China. CPAFFC President Li Xiaolin delivers a speech Performance Group photo       Photographed by Ren Xin

Mr. Hu Sishe, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), met with Mr. Lorenzo Ku, President of Philippines-China Association for Promotion of Economy and Trade (PCAPET), an old friend of CPAFFC and also a winner of the Award for Contribution to People’s Friendship, and his delegation on the morning of May, 31st. The purpose of visiting China for Mr. Lorenzo Ku this time was to attend the Memorandum signing ceremony of establishing the sister province relationship between Liaoning and Batangas. He had made great efforts on establishing relationship of the two provinces. Mr. Lorenzo Ku had ever introduced Fushun and Riba, Henan and Tarlac to establish sister city (province) relationship as a go-between. Vice President Hu Sishe thanked Mr. Lorenzo Ku for making efforts on promoting the cause of the friendship between two countries at an advanced age. Vice President Hu said that developing and establishing sister city (province) is an important work for us. Entrusted by State Council, CPAFFC is responsible for coordinating and overseeing the work of establishing friendship-city relations between China and other countries. Until now, it has established 30 pairs of sister city (province) between China and the Philippines. The exchanges of the local governments between two countries played an active role in promoting the bilateral relations. Mr. Lorenzo Ku made an introduction about the work and planning on enhancing the bilateral ties. He hoped to continue strengthening the cooperation with CPAFFC. Both sides also had an in-depth discussion on cooperate programs including household service, aged service, health care and etc. Mr. Zhang Juxiang, Director General of China Service for Friendship and Cooperation with Foreign Countries (CSC) of CPAFFC, Mr. Hu Yang, Deputy Director General of CSC, attended the meeting                 Photographed by Song Zifan      

The Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) organized a reception in Beijing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Uruguay on May 29th, 2018. Mr. Hao Mingjin，Vice-Chairman of Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), Mr. Hu Sishe, Vice President of CPAFFC, Mr. Enrique Iglesias, former Foreign Minister of Uruguayan Foreign Affairs Ministry, Mr. Fernando Lugris, Uruguayan Ambassador to China and other personages attended the reception. Vice Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee Hao Mingjin had a brief meeting with former Foreign Minister Enrique Iglesias and Ambassador Fernando Lugris before the reception. Vice President Hu Sishe said in his speech, since the establishment of the strategic partnership between China and Uruguay in 2016, the bilateral relations had developed rapidly, the willingness for both sides to cooperate had become more and more urgent, and the friendship between the two peoples had been increasingly deepened. He hoped that both sides should take the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to further push the bilateral ties forward and expand the friendly exchanges between the two countries.  Ambassador Fernando Lugris also expressed in his speech, the relations between Uruguay and China have now developed into the best stage, during which both sides kept close contact in various fields, pragmatic cooperation had been increasingly deepened and developed. The Uruguayan side appreciated the Chinese side for giving support and assistance to them for a long time. He hoped that Uruguay and China relations would achieve remarkable results in next 30 years.           Photographed by Sun Tao, Lin Zhichang