Visiting Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan attended the China Now's opening ceremony on Monday to celebrate the launch of the largest festival of Chinese culture ever held in Britain.
Addressing the launch dinner at the Guildhall organized by the City of London Corporation, Tang said China Now would be an unprecedented event in China-UK exchanges in terms of its scale, duration, level of participation and the activities involved.
"The Chinese government, like the British government, attaches great importance and gives full support to this creative initiative," said Tang.
"We will work with you to deepen understanding and friendship between our two peoples through the hosting of CHINA NOW. And we should make China-UK cultural exchanges a good example for promoting cultural enrichment, expanding common ground while putting aside differences and human progress," Tang added.
Tang said that 2008 would be a remarkable year for China, for it would host the Olympic Games in Beijing, and would also celebrate the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy.
"The pursuit of reform and opening-up policy in the past 30 years has brought about historical changes in China." said Tang, adding that the past 30 years had also brought about historical changes in China's relations with the rest of the world and seen rapid and sustained growth of China-UK relations.
"The foundation of China-UK cooperation is stronger than ever before, our shared interests are more extensive than ever before, and our relations are more important than ever before. We should seize common opportunities and strengthen cooperation, and we should work together to meet common challenges," said Tang.
"With our joint efforts, China-UK comprehensive strategic partnership will grow stronger, cover more areas, and it will bring greater benefits to our two peoples and contribute more to world peace and development," Tang added.
The Lord Mayor Locum Tenens, Alderman David Brewer and Chairman of China Now and Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings Stephen Green also gave speeches at the ceremony, praising the development of Sino-British relations and hoping to make use of China Now to further expand bilateral friendly exchanges and cooperation.
Before the opening ceremony, Tang met British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who also attended the launch celebration.
China Now, which lasts until the opening of the Beijing Olympics and features over 800 activities covering art, education, economy and trade, science, technology and sports, will be carried out in over 20 cities in Britain.
Source: Xinhua
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