Ninth National Council Meeting of CPAFFC Held

The Ninth National Council Meeting of the CPAFFC was held in Beijing from May 17 to 18. More than 330 council members from the central and local nongovernmental friendship organizations and all social circles attended the meeting. Present at the opening session were He Luli and Gu Xiulian, vice chairpersons of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC); Tang Jiaxuan, state councilor; Luo Haocai and Abdul’ahat Abdurixit, vice chairmen of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC); Buhe, Tomur Dawamat and Peng Peiyun, former vice chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee; Wang Wenyuan, former vice chairman of the CPPCC National Committee; Yang Jiechi and Zhang Yesui, minister and vice minister of foreign affairs. State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan made an important speech at the opening session. The council members deliberated the work report entitled Adhering to CPAFFC’s Aims of Friendship, Cooperation, Peace and Friendship and Striving for A Harmonious World of Lasting Peace and Common Development delivered by CPAFFC President Chen Haosu on behalf of the Executive Committee of the 8th National Council, listened to the report on the amendments of the Statutes of the CPAFFC made by its Vice President Li Xiaolin and approved the amendments, elected members of the Executive Committee of the Ninth National Council and appointed advisers. The meeting achieved full success.

In his speech made on the morning of May 17, State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan, first of all, expressed warm congratulations on the convening of the meeting on behalf of the State Council, and extended sincere greetings and heartfelt thanks to all present, to all the comrades who have been actively engaged in the work of people-to-people friendship over the years and to personages of all social circles who are devoted and have given great support to this important work.

In his speech, Tang Jiaxuan made a profound analysis of the present international situation, expounded on the important role people-to-people diplomacy plays in China’s total diplomacy and its opening to the outside world as well as the importance and urgency of doing well people-to-people diplomatic work in the new century. He fully affirmed and gave positive appraisal of the work of the CPAFFC in the past five years and the achievements in China’s nongovernmental diplomacy.

Tang Jiaxuan said, the Central Government has always given great importance to the work of friendship with the people of other countries and refers to it vividly as people-to-people diplomacy. Since the founding of New China, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council have always regarded it as a component part of the country’s total diplomacy and emphasized bringing its important role into full play. In fact, people-to-people diplomacy has done a great deal of useful work to strengthen the friendship between the Chinese and other peoples in the world, to further the relations between China and other countries and to create a favourable external environment for the country’s development, and achieved gratifying results.

Tang Jiaxuan said, reviewing the history of New China’s diplomacy in the past half a century and more, a basic experience and major feature is attaching importance to people-to-people diplomacy and adhering to the principle of carrying out both governmental and nongovernmental diplomacy. In different historical periods, China’s people-to-people diplomacy has played an indispensable role in establishing in the world the image of the Chinese people who love peace, uphold justice and seek progress and development, and in creating a peaceful and stable international environment. In the early days of New China, faced with diplomatic isolation, economic blockade and military encirclement by the West, we, guided by Chairman Mao Zedong’s Thought of placing hopes on the people, mobilized the forces of all social circles and carried out active exchanges with the people of other countries. And through people-to-people diplomacy we broke the blockade imposed by imperialists, established contacts with other peoples, helped bring about changes in state relations, laid the foundation for New China’s diplomacy and paved the way for its development. In this process, promoting governmental ties through people-to-people contacts was a great innovation of our socialist diplomacy. In the new era of reform and opening-up, China’s people-to-people diplomacy has been even more active in making friends extensively and making close friends, publicizing the peaceful foreign policy of China and displaying the Chinese people’s image of valuing friendship and cherishing peace. At the same time, it has energetically promoted the fine Chinese culture and carrying out exchanges in the economic, cultural, sports, scientific, technological and other fields in a variety of forms. With the unremitting efforts made over the years, it has consolidated the social and public opinion bases for the vigorous development of our country’s diplomacy. By reviewing the past, we can see that whenever there are major changes in international situation and great difficulties in China’s relations with other countries, people-to-people diplomacy, with unique advantages and flexible ways in carrying out its activities, has always served as timely and important supplement to the governmental diplomacy and played a positive and constructive role.

Tang Jiaxuan said, the CPAFFC is an important force of China’s people-to-people diplomacy. Proceeding from the country’s development and the actual needs of its external work, the CPAFFC has made great efforts to improve the overall arrangement, enrich the contents, expand the areas and innovate mechanisms of its work. Adhering to enhancing people’s friendship, it has continued to commit itself to consolidating the mass social base for the country’s relations with other countries. Taking the country’s modernization drive as the central task, it has conducted various activities to promote international economic and trade cooperation. Coordinating with the construction of China’s soft power which centres on the country’s image building, it has carried out various impact producing, rich and colourful cultural exchanges. Aware of the increasing influence of nongovernmental organizations in international affairs and multilateral diplomacy, the CPAFFC has actively pushed for international cooperation in various areas, taken part in city diplomacy and multilateral people-to-people diplomacy, and has achieved positive results.

Tang Jiaxuan pointed out, as the international situation is undergoing profound changes and China’s diplomatic work is further progressing; people-to-people diplomacy is faced with both new opportunities and challenges. He stressed, to create a new situation in people-to-people diplomatic work, we must act in the spirit of the Eighth Central Meeting on Foreign Affairs Work, focus on the central task, serve the overall interests, exploit our advantages to the full and go for innovation, attach importance to multilateral diplomatic activities, expand our influence, plan and coordinate activities, give stronger guidance, step up studies and strengthen the building of the contingent of nongovernmental diplomatic workers to better serve the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics.

CPAFFC President Chen Haosu made a comprehensive summary of the work of the Executive Committee of the Eighth National Council in his report. He said, over the past five years, the CPAFFC has conscientiously upheld the spirit of the speech Comrade Hu Jintao made when receiving the members of its Eighth National Council. Sticking to its aims of enhancing people’s friendship, furthering international cooperation, safeguarding world peace and promoting common development, the CPAFFC has persisted in serving three overall interests: the country’s total diplomacy, development of the motherland, and world peace, and fulfilled the tasks set by the Eighth National Council through continuously expanding the areas, enriching the contents and creating new ways of working, by carrying out all-directional, wide-ranging and multi-channel people-to-people friendly contacts, making innovation through practice and advancing through innovation. In the past five years, the CPAFFC has received over 1,600 delegations with 19,500 person/times from about 100 countries, sent 640 delegations consisting of more than 8,100 people to some 90 countries, and held 358 celebrations for the establishment of diplomatic relation between China and other countries and other large-scale activities. Hu Jintao, Jiang Zeming, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Zeng Qinghong and other major Party and state leaders attended over 100 activities organized by the CPAFFC. At present, the CPAFFC has established regular contact with 458 nongovernmental friendship-with-China organizations in 148 countries and international organizations, and conferred upon 60 foreign friends from 25 countries the title of Friendship Ambassador.

Chen Haosu pointed out, in the past five years, the CPAFFC has strengthened friendly contact with the developing countries and China’s neighbouring countries and actively promoted nongovernmental exchanges and cooperation with big countries and big country groups such as the United States, Russia, Japan and the European Union. Great efforts have been made by the CPAFFC to open up multilateral people-to-people diplomatic work.It is a founding member of the International Organization of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and hosted the 2005 UCLG World Council Meeting and World Mayors’ Forum. It is a nongovernmental organization associated with the Department of Public Information of the United Nations. Earnest efforts have been made by the CPAFFC to serve China’s economic development. It has organized and sent businessmen’s delegations to visit other countries, and sponsored forums on scientific and technological cooperation, presentations for inviting outside investments and symposiums on economy and trade to promote nongovernmental economic and trade cooperation. The CPAFFC has also carried out active people-to-people cultural exchanges. It has organized 180 cultural exchange programmes with more than 40 countries in the five continents and more than 500 large-scale performances and exhibitions of various kinds. The work of international friendship cities has seen sound development. In the past five years, 331 pairs of friendship-cities/provinces have been twinned between Chinese provinces and cities and their counterparts in other countries. By the end of 2006, 30 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government and 309 cities in China have established friendship-city relations with 335 provinces (states, districts and prefectures) and 1,057 cities in 119 countries.

In his report Chen Haosu specially mentioned the creative work the CPAFFC did and the activities it sponsored that had extensive impact both at home and abroad in the past five years. Take for example the holding of the meeting in celebration of CPAFFC’s 50th anniversary, which was attended by over 700 people including 104 delegations of friendship-with-China organizations from various countries, leading members of relevant government departments and people’s organizations, and CPAFFC council members, and at which President Hu Jintao was present and gave an important speech; inviting 380 anti-fascist war veterans and descendants of renowned international friends from 22 countries including Russia, the United States, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea and Japan to China to participate in the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression; organizing the selection of the ten Chinese who have deeply moved the African people; taking part in the organization of the China-Arab Friendship Conference; convening the first Conference on China-ASEAN People-to-People Friendship Organizations and signing the Declaration on China-ASEAN People-to-People Friendship and Cooperation; holding the China-Spain Forum, the China-US Relations Conferences, the firstHigh Level China-France Forum on Local Governmental Cooperation, the China-UK Forum on Local Government Cooperation, and the Central American Forum on People-to-People Friendship; holding activities marking the 30th anniversary of normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan and the 25th anniversary of the signing of Sino-Japanese Peace and Friendship Treaty; inviting presidents of the seven Japan-China friendship organizations for a joint visit to China; launching the China-ASEAN Association and the China-Oceania Friendship Association, etc.

Chen Haosu put forward in his report a nine-point tentative plan for the work of the Ninth National Council. In the next five years, the CPAFFC will, guided by the scientific outlook on development and taking as its guiding ideology that nongovernmental diplomacy serves the total diplomacy, development of the motherland and world peace, promote official ties through people-to-people contacts, political relations through economic and trade contacts and trust through cultural exchanges. It will make friends extensively and make close friends in the world, open up more areas in its contact with other countries, and enhance consciousness of serving China’s economic development, conduct mutually beneficial economic cooperation and increase cultural exchanges with the outside world. Together with the people of all countries, it will make new contributions to creating a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity. (Excerpts of the report on p. 8)

Members of the Executive Committee of the Ninth National Council were elected at the meeting. They are: President: Chen Haosu; Vice Presidents: Li Xiaolin, Jing Dunquan, Feng Zuoku and Li Jianping; Secretary General: Luo Qin.

The meeting appointed the following fourteen CPAFFC advisers: Ismail Amat, He Luli, Cheng Siwei, Jiang Zhenhua, Gu Xiulian, Luo Haocai, Abdul’ahat Abdurixit, Xu Kuangdi, Buhe, Tomur Dawamat, Peng Peiyun, Song Jian, Hu Qili and Wang Wenyuan.

All the council members at the meeting unanimously held, as the first-founded and most influential people-to-people friendship organization in China, the CPAFFC has, in the past fifty years since its founding, forged extensive relations with most countries in the world, kept close links with many international institutions and friendship organizations, and established contacts with great numbers of international friends. It has opened up broad channels for friendly exchanges, and done a great deal of useful work in enhancing the friendship between the Chinese and other peoples of the world and in creating a favorable international environment that national development needs. In the new historical period, the CPAFFC should work hard to keep abreast with the new situation and meet the new demands arising from the country’s rapid development, go in for innovation and strive to enhance people’s friendship, further international cooperation, safeguard world peace and promote common development.