Remarks by Chinese Ambassador to Georgia Zhou Qian at the Reception to Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China

Distinguished Chairman of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili,

Distinguished President of the Supreme Court Nino Kadagidze,

Distinguished President of the Constitutional Court Merab Turava,Deputy Chairpersons and Members of the Parliament, Ministers and Deputy Ministers

Dear colleagues of Diplomatic Missions accredited to Georgia and Georgian friends,Fellow Chinese in Georgia,

Good evening. 

It is a great pleasure to gather with you here to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. On behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Georgia, I would like to extend a warm welcome to you.

Over the past 75 years, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese people have forged ahead with unremitting effort and successfully explored a Chinese path to modernization that is in line with our national conditions. China has grown from a poor and weak country into the world’s second largest economy and is achieving historic leaps in both overall strength and international influence. A bright prospect has been unfolded on the Chinese land. A historic victory against poverty has been claimed by China, lifting hundreds of millions of rural people out of poverty. China’s GDP has increased 223 times in real terms, and taken up about 17% of the world’s total. China is also the world’s largest country in terms of manufacturing and trade in goods, the second largest country in consumption of commodities, and has become the world’s economic engine in a well-deserved manner.

China is the first country in the world to have more than 4 million invention patents. The World Intellectual Property Organization has recognized China as the fastest-growing economy in innovation for the past decade. The total mileage of high-speed railways in China has exceeded 46,000 kilometers, surpassing the combined total of all other countries. The C919, a Chinese self-developed narrow-body airliner, has delivered a total of nine units, and Chinese 5G coverage also stood out in the world. The sales of new energy vehicles have ranked first in the world for nine consecutive years. Electric vehicles, photovoltaics and lithium batteries have replaced garments, home appliances and furniture to become the “new trio” of China’s exports. Innovation-driven, green development has been a distinctive symbol of the Chinese economy.

75 years of remarkable achievements have once again proved that only the CPC can shoulder the historical mission of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and lead the Chinese people to realize the Chinese dream.

Ladies and Gentlemen,China’s development has not only benefited its own 1.4 billion people but has also contributed significantly to world peace and development. China’s contribution to world economic growth has exceeded 30% for several consecutive years, ranking first in the world. According to a study by NASA, about one quarter of the newly added forest area since this century comes from China, which is also world NO.1.China actively safeguards world peace. We are the largest troop contributor to peacekeeping operations among all the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and the second-largest donor to the UN peacekeeping assessments. China is playing an important and active role in promoting the peaceful settlement of hot-spot issues such as in Ukraine and the Middle East.In the face of the sluggish recovery of the world economy and the negative trend of “decoupling and breaking the chain” and de-globalization proposed by a few countries, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, held not long ago, further draws a grand blueprint for further deepening reforms comprehensively and advancing Chinese modernization. The meeting decided that China will adhere to the basic national policy of opening-up and actively promoting an open world economy. China’s further opening up is a decisive move to share more opportunities for our development with the world, and will certainly bring new impetus to the development of all countries in the world, including Georgia.It is worth noting that Chinese modernization is a path of peaceful development, rather than relying on colonization, war and exploitation to accumulate capital. Chinese modernization has provided a new option for developing countries, which account for three quarters of the world’s population. Earlier this month, at the opening of the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, President Xi Jinping stated that modernization is an inalienable right of all countries and that China stands ready to promote modernization with the Global South, and to jointly build a bright future of peace, security, prosperity and progress for our world.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Over the past year or so, China-Georgia relations have developed rapidly. In July last year, the two countries established a strategic partnership. In January this year, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, the then-chairman of the ruling party, visited China, laying a solid foundation for friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between us for the year. There have been several exchange visits by the government, ruling party, financial institution and provinces and states of the two countries. Bilateral cooperation in various fields has made great progress, enriching the connotation of our strategic partnership. Earlier this month, First Deputy Prime Minister Levan Davitashvili visited China and signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Development of the Trans-Caspian International Transportation Corridor Route of the China-Europe Express Train, which will further promote strategic synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative and Georgia’s “Middle Corridor”. All these results have vividly shown the win-win nature of our cooperation and the China-Georgia endeavour to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

This year, China-Georgia economic and trade and people-to-people exchanges continue to improve quality and upgrade: in the first 8 months, China-Georgia trade totaled 1.465 billion U.S. dollars, setting a record high. On May 28th China-Georgia visa-free agreement came into effect, and Georgia has quickly become a popular destination for Chinese tourists. In the first half of this year, more than 33,000 Chinese tourists traveled to Georgia, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year; China-Georgia direct flights have increased to one flight a day, and it is expected that later this month Air China will also launch Urumqi-Tbilisi direct flights. Just today, the visa-free arrangement between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China and Georgia came into effect, injecting new vitality into the cooperation between our countries.

With visa-free, direct flights and FTA, Chinese and Georgian people have enjoyed tangible benefits from the strategic partnership. China will continue to participate in infrastructure and livelihood projects that boost economic and social development in Georgia.

The progress of the China-Georgia strategic partnership is indispensable to support of the Georgian Government, Parliament, political parties and friends from all walks of life, such as in business, cultural and media fields. I would like to express my gratitude to all of you for your contributions to China-Georgia relations and cooperation.

Ladies and gentlemen,Today’s world is in a turmoil and chaos time, with numerous challenges. The reason why the China-Georgia strategic partnership has continued to consolidate is that the two countries have always adhered to the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, equal footing treatment, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs and mutually beneficial cooperation. China and Georgia share the same vision of maintaining regional and world peace and promoting common development for humankind. This also proves once again that peace and development is the only right theme of the times. China will make joint efforts with the Georgian side to continue to implement the Joint Statement between us, strengthen cooperation under the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, and deepen the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, breaking new ground for China-Georgia relations and building a community with a shared future for mankind.Wish the great People’s Republic of China prosperity,Wish the Chinese and Georgian people health and happiness,Wish the friendship between China and Georgia run higher than the mountain and deeper than the sea and become everlasting,Wish we all enjoy a peaceful and prosperous world.Thank you.