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Speech
at the Welcoming Banquet in Honour of the Third International
Conference of Asian Political Parties
H.E.
Hu Jintao
General
Secretary of the Central Committee of
the
Communist Party of China,
President
of the People’s Republic of China
September
3, 2004
Honored
Guests and Friends,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
First
of all, on behalf of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and
the Chinese government, I would like to express my sincere
congratulations on the convocation of the Third International
Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) in Beijing and
extend a warm welcome to all the honored guests attending the
conference.
Through
the joint efforts of Asian political parties, ICAPP has
undergone four years of development during which it has come
to provide an important arena of interaction among these
parties. It has already become one of the major channels for
promoting regional cooperation and development and has served
as a significant link to help the peoples of Asian countries
increase their mutual understanding, enhance their friendship,
strengthen their mutual trust and cement their unity.
Delegates to the current conference are expected to carry out
intensive discussions on the theme of Exchange, Cooperation
and Development. A Beijing Declaration will be released on the
consensus of Asian political parties. This indicates that
cooperation among Asian political parties is taking on a
positive trend of continuous development.
The
20th century witnessed earthshaking changes in Asia. In the
past 100 years, the peoples of Asian countries engaged in epic
struggles to change their destinies and won national
liberation and independence one after another. Since then，great
achievements in economic development and social progress have
been scored, exhibiting great vitality and vigor in these
countries. Since entering the 21st century, the world has been
making tortuous progress in multi-polarization and economic
globalization while rapid advancement of science and
technology brings about rare opportunities for development as
well as severe challenges not to be ignored. Despite of the
fact that there are still various factors of instability and
uncertainty in the world today and that developing countries
are still facing great difficulties in their development,
peace and development remain to be ａ
theme of the times. It has become an irresistible historical
trend that the world needs peace, nations aspire for
development, people want cooperation and society seeks
progress. It is gratifying to note that peace, development and
cooperation have already become the mainstream in Asia. Our
region is enjoying ever more vigorous economic development,
enhanced capacity to fend off risks, and promising prospects
for peace and development in the future.
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
In
order to lead its people in building their country and to best
serve, protect and promote the fundamental interests of the
vast majority of its people, a political party has to conform
to the tide of the times, grasp opportunities for development,
rely on the wisdom and strength of the people, and to explore
through practice the road to development that best suits the
country’s circumstances. After its founding in the early
20th century, the Communist Party of China led the Chinese
people in 28 years of arduous struggles, succeeded in
overthrowing imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic
capitalism, which together weighed like mountains on the backs
of the Chinese people, and established New China in the mid
20th century, thus opening up a broad avenue towards
prosperity of the country and happiness of the people. In the
last 20 plus years, the CPC has kept the entire Chinese people
together and led them on the road of socialism with Chinese
characteristics, unswervingly forging ahead with reform and
opening-up, developing the socialist market economy, and
pressing forward the modernization drive． The remarkable
achievements that China has gained have won worldwide
recognition. The people of China on the whole have come to
enjoy a fairly well-to-do life.
Despite
of what have been achieved in its reform and development
process, China still is, and will remain to be for a long
time, in the primary stage of socialism and is bound to meet
many difficulties and challenges on the road ahead. We still
have a long and hard way to go towards full modernization in
China and common prosperity of all the Chinese people. China
has already set the objectives for development in the first 20
years of this century, i.e., to build a moderately prosperous
society for the benefit of the entire one billion plus
population in all respects-a society with a better developed
economy, improved democracy, more flourishing cultural life,
more advanced science and education, more harmonious social
relations, and a more affluent living of the people. In order
to turn these objectives into reality, the CPC will, guided by
Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of “Three
Represents”,
act in the spirit of the concept of development that is
people-centred and focused on all-dimensional, coordinated and
sustainable development, unflinchingly carry on with reform
and opening-up, make constant improvements in its art of
leadership and style of governance, and will better mobilize
and lead the Chinese people in their ongoing strife to step up
modernization drive, and to realize complete reunification of
the motherland, and to safeguard world peace and promote
common development.
This
year marks the 50th anniversary of the initiation of the Five
Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Fifty years ago, China,
together with some other Asian countries, initiated the Five
Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which has proved to be an
important contribution to maintaining peace and harmony among
Asian countries and to the democratization of the
international relations. Although the international situation
has undergone profound changes, these principles are still an
essential cornerstone for the building of a just and equitable
international political and economic order. The consensus that
has been reached by ICAPP is consistent with these Five
Principles．
It is conducive to safeguarding world peace and promoting
common development, as well as to establishing ａ
just and equitable international political and economic order.
China will earnestly and sincerely develop all-round
cooperative relations with all countries by steadfastly
holding high the banner of peace, development and cooperation,
maintaining an independent foreign policy of peace and
adhering to the diplomatic guideline of being a good neighbour
and good partner of and neighbouring countries and the
diplomatic policy of building an amicable, tranquil and
prosperous neighbourhood. At the same time, the CPC， guided by the
principles of independence, complete equality, mutual respect
and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs will
develop contacts with all political parties in an earnest
effort to promote state-to-state and people-to-people
friendship. With a view to achieving lasting peace and common
prosperity in Asia, China will continue to pursue a
relationship with Asian countries featured by equality and
mutual trust in political relations, mutual benefit and
win-win results in economic cooperation, mutual exchanges and
learning in cultural interactions, and collaboration and
dialogues in security field.
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
China
cannot develop without Asia, and Asia cannot prosper without
China. The CPC is willing to further promote exchanges and
cooperation with all Asian political parties so as to join
hands in creating a new prospect of Asian rejuvenation. We
believe that with the joint efforts of all participating
political parties, the 3rd ICAPP conference will achieve
fruitful results and will make positive contributions to the
prosperity and progress in Asia.
Let
me propose a toast,
To
the continuous development of cooperation among all Asian
political parties,
To
the complete success of this conference, and
To
the health of all our honored guests!
Thank
you.
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