Beijing, March 27th—Lu Kang, Vice-minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee (IDCPC), met here today on the afternoon with the 2nd Future Leaders Programme Group of the Great Britain-China Centre (GBCC). 

Lu welcomed the group’s visit to the IDCPC, and stressed that since the UK Labour Party government came to power, President Xi Jinping has successively called and met with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, charting the course for the development of China-UK relations. As permanent members of the UN Security Council and major economies in the world, China and the UK should strengthen dialogue and cooperation, uphold true multilateralism, jointly respond to global challenges, and better benefit the two countries and the world. Youth is the future of China-UK relations. It is hoped that the youth from the UK will enhance their cognition and understanding of China through field visits and promote the sustainable development of China-UK relations. 

The UK side said, the participants of the second group come from diverse backgrounds such as political parties, government, parliament, think tanks, business community and universities of the UK. We all believe that there are many common interests between the UK and China, and the two sides should strengthen dialogue at all levels and enhance mutual understanding and friendship. The GBCC is willing to maintain sound cooperation with the IDCPC and help more members of the "Future Leaders Programme Group" visit China and gain a deeper understanding of China and the CPC. 

In a friendly and warm atmosphere, Lu answered more than 20 questions raised by the group on China-UK relations, the comparison of Chinese and UK systems, the South China Sea issue, China's discourse power, China's foreign aid, climate change response, multilateralism, cyber security, the situation in the Middle East, and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.  

On the morning of the same day, the IDCPC arranged a visit to the Museum of the Communist Party of China for the group, and organized a discussion with relevant responsible persons from the Department of European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of European Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce, as well as young scholars and students from the Development Research Center of the State Council and the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.