Honorable Vice Chairman Xu Qiliang, honorable Minister Wei Fenghe, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening!
The Xiangshan Mountain in October is blanketed with beautiful red leaves, ready for welcoming guests and friends. We are very pleased to gather with both old and new friends again for the Beijing Xiangshan Forum. Many of the delegations present here also attend the 7th CISM Military World Games which is undergoing in Wuhan. You came all the way from Wuhan to Beijing, from the competition venue to the conference venue, irrespective of the tight schedule and exhausting journey. On behalf of China Association for Military Sciences and China Institute for International Strategic Studies, I would like to extend my warmest welcome to the distinguished guests, and my sincere gratitude goes to Gen. Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People’s Republic of China for attending this welcome dinner.
Since its inception in 2006, Beijing Xiangshan Forum has been held under the spirit of equality, respect, openness and inclusiveness. We are committed to enhancing mutual trust, clearing up doubts, gathering consensus and expanding cooperation. Xiangshan Forum has grown itself into a forum with unique characteristics and distinctiveness. With the active participation of the defense departments, militaries, experts and scholars from various countries, Xiangshan Forum has expanded in terms of its scale, level and influence, it has become an important platform for security and defense dialogue in the Asia-Pacific.
This forum, entitled “Maintaining International Order and Promoting Peace in the Asia-Pacific”, echoes the trend of the times and is in line with the expectations of various parties. Delegates will share their insights on plenary sessions covering topics including Major Country Relations and International Order, Security Risk Management in the Asia-Pacific, Interests of Medium and Small Countries and Common Security, International Arms Control Regime and Global Security. We also have sub-sessions, on which delegates will exchange ideas on topics including Innovation in Security Concepts, Strategic Trust and Confidence-Building Measures, Asia-Pacific Security Architecture, Scientific and Technological Innovation and International Security, and Artificial Intelligence and Future Warfare.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, friends,
As an ancient Chinese saying goes, it’s a great pleasure to have friends coming from afar. Today, it’s a great pleasure for us to have delegations from 68 countries and 8 international organizations, as well as political dignitaries, experts and scholars. We gather here in Beijing to discuss on plans for security cooperation and on measures for maintaining peace, which gives us a great honor as the organizer of this forum. We will do our best to provide our guests with nice environments and conditions, and provide you with considerate services and supports.
When meeting with the chefs-de-mission for the 7th Military World Games in Wuhan, H.E. President Xi Jinping said, here I quote, “welcome to the soon-to-be-held 9th Beijing Xiangshan Forum, hope we could provide our inputs, pool our consensus so as to contribute our wisdom to maintaining the world peace”. I believe, no matter what kind of form it takes, be it the Military World Games or the Beijing Xiangshan Forum, they are great events for idea exchange and mutual learning; No matter where we are, in Wuhan or in Beijing, we are all playing our parts in promoting idea exchanges and maintaining world peace. I have the confidence that, with our joint efforts, this forum will achieve great success.
Best wishes to you all for your work and staying in Beijing.
Thank you!