China is a major responsible country. China stands for mutual respect, equality and peaceful coexistence among countries and acts in accordance with the UN Charter and the norms governing international relations. China calls for peaceful settlement of disputes and conflicts through diplomatic channels and opposes the use of force or interference in other countries’ internal affairs. China is steadfast in pursuing the path of peaceful development and follows a win-win strategy of opening-up. China is ready to work with other countries to foster an international environment of enduring peace.

China has over the years contributed significantly to peace and stability in Asia. Thanks to the common ground China reached with neighboring countries for cooperation and win-win progress, a sound atmosphere has been created for handling differences through negotiations and consultations, hence the prosperity and development of East Asia today. China follows a neighbourhood policy of building friendship and partnerships with surrounding countries and wants to live in peace with all its neighbors. But for those acts of provoking incidents and undermining peace, China will have to take resolute measures to stop them so as to prevent the situation from getting out of control and bring the situation back to the track of dialogue and negotiations. I believe as long as countries in the region could engage in dialogue and negotiations with sincerity and in good faith, the environment of peace and tranquility will be maintained.

History tells us that war means the failure of human wisdom. Peace is the result of reflection on disasters and sufferings. As the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, “In history lies all the secrets of statecraft. Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” We must learn lessons from the past, face history squarely and be forward-looking. We need to seek political settlement of international and regional issues, and work together to counter traditional and non-traditional security challenges and advance prosperity and development of the world.

China’s modernization needs not only a peaceful and stable external environment, but also strong impetus from reform and opening-up. China’s big population means tremendous creativity and its market has huge vibrancy. I once worked as the Party secretary of a village production team in Fengyang county, Anhui province back in the 1970s, a time of the planned economy. I was responsible for assigning work to the hundreds of farmers in the village every day. The villagers worked hard in the field from dawn to dusk, but still they could make very little for a decent meal. Later, to enforce rural reform, the system of household contract responsibility was introduced, which gave villagers the right to decide what crops to grow and how to grow them. In just a few years, food was no longer a problem. It is reform and opening-up that has given hundreds of millions of Chinese vast space for pursuing their own development, and spurred steady social progress. Reform has led to fast development of China. It has provided a driving force for economic growth today and it will sustain China’s development in the years to come.

The key to reform is to streamline administration and delegate government power. To further energize the market and encourage greater creativity from the society, the government needs to, first and foremost, reform itself by delegating powers on matters outside their mandate and leaving to the market what should be decided by the market. Though the economy was operating under difficulties last year, we managed to unleash the potential of private investment through streamlining administration and delegating power. The reform of business registration system in March this year was followed by a surge of over 40% in the number of newly registered businesses, giving strong boost to new business start-ups and job creation. We will also advance structural reform and give more play to the role of private capital by easing market access. All in all, the purpose of reform is to inspire the enthusiasm of the Chinese people and provide more platforms for their innovation and creation so that there will be a chance for everyone’s dream to come true. Of course, to delegate power does not mean that the government will give free rein to everything. We will delegate power while enforcing government regulations with tighter oversight on and law-based handling of the production and selling of counterfeit and shoddy goods, IPR infringement and environmental pollution.

Opening-up is in itself a way of reform. We will implement a new round of opening-up, ease market access for foreign investment and open the services sector and hinterland and border areas wider to the outside. We will explore, through the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, a management model featuring pre-establishment national treatment plus a negative list approach. Our purpose is to provide a level playing field for Chinese and foreign investors and businesses alike. China regards the UK as a choice of destination for outbound investment and hopes British companies will take China as their major investment destination. Deepening reform and opening-up is bound to unleash enormous vitality in the Chinese economy, benefiting the Chinese people, bringing more opportunities to the world and making important contribution to the inclusive development of the world.

The global economy is on the whole showing signs of recovery, but there are still many uncertainties and destabilizing factors. Developed and developing countries have become the twin engines of world economic growth. Countries need to continue to demonstrate the spirit of solidarity, coordination and cooperation shown in the course of coping with the international financial crisis, vigorously carry out reform and innovation, enhance coordination on macroeconomic policies, remove protectionist barriers and foster a level playing field to expand converging interests and share the fruits of globalization.

The past ten years since establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between our two countries has witnessed fruitful results in bilateral cooperation in business, science and technology, people-to-people exchanges and other fields. During my visit, I had in-depth and candid talks with government leaders of the UK. The two countries issued a joint statement. The two sides shared the view that China and the UK need to strengthen political trust and strategic cooperation, respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, increase communication and coordination at the UN Security Council and in such multilateral mechanisms as the G20, work together to uphold the multilateral trading regime, promote negotiations on a China-EU investment treaty and feasibility studies on establishing a China-EU free trade area, and increase dialogue on climate change, counter-terrorism, etc. The two sides need to make full use of the guiding role of the annual meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries and other mechanisms to ensure that our cooperation operates smoothly and efficiently across the board. China and the UK may work together to contribute to the development of China-EU relations as a whole.

China and the UK need to work as partners for common growth and inclusive development. We need to not only expand but also enrich our cooperation. We need to not only do business with each other, but also conduct more high-tech cooperation. China will work more closely with the UK in infrastructure, manufacturing, urbanization and other areas to increase two-way trade and investment. China and the UK will launch direct trading between the RMB and sterling and China will open an RMB clearing bank in London, which will enhance our financial cooperation. The UK leads the world in innovative development, especially in new and high technologies, energy conservation, environmental protection and scientific research, and China is implementing a strategy of innovation-driven development. This represents broad prospects for our cooperation in science, technology and innovation. We shall make good use of the Research and Innovation Partnership Fund set up to facilitate high-standard development projects and research findings with a view to providing a strong support for the development of our two countries.

China-UK cooperation is not limited to the economic field; we also need to strengthen people-to-people exchanges. The British culture values scientific thinking, good reasoning and accommodation of others, while it is China’s tradition to emphasize openness, inclusiveness and mutual learning. China and the UK, though thousands of miles apart, are actually “distant neighbors”. Our respective science and technology, culture and arts as well as academic thinking, each having its own proud tradition, have been a source of mutual inspiration. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is popular in China, while The Peony Pavilion composed by the Chinese writer Tang Xianzu of the Ming Dynasty has been put on stage here in the UK. The British use English as their mother tongue, while in China 300 million Chinese are learning English, more than most of the countries in the world. And though China was where tea was first discovered, the British drink more tea than most people in the world. Right now, over 130,000 Chinese students are studying in the UK, accounting for half of the number in all EU countries. China and the UK need to deepen our cultural and people-to-people exchanges and step up cooperation in education and culture. The UK government has agreed to simplify visa application for Chinese citizens. This means more Chinese people will be able to visit or come to work in the UK, injecting more vitality to the UK economy.

Both the UK and China are great nations. We both have a time-honored history and each has created a splendid past. Now, both countries are determined to ride the tide of the times and seek new changes. As the English poet Percy Shelley wrote, “Man cannot make occasions, but he may seize those that offer.” Similarly, the famous Chinese writer Su Shi of the Song Dynasty remarked that “when your turn comes, seize it; and when opportunity knocks at the door, grab it, or it will slip away”. China and the UK, the East and the West, developing countries and developed ones alike, should seize opportunities, meet challenges together, and build a better world through inclusive development.