Remarks at the "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Secondary School Students and the Award-Giving Ceremony of "My China Stories 2018"

(Dr. Sun Xianghua, Ambassador of China, Aug. 25, 2018)

Distinguished guests,

Friends from the media houses,

Ladies and gentlemen

It's my great honor to welcome you to the "Chinese Bridge" Chinese Proficiency Competition for Secondary School Students in Lesotho, and the award-giving ceremony of the writing competition of My China Stories 2018. First of all, I shall, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy, extend my warm congratulations to the successful holding of these two events.

In August last year, the Chinese Language Proficiency Competition was held for the very first time in Lesotho and two Basotho top winners went to China to compete with students from across the world in the final competition. After today's competition, another 2 winners will also go to China for the main match. All this shows to us that the Chinese Language Proficiency Competition has become an annual event for the Basotho students who are studying Chinese. It will indeed become a bridge, not only for learning the language, but also enhance the exchanges and friendship between China and Lesotho.

Though faced with some setbacks and challenges at the moment, the world's economic globalization will not lose its steam because it's the trend of times. As a main driver of the world's economic globalization and multilateralism, China will further integrate into the world economy, and the exchanges between China and other countries, in almost all areas and sectors, will continue to experience unprecedented growth. For example, every year, there are more than 137 million Chinese go abroad for visits, meanwhile roughly the same number of foreigners also go to China for travels. Another example, every year 600 thousands of Chinese students go abroad to study, at the same time 440 thousand foreign students go to China to study. Under this background, coupled with the ever closer economic cooperation of the world's second largest economy with the rest of the world, more and more people are studying the Chinese language. Currently, there are more than 100 million people across the world learning the Chinese language as a foreign language. At this moment, there are more than 500 Confucius colleges and 1000 Confucius Classrooms in more than 130 countries around the world where many foreign friends learn this language.

The same phenomenon also applies to Lesotho. In the past decades especially in recent years, China-Lesotho relations have reached historical high. We have carried out extensive cooperation in almost all sectors of social and economic development. More and more Basotho are going to China for training or studies every year. In the past minus 3 years since the Johannesburg summit of FOCAC, roughly 900 Basotho have gone to China to join training programs or pursue academic degrees. Therefore, it's not surprising more Basotho, either in schools or in other walks of life, are starting to learn the language of China. In this regard, the Machabeng College is spearheading this trend and I believe other schools will follow in the near future.

Ladies and gentlemen, after the Competition of Chinese language, we will immediately hold a ceremony for the Writing Competition of My China Stories 2018. This Competition was initiated by this Embassy last year. Encouraged by last year's success and requested by friends from different walks of life, we decided to make this competition an annual event. Our purpose is to make all the touching stories between Chinese and Basotho be known to others, and encouraging more people to treasure and contribute to the friendship between our two countries and peoples. The stories will also sensitize and encourage all the Chinese people, either here in Lesotho or in China, know about and contribute to the close comradeship between our two countries. I would like to use this opportunity to thank all the people for their support by participating in the competition.

Distinguished guests, in a few days time, the long expected Beijing Summit of FOCAC will be held. At the Summit, the Chinese and African leaders will discuss and adopt new measures and action plan for China-Africa cooperation in the coming three years. The theme of the summit: China and Africa: Toward an even stronger Community with a Shared Future, fully exemplifies the purpose of the Summit. Firstly, by synergizing China's Belt and Road Initiative and Africa's Agenda 2063, China the biggest developing country in the world, and Africa the biggest developing continent of the world will join hands even closer, to build an Africa that We Want, and to realize the Chinese Dreams. Secondly, neither China's development nor Africa's rejuvenation can be realized without each other's collaboration and support. China and Africa are each other's strategic cooperation partners in realizing Chinese and African dreams. Thirdly, the lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, beautiful environment and inclusive and open society should be the outstanding features of this Community of a shared future of China and Africa. I am fully convinced the Beijing Summit will become a milestone of China-Africa cooperation and will usher in a new era of China-Africa partnership.

Immediately after the Summit, we will race against time and spare no efforts in implementing the policies and measures that will be adopted at the Summit. It's my strong belief that in three years time, the China-Lesotho cooperation will bear more tangible benefits to our two countries and peoples. These achievements will further demonstrate that China-Lesotho friendship is indeed a fine example of the relations between countries that features mutual respect, mutual trust, equality, and win-win cooperation. For the above to be realized, we not only need to work hard, but also need the support and participation of our people from all walks of life. I believe all of you, dear friends who are present today, will not hesitate to give your support.

Lastly, I wish today's events a great success and all of you will have a pleasant day. Thank you all! Khotso, Pula, Nala.