When I walked into the campus of Yale University, I saw the young faces of the students, breathing books and air. I not only remember the wonderful time I spent in Tsinghua University 40 years ago, but also my school days will have an important impact on people's lives. At that time, my teacher taught me and my classmates inspired me. I can't use it now. Yale University is famous for its long history of development and outstanding academic achievements. If time can go back, I really hope to be one of you. (Applause)
The motto of Yale University emphasizes the pursuit of light and truth, which conforms to the law of human progress and is also the wish of every aspiring youth. Over the past 300 years, Yale University has trained a large number of technical talents, including 20 Nobel Prize winners and 5 American presidents. American national hero nathan hale is an alumnus of Yale University. His famous saying "My only regret is that I didn't have a second life for my motherland" deeply infected me and many people in China! I sincerely wish your school to train more talents and make greater contributions to the economic and social development of the United States and the cause of human progress!
Ladies and gentlemen, friends, for a long time, the Chinese and American people have always had strong interests and friendly feelings for each other. The people of China appreciate the pioneering spirit of the American people and admire their great achievements in building their country. With the rapid development of China and the continuous expansion of Sino-US cooperation, more and more Americans look to China, pay more attention to the development and progress of China, and learn the basis of trust. Today, I want to talk about the development strategy and direction of contemporary China from the perspective of the historical evolution and realistic development of Chinese civilization, hoping to help the American people understand China more comprehensively and deeply.
In the long history of more than 5,000 years, the Chinese nation has made great contributions to the progress of human civilization, and has also gone through a tortuous and arduous road. Especially 1840 Since the Opium War 160, the people of China have worked hard to get rid of poverty and realize national rejuvenation, which has profoundly changed the fate of the Chinese nation.
95 years ago, the people of China overthrew the autocratic monarchy that ruled China for thousands of years through the Revolution of 1911, which opened the floodgate for China's economic progress.
Fifty-seven years ago, after a long struggle, the people of China achieved national independence and people's liberation, and established a new China where the people were masters of their own affairs.
Twenty-eight years ago, the people of China began the great historical process of reform, opening up and modernization, and achieved great achievements that attracted worldwide attention through hard work.
From 1978 to 2005, China's gross domestic product increased from147.3 billion US dollars to 2,225.7 billion US dollars, its total import and export volume increased from 20.6 billion US dollars to 142 1000 billion US dollars, and its foreign exchange reserves increased from 167 billion US dollars to 8.
Looking back on the past 160 years, we can say that the people of China not only changed their own destiny, but also promoted the cause of human progress through hard exploration and tenacious struggle.
It must be noted that although China has made great development achievements, it is still the largest developing country in the world, and its per capita GDP is still behind 100 countries in the world. The people of China are still not rich, and the development of China still faces many prominent contradictions and problems. In order to completely change the face of China and improve the lives of the people in China, we need to continue to work tirelessly and hard.
In the future 15, China will concentrate on building a well-off society with a population of over one billion in an all-round way. Specifically, it is to make China's GDP reach about US$ 4 trillion and per capita GDP reach about US$ 3,000 by 2020, so as to make the economy more developed, democracy more sound, science and education more advanced, culture more prosperous, society more harmonious and people's lives more affluent.
In order to achieve our development goals, China has determined its own development concept according to its national conditions and the requirements of the times, that is, to establish and implement a "people-oriented, comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development" Scientific Outlook on Development, to coordinate urban and rural development, regional development, economic and social development, harmonious development between man and nature, domestic development and opening up, and to pay more attention to solving people's livelihood problems and overcoming development imbalances. Pay more attention to solving the prominent contradictions in development, devote ourselves to taking a new road of industrialization with high scientific and technological content, good economic benefits, low resource consumption, less environmental pollution and giving full play to the advantages of human resources, promote the coordinated development of construction, political construction, cultural construction and social construction, and strive to achieve a civilized development pattern of production development, affluent life and good ecology.
Scientific Outlook on Development put forward the idea on the basis of summing up China's modernization experience, conforming to the trend of the times and inheriting the excellent cultural traditions of the Chinese nation. Chinese civilization has never had a terminal among the ancient civilizations in the world, and has developed for more than 5,000 years. The unique cultural tradition formed by the Chinese nation in the long historical development has deeply influenced ancient China and contemporary China. Modern China emphasizes "people-oriented, advancing with the times, social harmony and peaceful development", which not only has a deep foundation of Chinese civilization, but also embodies the progressive spirit of the development of the times.
Chinese civilization has always attached importance to people-oriented and respected human dignity and value. As early as thousands of years ago, China people put forward that "the people are the foundation of the country, and the foundation is the foundation of the country, and the world does not belong to people", emphasizing "building the people, helping the people, and benefiting the people". Today, we insist on people-oriented, that is, development is for the people, development depends on the people, and the fruits of development are enjoyed by the people. We pay attention to people's values, rights and freedoms and quality of life. Ultimately, it is the primary task of China to realize people's all-round development and safeguard people's right to subsistence and development. We will vigorously promote economic and social development, safeguard people's freedom, democracy and human rights in accordance with the law, realize social fairness and justice, and enable China's 654.38 billion people to live a happy life.
Chinese civilization has always paid attention to self-improvement and innovation, and "a gentleman strives for self-improvement"-this is the motto handed down by China for thousands of years. In the historical process of more than 5,000 years, the Chinese nation has thrived, developed and strengthened, never wavered after setbacks, and never lost heart after repeated setbacks, relying on such a spirit of self-improvement, perseverance and advancing with the times. China people's enterprising spirit in reform and opening up, their creative enthusiasm in building the country, and their indomitable spirit in overcoming various difficulties on the road ahead are the portrayal of this spirit of self-improvement.
Chinese civilization has always paid attention to social harmony and emphasized unity and mutual assistance. China people have long put forward the idea of "harmony is precious", pursuing the harmony between man and nature, between people and between body and mind, and yearning for an ideal society where everyone is blind, everyone is equal and the world is fair.
Today, China proposes to build a harmonious society, that is, to build a society with democracy and legal system, fairness and justice, honesty and friendship, full of vitality, stability and order, and harmony between man and nature, and to realize the organic unity of material and spirit, democracy and legal system, fairness and efficiency, vitality and order.
The people of China take safeguarding national unity as their bounden duty and safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity as their highest mission. All actions that are conducive to national unity and national unity will be heartily welcomed and supported by the people of China, and all actions that are not conducive to national unity and national unity will be strongly opposed and resisted by the people of China.
Chinese civilization has always advocated being close to the people, being kind to the people and stressing harmonious coexistence. The Chinese nation has always loved peace. In foreign relations, the people of China always adhere to the spirit of "being strong but not weak" and "being rich without humiliating the poor", and advocate that all ethnic groups live in harmony. The people of China admire all rivers run into the sea, and the spirit of helping the world. They unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development, promoting world peace not only by maintaining world peace, but also through their own development. China adheres to an open strategy of mutual benefit and win-win, and is sincerely willing to carry out extensive cooperation with other countries. Sincerely willing to learn from others, seek peace through cooperation, seek development through cooperation, and promote the construction of a harmonious world with lasting peace and prosperity.
Scholars, gentlemen, friends, China and the United States both have vast territories, are countries with multi-ethnic coexistence and multi-cultural integration, and all live with hardworking and intelligent people. There are differences between China and the United States due to different historical backgrounds and realistic national conditions, which is beneficial for us to learn from each other and learn from each other's strengths. Strengthening cooperation between China and the United States conforms to the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples, and also has a significant impact on world peace and development.
For more than 200 years, the vast Pacific Ocean has not stopped the exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese and American peoples. The Chinese and American people learn from each other, help each other, and write a beautiful chapter for different civilizations in the world to learn from each other. From 65438 to 0979, since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States 27 years ago, the relationship between the two countries has experienced twists and turns, but it has generally maintained the general direction of stable development and brought great benefits to the two countries and their peoples.
Entering the 2 1 century, the international situation continues to change profoundly, and peace and development are still the themes of today's times, but unstable and uncertain factors are increasing, and new challenges and threats are increasing. Under the new international situation, China and the United States have increased their common interests and expanded the areas of cooperation. The new issues facing world peace and security, especially opposing international terrorism, preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, protecting the man-made living environment and cracking down on transnational crimes, are important common strategic interests of our two countries.
China's huge market and development demand, the advanced technology and high-quality products of the United States provide a huge space for economic cooperation between the two countries, and China and the United States have broad prospects for all-round development of constructive cooperative relations. Yesterday morning, President Bush and I had an in-depth exchange of views on Sino-US relations and major international and regional issues of common concern and reached many important consensuses. We all believe that both sides should look at and handle Sino-US relations with the same strategic height and long-term vision, strengthen dialogue, expand knowledge, enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation, and comprehensively promote the constructive cooperative relationship between China and the United States in the 2 1 century.
I believe that as long as we proceed from the overall situation of the development of Sino-US relations, respect each other and understand each other, bilateral relations will develop healthily and steadily, bringing more benefits to the two peoples and greater hope to the people of the world.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends, a note can't express a beautiful melody, a colorful picture scroll that is difficult to describe with colors, and the world is a colorful palace. A nation's culture often embodies its historical cognition and realistic feelings about the world and life, and also accumulates its deep spiritual pursuit and code of conduct. The process of human history development is the process of continuous communication, integration and innovation of various civilizations. All civilizations in human history have contributed to human progress in their own unique ways. The diversity of civilization is an objective reality of human society, a basic feature of today's world and an important driving force for human progress.
Historical experience shows that in the process of human civilization exchange, we should not only overcome natural barriers and obstacles, but also transcend ideological barriers and constraints, and more importantly, overcome various prejudices. Differences in ideology, social system and development model should not be obstacles to the exchange of human civilizations, let alone reasons for mutual confrontation. We should actively safeguard the diversity of the world, promote dialogue and exchanges between different civilizations, learn from each other, rather than repel each other, so as to make mankind more harmonious and happy and make the world more colorful.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends, cultural, educational and youth exchanges are an important bridge to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and American peoples, and also an important force to promote the healthy and stable development of Sino-US relations.
Yale University is a pioneer of Sino-US educational cooperation and an important platform for cultural exchange. 156 years ago, a young man named Rong Hong from China walked into the campus of Yale University. Four years later, he got a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors and became the first China student to graduate from an American university.
Since then, groups of young people from China have come to Yale University to study. In the past 20 years, Yale University has attracted more than 4,000 China students and cooperated with China's cultural, scientific and educational circles on more than 80 projects. Last summer, Yale University sent the first batch of students to China for internships, and some of them became the first batch of interns in the Palace Museum in China.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the President and Yale University for their active efforts in promoting the exchanges between the Chinese and American peoples. In order to promote mutual understanding between Chinese and American youth and educational circles, I am pleased to announce that China has decided to invite 65,438+000 teachers and students from Yale University to visit China this summer. I believe your visit will be a very pleasant experience.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends, the waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves before, and the new people on earth change the old ones. Young people are the hope and future of the world. Young people have great vitality and endless creativity. I sincerely hope that the young people of China and the United States will join hands, enhance the friendship between the Chinese and American peoples with practical actions, and work with the people of other countries to create a better tomorrow for the world. Thank you!