Speech of Ambassador Li Jinjun on the reception of celebrating the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Myanmar

Your honorable Excellency Secretary-1 of the State Peace and Development Council Lt-Gen. Thein Sein,

Your honorable Members of the State Peace and Development Council, Ministers and Deputy Ministers,

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening! I am very happy to host the reception here tonight to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Myanmar. First of all I would like to take behalf of the Chinese Government as well as the Chinese Embassy here to express our sincere thanks to H.E. Lt-Gen. Thein Sein to lead so many Ministers and Deputy Ministers to attend this reception.

China and Myanmar are friendly neighbors linked by common mountains and rivers. The two peoples get along harmoniously with close contacts, and have forged a profound Pauk-Phaw (meaning full brothers) friendship since the very ancient time. The friendly exchanges between China and Myanmar could be traced back to Han Dynasty of almost 2000 years ago. In Tang Dynasty (AD618-AD907), the prince of Myanmar (by that time called the Pyu Country) led a performance group to Chang'an, the then capital city of China. For portrayal, the famous poet at that time Bai Juyi (AD772-AD846) wrote a poem named "the music of Pyu", which is still popular now in eulogizing the splendid shows and bilateral relations. Till modern days, the two peoples have extended sympathy and support to each other on fighting against foreign invasions for seeking liberation and independence. In year 1949, Myanmar took the lead to recognize the new government of the People's Republic of China. For long after that there has been frequent exchange of visits between leaders of China and Myanmar, during which the two countries jointly advocated the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence and Sino-Myanmar friendship has been praised far and wide, as in late Chinese Marshal Chen Yi's poem, sentences of "At the top of a river lies the home of me/ At the other end, that of thee/ Infinite feeling we harbor for each other/As from the same river we fetch drinking water" present a vivid portrayal of the Pauk-Phaw friendship. Entering the new century, the two countries signed the "Joint Statement Concerning Framework Document on Future Cooperation in Bilateral Relation between the People's Republic of China and the Union of Myanmar", which clear points out the direction of the development of Sino-Myanmar relations in the 21st Century. The Pauk-Phaw friendship continuously deepens with leaders of two countries maintain frequent visits and the two peoples promoting the fraternal friendship.

There are too many feelings we value highly when looking back into history of all those 55 years that we walked over together, and we are filled more with full pride, enthusiasm and confidence when looking into our way ahead in the future. Today the Sino-Myanmar Pauk-phaw friendship has entered a brand new phase. Not long ago, President Hu Jintao and Chairman Senior General Than Shwe held a bilateral meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia when attending the Asia-Africa Summit Meeting, which set clear goals of further friendly cooperation. The bilateral trade and economic cooperation enjoys great achievements and unprecedented enthusiasm in categories of agricultural projects, infrastructure construction, natural resources exploration, industrial processing and assembling, human resources management etc. And some projects of strategic importance in economic cooperation are also under discussion. All this shows the great potential of the bilateral trade and economic cooperation. Exchanges and cooperation in fields like military, culture and education, health and sports etc. are further promoted along with the development of friendly relations, which gains warm welcome from the two peoples in all circles. Meanwhile, China and Myanmar are also exploring new fields of cooperation like youth and women affairs, anti-narcotics as well as labor cooperation etc. and have made notable achievements.

From today on, we will be holding a series of celebration activities for the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. From June 9th-15th, some popular movies in China like "Warriors of Heaven and Earth", "Cell Phone", "Pretty Big Feet", "Together With You" etc. will be shown in Naypyidaw Cinema in Yangon; during the same period there will be paintings show by peasants from Teng Chong of Yunnan Province and Photograph Exhibition on Myanmar natural scenery by Chen Xiaochuan, Special Photographer from Chendu City of Sichuan Province; from June 11th-17th, China Heilongjiang Art Troupe will be visiting Myanmar for performance; from June 15th-20th, the Provincial Male Volleyball Team from Sichuan will come to Myanmar for friendship games. Besides that, activities as HSK test (Chinese Proficiency Test), Chinese Speech Contest will also be held in Yangon to add more lustre of the celebration activities in June.

Distinguished Guests, dear friends, China's economy is growing vigorously. But China's development can never be cut off from Asia and can never do without the support from friendly neighboring countries including Myanmar. China's development has already brought about and will continue to create opportunities for commonly beneficial cooperation among Asian countries and the whole world. China is choosing a peaceful way of development and thus needs a stable, prosperous and developing environment. "Treating neighbors with good will", "Cementing peaceful relations by upholding good faith", "keeping harmonious relations with all nations", these are all essence of China's historical traditions of culture and diplomacy. The Chinese People have ever been subjected to bullying and humiliation and have gone through so many disaster and hardships in history, thus we fully cherish the value of sovereignty and peace, thoroughly understand and support countries that share similar historical sufferings in their pursuit of sovereignty, peace and stability. To achieve the common development to benefit the entire region, China is ready to join hands with the good neighbor Myanmar of her government and her people to intensify cooperation in the 5 key fields as agriculture, exploring of natural resources, human resources management, infrastructure construction and industrial processing and assembling on the basis of the principles of mutual benefit and common development, and thus to draw a broader blueprint of bilateral trade and economic cooperation, to deepen further the all-directional friendly cooperative relations of good-neighborliness in all fields, and to ensure Sino-Myanmar Pauk-phaw friendship be filled with fruitful achievements!

May I propose a toast

For the long-lasting Sino-Myanmar Pauk-phaw friendship,

For the common prosperity and well-beings of the two countries,

For health of the two leaders and for all the guest at present,

Cheers!