STATE DINNER – SPEECHES BY THE PRESIDENT OF MALTA AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA SPEECH BY H.E. PROF. GUIDO DE MARCO, PRESIDENT OF MALTA

Mr President, Mrs Jiang, Honourable Prime Minister, Mrs Fenech Adami, Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Malta. I hope you find our hospitality as warm as that which you afforded us during the visit to the People’s Republic of China, earlier this month. Your visit to Malta comes at the end of a diplomatic round of visits to the Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. It demonstrates your willingness to engage meaningfully in a changing multi-polar world environment, and to address issues of interest and concern on a global and regional scale. This State Visit further consolidates the bond of friendship between the Governments and peoples of Malta and China. It gives added relevance to this model relationship between a world power and an island state in the middle of the Mediterranean – a relationship of friendship which we were able to foster during three decades of formal diplomatic relations. It is also clear testimony to our mutual will to seek and explore further avenues of cooperation in the social, cultural and economic spheres. The mutual esteem and understanding, at the highest political level, will act as a stimulus to fulfilling the whole array of trade and cultural opportunities that exist between our two countries.

First of all, I would like to congratulate you for your successful bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games. We are certain that Beijing, as the capital of the most populous country, will be an ideal setting for this celebration of sports, peoples and cultures from all around the world. Allow me to say how impressed I was with the positive changes that have taken place in China during the past decade, since my first visit there. Your country has undergone substantial social and economic developments affecting all strata of society, dictated by a will to embrace the challenges of a changing international environment, whilst seeking to address issues within a context of a social market economy. During my visit to Shanghai, I had the opportunity to see at first hand the reality and the powerful future potential of China. It is also thanks to your leadership, first as mayor of Shanghai and now as President of your country, that this city is today one of the major trade and economic centres in the world. For Shanghai, this past decade has been a booming period for its economy and for its people. We acknowledge that it holds the promise of an even brighter future. In Hong Kong, one cannot help noticing the successful and wise reality of the One China Two Systems policy. Hong Kong continues to forge ahead with its particular identity and way of life. This fact is evidence of your will to seriously accomplish your vision for your country, and it evinces Malta’s continued support for a One China. Multilevel cooperation between Malta and China has matured over the years. We gave further substance to our relationship by the signing of three significant agreements in Beijing. Tomorrow, Malta and China will sign a Memorandum of Understanding implementing the decision by the Chinese authorities to consider Malta a ‘destination country’ for Chinese tourists, a three-year Executive Programme on Cultural Cooperation, together with a Memorandum of Understanding which will pave the way for the setting up of a Chinese Cultural Centre in Malta. It gives me particular satisfaction to oversee the coming into reality of this Chinese Cultural Centre for the promotion of your language, culture and civilisation throughout the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Mr President, I am glad that during this visit you will have the opportunity to appreciate our pluri-millennial historical heritage, which I briefly had the opportunity to outline during our talks in Beijing. Thanks to your academic training as an engineer, you will certainly appreciate the majestic beauty of {a;ar Qim Temples, forming part of a complex of temples regarded to be the first free standing stone structures in the world. You will also have the opportunity to enjoy the austere grandeur of the fortifications around the Grand Harbour, built at the command of the Knights of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. And to visit some of our architectural gems, namely The Palace and St John’s Co-Cathedral. In Mdina, you will be able to see the embodiment of the many strata of influences from all the peoples who passed through these Islands. We are proud of our age-old history. We seek to build upon these multifaceted influences and experiences to pursue our vocation as a link amongst peoples and cultures in the Euro-Mediterranean region, and beyond. Since Independence in 1964, we have built a nation founded on democracy and the rule of law. We cherish the faith and values which our forefathers bequeathed us, and we seek to promulgate these values within the fold of international fora, and especially within the United Nations Organisation. I hope that our discussions and this visit will provide you with a comprehensive view of our Euro-Mediterranean heritage, together with a glimpse onto our future founded upon a strategic location and a principled political vocation. We look forward towards keeping up the momentum of excellent relations between our two countries. We look forward towards availing ourselves of each other’s advice and experiences. We are, Mr President, building together a solid edifice of enhanced bilateral and multilateral friendship and cooperation. It is with these thoughts that I invite you, Ladies and Gentlemen, to raise your glasses and toast to the health and prosperity of His Excellency Jiang Zemin and Mrs Jiang, and that of the people of China.

SPEECH BY H.E MR JIANG ZEMIN, PRESIDENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Your Excellency President Guido de Marco and Mrs de Marco, Honourable Prime Minister, Mrs Fenech Adami, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends, At the kind invitation of His Excellency President Guido de Marco, I have come to your country on a state visit. As soon as we set foot on the soil of Malta,we have been accorded with warm welcome and generous hospitality by His Excellency the President as well as the Government and people of Malta. Tonight President de Marco is hosting such a sumptuous dinner here for us and has just made heart-warming remarks. This fully shows the warm hospitality and sincere friendly sentiments of the Maltese people towards the Chinese people. We are deeply touched by all this. I wish to extend, on behalf of my wife and my colleagues, and in my own name, our sincere gratitude to H.E. President de Marco and Mrs de Marco and to the Maltese Government and people, and convey the warm greetings and best wishes of the Chinese people to the Maltese people. Malta boasts a time-honoured history and splendid civilization and has a glorious tradition of resisting foreign aggression and defending national independence and sovereignty. Your country is renowned as a shining pearl in the Mediterranean Sea. For millennia, the industrious, courageous and talented Maltese people have lived and procreated on this once barren land and built Malta into a beautiful home despite all kinds of difficulties and obstacles. It is particularly notable that in past few centuries, the Maltese people have waged a dauntless struggle against foreign aggression and oppression and fought unyieldingly to safeguard their national sovereignty and dignity. Since its independence, Malta has vigorously developed its economy, improved the livelihood of its people and scored remarkable achievements. The Maltese people, with a strong aspiration for friendly ties and cooperation with other peoples throughout the world, have taken an active part in international affairs, committed themselves to peace and stability in the Mediterranean region and the world at large, and played a positive role. The Chinese people heartily rejoice at and admire all this. More than 1,300 years ago, a well-known Chinese poet, Zhang Jiuling, of the Tang Dynasty once wrote: “Distance cannot separate true friends, even when they are thousands of miles apart”, which could be seen as a vivid portrayal of the Sino-Maltese relationship today. Despite the great distance that separates China and Malta, similar historical experience and shared pursuit for peace and development have brought us heart to heart and forged a profound friendship. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between us nearly thirty years ago, in spite of the vicissitudes of the international situation, we have all along respected each other, treated each other as equals and true friends and supported each other. Our bilateral relationship has consistently developed in a sound and smooth way. The Chinese people will not forget that Malta has all along pursued a One China policy, been supportive of the grand cause of national reunification of China and consistently given us valuable support on major issues that bear on China’s sovereignty and interests. The drydock, breakwater of the freeport and the China Garden, among other things, will forever mark the friendly sentiments of the Chinese people towards the Maltese people. We have every reason to conclude that China and Malta are all-weather friends that have withstood the test of time and that Sino-Maltese relationship stands as a model of friendship and cooperation between countries of different sizes and social systems. We are particularly happy with the in-depth development of our bilateral relationship and continued substantiation and expansion of cooperation between our two countries in various areas in recent years. We have intensified our political consultations and coordination as well as cooperation in the UN and other international institutions. Our bilateral economic relations and trade continue to develop with the two-way trade growing year by year. The cultural and educational exchanges have turned increasingly buoyant. The two sides are working hard to expand cooperation channels and explore new areas of cooperation so as to inject fresh and greater vitality into our bilateral relationship.

During H.E. President de Marco’s successful visit to China not long ago, we had productive talks and reached broad consensus on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of shared interest. During my current visit to your country, the two sides will be having in-depth discussion on the foregoing issues and will sign agreements and papers establishing a Chinese cultural centre in Malta, on cultural co-operation programme, and on listing Malta as a tourist destination for Chinese citizens. All this has shown that the Sino-Maltese relationship is entering a new stage of development. I am convinced that with the joint efforts of both sides, the traditional friendship between our two peoples will grow in strength, the mutually beneficial cooperation between our two countries will be more fruitful, and that Sino-Maltese relations hold out broad prospects for development. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends, Both the Chinese and Maltese peoples ardently love liberty and peace. We are pleased to see that the pursuit for world peace, cooperation among peoples, national development and social progress has become the trend of the times. However, the world is still not tranquil. Local wars and conflicts crop up without letup. Hegemonism and power politics still exist, and the gap between the North and the South, the rich and the poor is still widening. It remains a long and uphill journey to address the issue of peace and development, which is a major task of the times. China has all along held that all countries, big or small, strong or weak, should be equal members of the international community, that the internal affairs of a country should be decided on by its own government and people, and that world affairs should be addressed through consultations on an equal footing by all countries. We are of the view that the international community should establish a new concept of security with mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination at its core, that the unfair and irrational international economic order should be changed gradually, and that various civilizations in this world should draw upon each other’s strong points to make up their deficiencies and seek common development. 

We stand ready to make unremitting efforts together with other peoples in the world, including the Maltese people, in building a new world of lasting peace and universal prosperity. Now may I propose a toast to the prosperity of Malta and the well-being of its people, to the continued development of friendship between the Chinese and Maltese peoples and friendly relations and cooperation between the two countries, to the health of H.E. President de Marco and Mrs de Marco, and to the health of everyone present. Cheers!