September 26, 2008

Distinguished guests, dear friends, ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening!

We have just said farewell to the splendid Beijing Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games, and will be immediately greeted with the 59th birthday of our nation.

Notably, right before our nation's birthday on October 1, China's only English-language news weekly Beijing Review is celebrating its 50th anniversary here in this grand building.

On behalf of the State Council Information Office and myself, I would like to send our heartiest congratulations to Beijing Review and its staff, who have worked so diligently over the years to make China's voice heard in the international community.

In the past 50 years, Beijing Review has played a vital role in recording China's development and progress in a variety of foreign languages, boosting the nation's communication and cooperation with other countries. Moreover, Beijing Review has made significant contributions to enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese people and peoples from other nations.

This year is unprecedented in Chinese history. Ever since the beginning of this year, a series of tragic events took place one after another, most notably the devastating Wenchuan earthquake, placing China in the spotlight. The Chinese Government presented a confident, highly efficient, humanitarian and responsible image to the whole world with its transparent reporting, and won the trust from the Chinese people and compliments from the international community. The Beijing Olympic Games, which ended a month ago, and the Beijing Paralympic Games, which concluded only a week ago, both boosted China's presence in the world and unprecedentedly drawn China and the rest of the world closer.

The world is a diversified community. Each country, and each ethnicity differs from each other in terms of cultural tradition and social systems. As long as we adhere to mutual respect, mutual understanding, strengthen communication and cooperation, we can better understand the other nations, and better develop ourselves. In the age of information and globalization, media serve as an important tool to bring peoples closer due to their fast information transmission, wide coverage and profound influence. In recent years we have strived to promote news reporting that mirrors reality and daily life and is written in a style understandable to foreign readers. These principles are clearly shown in Beijing Review's half-a-century development. In reporting major events this year, Beijing Review brought its multi-language reporting into full play. Its English print edition consistently gave wide coverage of breaking news, while its multi-language website enjoyed high hitting rates. Beijing Review responded timely in reporting news. Its in-depth analysis and reporting demonstrated the magazine's 50-year solid foundation in news reporting, and also showed the magazine's vast development potential in exploring new fields.

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of China's adoption of the reform and the open policy, while next year will be the 60th birthday of our nation. We are now standing at a brand new starting point with a bright future ahead. We strongly believe that China can be further integrated into the world for its openness and confidence. We also believe that in the grand undertaking of the modernization efforts, Beijing Review will embrace every development opportunity and have far-reaching influences internationally. It is our sincere hope that Beijing Review makes bigger contribution to presenting China to the world in a comprehensive, objective and factual way.

I hope that Beijing Review carries on its grand tradition and continues its past success to the future.

Thank you!