The Speech of Chinese Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany Wu Ken on launching ceremony of “Power of Thoughts” - CGTN’s podcast and publication

(October 18, 2023  Frankfurt am Main)

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon! As the 75th Frankfurt Book Fair opens, I’m honored to visit Goethe’s hometown and attend the event hosted by CGTN launching the “Stories of Xi Jinping” podcast and the “Global Thinkers” series of products. Today’s theme, “the Power of Thought”, reminds me of Goethe’s saying that “Thinking and doing, doing and thinking, this is the sum of all wisdom” (In German “Denken und Tun, Tun und Denken,-das ist die Summer aller Weiseit”). This quote from “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship” (In German “Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre”), a classic German bildungsroman, contains not only the philosophy regarding the growth of the individuals but also logic and wisdom of state governance.

The institutional key to China’s governance is to always put people first. The “Stories of Xi Jinping” podcast that is launched today vividly records scenes of President Xi Jinping setting foot in fields, factories, schools and coal mines to listen to people’s opinions, understand people’s needs and address people’s concerns. This program exhibits President Xi Jinping’s people-first governance philosophy and opens up a new window for more German and European readers to understand CPC’s state governance, Chinese people’s strive for the realization of their dreams, and China’s commitment to peaceful development and win-win cooperation. We are devoted to advancing Chinese modernization so the Chinese people can live better lives and there will be more development opportunities for the people of the world. It is not to replace or challenge any country. This is fundamentally distinct from the recent rhetoric of individual Europeans depicting China’s development as a “source of risk” to the world.

The high ideal of China’s development is to keep in mind the greater good of the whole world. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the proposal to jointly advance the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). While we are gathered here, the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation is taking place in Beijing. Over the past decade, with the joint efforts of all parties, the BRI has achieved solid and significant outcomes, opened up new spaces for world economic growth, built new platforms for international trade and investment, and improved the development capacity and people’s wellbeing of partner countries. After ten years of development, over three quarters of countries in the world and more than 30 international organizations have signed BRI cooperation agreements. According to a World Bank report titled “The Belt and Road Economics”, the BRI, if fully implemented, will increase trade among partner countries by 4.1%. By 2030, the BRI will generate USD 1.6 trillion in benefits for the world annually. With unwavering faith and concrete actions, China has delivered this popular global public good, which is a vivid epitome of China’s contribution to building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

We live in a world of both hopes and challenges. We are standing at a crossroad where choices must be made between solidarity and division, openness and seclusion, and between cooperation and confrontation. These choices are vital to the overall interests of humanity and test the wisdom of all countries. In face of the changes in the world, in our times and historical trajectory, President Xi Jinping put forward the vision of building a global community of shared future and called on the international community to jointly build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that will enjoy lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity. President Xi Jinping later proposed the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, which further enrich the meaning of the building a global community of shared future and its practical approaches. More and more countries have realized that humanity shares both wealth and woe, and solidarity and cooperation are the right path to follow. 

As President Xi Jinping pointed out, a diversity of civilizations, systems and paths, together with exchange and mutual learning among them, can provide a strong impetus for the progress of human society. On the path of advancing Chinese modernization, our experience is to view Germany and Europe from the perspective of cooperation and partnership. The fact that relations between China and Germany and between China and the EU have achieved remarkable progress and fruitful outcomes already proves that China’s development not only contributes to the world economy but also opens more windows of opportunity for Germany and Europe. We hope that when viewing China and developing relations with China, Europe and Germany will keep “partner” as the primary positioning.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest exhibition in the publishing industry. We have seen extensive exchanges of culture between different ethnic groups from around the world and in different languages. We have also witnessed a stunning display of cultural achievements created by people from all over the world. I noticed that the slogan of this year’s Guest of Honor is “Honeycomb of Words” (In German “Waben der Worte”), a metaphor for how bees protect and promote biodiversity through pollination to represent the importance of the exchange of ideas for mutual learning among civilizations. I sincerely hope the newly launched “Stories of Xi Jinping” podcast and the “Global Thinkers” series of products can offer a broad and alternative perspective for German and European readers to understand China’s development philosophy and path as well as China’s domestic and foreign policies, so as to gain a more comprehensive understanding of China, develop a more objective view of China, and arrive at a more rational reading of China.

Lastly, I’d like to wish this event a great success. Thank you!