In the afternoon of April 14th, China’s president Xi Jinping accepted credentials from newly-appointed foreign ambassadors to China from 29 countries.
In April, Beijing was in the warm sunshine. Outside of the north gate of the Great Hall of the People, honor guards stood in two ordered lines to welcome ambassadors, accompanied by the sound of trumpets blowed by buglers.
Ambassadors ascended the steps made by white marble. In front of the giant wall painting whose name literally means “the land is so rich in beauty”, ambassadors submitted credentials and expressed cordial greetings from heads of their countries one after another.
Those ambassadors are: Javid Ahmad Qaem from Afghanistan, Georgios Iliopoulos from Greece, Tarik Bukvic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jean Louis Robinson from Madagascar, Luca Ferrari from Italy, Abrao Dos Santos from Timor-Leste, KS (Vincent) Sivas from the Federated States of Micronesia, Gafar Karar Ahmed K. from Sudan, Alain Wong Yen Cheong from Mauritius, Mahendra Bahadur Pandey from Nepal, Moin Ul Haque from Pakistan, Dumitru Braghis from Moldova, Thomas Oestrup Moeller from Denmark, Jan Hoogmartens from Belgium, Nasser Al Busaidi from Oman, Masanneh Nyuku Kinteh from Gambia, Saidzoda Zohir from Tajikistan, Caroline E. Wilson from the UK, Felix Plasencia from Venezuela, Tarumi Hideo from Japan, Siyabonga C. Cwele from South Africa, Palitha Kohona from Sri Lanka, Senko Yury from Belarus, Ann Derwin from Ireland, Irit Ben Abba from Israel, Antonio Serifo Embalo from Guinea-Bissau, Ri Ryong Nam from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Shorsh Khalid Said from Iraq and Sabino Vaca Narvaja from Argentina. Siddharth Chatterjee, the new United Nations resident coordinator in China, submitted a letter of appointment.
President Xi Jinping took a picture with all of them and delievered a speech.
Xi Jinping sent his best wishes to heads of countries through ambassadors. He said that in the last year, people in Chinese and other countries worked hand in hand to fight against Covid-19, which wrote a new chapter of international friendly cooperation. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC and the first year for the implementation of the “14th Five Year Plan” and for the comprehensive construction of a socialist modern country. China will firmly stick to the new development ideology and construct a new development structure to let people of every country benefit from China’s development. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of China's lawful seat at the United Nations and the 20th anniversary of China’s entry to the WTO. China is willing to work with every country to firmly support multilaterism; safeguard the international system with UN as it’s core and the international order with the International Law as it’s basis; safeguard multilateral trade system; promote the construction of the golbal governance system and push forward the construction of a human community with a share future. The Beijing Winter Olympic Games will be held the next year. We are confident that with support and engagement of every party, we can overcome the impact of the pandemic and present simple, safe and amazing Olympic Games.
Xi Jinping stressed that Chinese people always cherish friendship and peace. On the basis of equality and mutual benefit, we are willing to enhance friendship, increase mutual trust, expand cooperation and carry out the “Belt and Road” initiative with high quality. He hopes that ambassadors will contribute to the development of bilateral relationship and the cooperation between China and UN.
Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, attended the event above.