Thank you Ms. Vesna Pusic. I am much honored to be invited to speak here. Ladies and Gentlemen,
When I was Ambassador to UK, I read about this city from Bernard Shaw who said, "If you want to see heaven on earth, come to Dubrovnik."
Today, my colleagues and I came all the way to this beautiful place, not only to appreciate the heavenly scenery, but also to seek understanding and cooperation.
I first of all want to congratulate Croatia on its first anniversary as an EU member. We place hope on Croatia to continue helping promoting understanding and cooperation between China and EU.
China has all along supported European integration. We have just issued the 2nd Policy Paper on EU, specifying the steps to implement China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation.
We have also initiated a 1+16 platform for the Central Eastern and Central Southern European countries which are falling behind as they account for only 10% of EU's total trade and investment with China. It also means there is greater potential to be tapped.
This platform is more targeted and the Bucharest Cooperation Guideline published last year covers six areas for cooperation. We hope this will not only be fruitful, but also add more vitality to our general relationship with EU.
Now let me turn to China. According to the results of the International Comparison Programme (ICP) released by the World Bank last April, based on PPP statistics, China will turn into the number one world economy in 2014. But this is widely disputed in China as an over-estimation.
It is true that China has achieved historical transformation over the past three decades. 36 years ago, China's total GDP was only 364.5 billion Yuan (RMB), at that time about 268.3 billion USD.
I remember those years when supply was short and food was rationed. Even until the 1990's, civil servants' families like mine found it difficult to make the ends meet.
Now China's GDP has grown to 56.9 trillion Yuan (RMB), which is about 9.4 trillion USD, increased by more than 150 times calculated according to constant price. We have grown into the number one commodity traders in the world and have the largest foreign exchange reserves.
But does it make China a world power now? A poll shows that most Chinese believe that China is still a developing country. What we have achieved is fairly basic and there is still a long way to go.
Take for example, we have achieved nation-wide 9-year compulsory education, but most schools in the western part of the country are seriously short of teachers, and facilities like drinking water and sanitation do not reach the normal standard.
The urbanization drive in China is probably the largest the world has ever seen. The current focus is to accommodate the 300 million people at the door-steps of urbanization.
They include 100 million people who came into the cities and need to settle down, 100 million who live in sub-standard urban quarters, and another 100 million who are just leaving the countryside and need to settle in the small and medium sized cities in the western regions.
This is a grand scheme not without huge challenges especially in terms of energy needs and environmental concerns. But it will also unleash huge potential for continued growth in China.
So in the long run, China will concentrate on meeting the challenges, at home and by resorting to greater reform, and to achieve "the Chinese dream", a term first used by President Xi Jinping, meaning better life of the people and greater prosperity of the country.
China, to achieve that, needs a peaceful domestic and international environment, especially a stable neighborhood. The past two decades saw political stability and economic prosperity in Asia in which China is always an important actor.
China constitutes more than half of Asia's economic growth and is the number one trading partner for most countries in the region and is also investing more and more.
On the security matters, China supports the ASEAN-led regional framework which aims at accommodating security interests of all parties instead of absolute security for one party at the cost of others. This accords China's security thinking for Asia.
China inherited many land and maritime territorial disputes due to its painful history of being weak and unable to protect its own interests. For the sake of regional stability, we stand for peaceful negotiations. Pending solutions, we agreed with the parties concerned to shelve some of the disputes and work on possible cooperation. This wise policy, which is also in line with the international laws and the UN spirit, helped keeping order and peace in the region in the past 2 decades.
However, tension started to rise in recent years, mainly because some individual countries tried to push for their own interests at the expense of the status quo. Some even raised new disputes.
It's important that China responds to provocations swiftly not only to protect our own interests, but also to prevent escalation. We will continue to take responsibility and to work with all other countries to ensure that the general peace and stability of the region will not be compromised by any irresponsible behavior.
In today's world, there is mixed feeling about China's role. On the one hand there is growing expectation for China to do more. On the other hand, there is fear that China may compete for world power with the US.
If you ask the Chinese, you will find that they have little interest to see the country to take over from the US. If China can provide public goods to the world, it would have to be in areas China feels comfortable and does well.
One case to the point is the Chinese President Xi Jinping's initiative to build Silk Road economic belt which aims at connecting Asia through Central Asia all the way to Europe. The Asia Investment Bank which is also under discussion will offer financial support to the program.
The key word is connectivity not only for roads and trade, but also for tourism, telecom, internet, even currency. The program is not exclusive and it opens to all countries. Countries like Croatia and many others in the region are right at the converging point of this Euro-Asia continental belt and are well situated to benefit from such drive.
Next year China and Croatia are going to mark the 10th anniversary of our partnership for comprehensive cooperation.
Our relationship has already grown from economic ties to wider sphere including students' exchanges, culture studies and sharing of views and experiences on regional and international issues.
Next year will be a time of not only celebration but also designing the next step, and we hope Croatia will make the most of opportunities offered by the Silk Road program and the 1+16 platform. We also welcome other countries represented here to join hands with us to allow our cooperation benefiting more people.
Thank you!