Ambassador Liu Xiaoming

September 29, 2006

Honorable Vice President Yang Heng Sop,

Honorable Ministers,

Fellow Ambassadors,

Comrades and Friends,

Thank you for joining us in celebrating the 57th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The past 57 years have witnessed the groundbreaking changes in China. The Chinese people have transformed their homeland from a poor and backward country to a thriving and prosperous nation in just a few decades, achieving a miracle in the history of the Chinese nation and of the world as well.

The Chinese people are now working hard for peaceful reunification of the motherland and striving for the modernization of the country in the middle of this century. The Chinese people are peace-loving people. A China deeply committed to peaceful development will make greater contributions to the peace and prosperity of the world.

China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are friendly neighbors. Our friendship was established and cultivated by the founding leaders of our two countries. It is a firm and consistent policy of the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese Government to further strengthen and develop friendship and cooperation between China and DPRK. We are ready to work with our Korean friends to inherit the traditions, plan for the future, develop good-neighborly relations and strengthen cooperation to bring China-Korea relations to a new high.

Comrades and friends,

I feel greatly honored to be a new Chinese Ambassador to DPRK. This is a glorious post with great responsibilities. I will spare no efforts in working with all of you to promote the friendship between our two peoples and deepen the cooperation between our two countries. I'm confident that with our joint efforts the friendly cooperative relationship between China and DPRK will have a great future.

Now I'd like to propose a toast,

To the friendly cooperation between China and DPRK,

To the health of  General Secretary Kim Jyong-il,

To the health of Vice President Yang Heng Sop,

And to the health of comrades and friends present tonight.

Thank you.