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Consul General Hong Lei Delivers Speech on China-US relations at Purdue University
2017-03-29 03:22

On March 29, Consul General Hong Lei was invited to give a speech on China-US relations at Purdue University in Indiana. Professor Hong Wei, Director of Purdue Confucius Institute and 300 university teachers and students attended the event.

Consul General Hong Lei said that he was very glad to visit Purdue University and meet the students. Purdue University is a first-class university in the US and has close connections with China. With nuclear physics expert and forerunner Mr. Deng Jiaxian and the famous general in the war against Japanese aggression Mr. Sun Liren as its graduates, Purdue University is very famous in China. Purdue University has long attached importance to its exchanges with China and carried out extensive and close cooperation with Shanghai Jiaotong University and other Chinese universities. Purdue University has over 4500 Chinese students as well as hundreds of Chinese scholars and professors, which fully reflects the deepening educational cooperation between China and the US.

Consul General Hong Lei said that in recent years, China-US cultural exchanges also achieved fruitful results. Last year, the Field Museum in Chicago held an exhibition of Terracotta Warriors and Horses of China's Qin Dynasty. The appreciation of ancient Chinese civilization led to an increase of 500,000 visitors to the museum. Shanghai Peking Opera Theater staged Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in the form of Peking Opera in Chicago's Harris Theater and was warmly received by the US audience. Famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang, Guangdong Friendship Working Group and Provincial Art Troupe have come to visit and perform in Indiana, which enhanced the friendship between the Chinese people and the Indiana people.

Consul General Hong Lei said that in addition to prosperous educational and cultural exchanges, China-US trade and investment cooperation enjoys a strong momentum. Our bilateral trade volume reached US$520 billion last year, which was at a high level. Chinese investment in the US reached US$15 billion in 2015 and soared over US$45 billion in 2016, surpassing US investment in China in both years. In the past 15 years, Chinese companies invested US$13 billion and created nearly 30,000 jobs in the nine Midwestern states. In the coming five years, with a transformed and upgraded economy, China is expected to import $8 trillion of goods, make $750 billion of outbound investment. Chinese tourists will make 700 million overseas visits. All these will create more business opportunities for other countries including the US.

Consul General Hong Lei said that last month, President Xi Jinping and President Trump had a very important telephone conversation where they reaffirmed the importance of following the One-China principle and pledged to push China-US relations to greater height from a new starting point. The phone call has set the direction and paved the way for bilateral relations. Not long ago, US Secretary of State Mr. Rex Tillerson emphasized multiple times during his trip to China that the US side is willing to develop relations with China based on the spirits of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, continuously increase mutual understanding, reinforce bilateral coordination and cooperation, and jointly deal with challenges facing the international community. We are confident that with our joint efforts, China-US relations will keep moving forward on the right track.

After the speech, Consul General Hong Lei answered questions from the audience.

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