Mme. Li Xiaolin, President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), met with Mr. Gorges KEPENEKIAN, Mayor of Lyon, France, on May 4th, 2018. Gorges KEPENEKIAN said that Lyon keeps a special friendly relationship with China. Lyon is the first city to have opened Chinese language department in France. China-France University in Lyon had trained leaders in the fields of culture, art, education and etc.during the period of New China. Wuhan-EU Railway Express between Wuhan and Lyon is the first China Railway Express which sets France as the destination. Moreover, the exchanges of the friendly cities between Lyon and Guangzhou had achieved great results. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the friendly relations of the two cities, therefore, the two cities will hold grand activities to celebrate. Lyon is located on the route of ancient silk road, and will actively take part in the Belt and Road Initiatives. President Li Xiaolin thanked Mayor Gorges KEPENEKIAN for reviewing the traditional friendship between Lyon and China, and giving support in the Belt and Road Initiatives. She said that CPAFFC would continue to give support and promote the local cooperation between China and France as before, and hope Lyon to actively participate in the local pragmatic cooperation between China and France.         photographed by Wu Yuna      

Mme. Li Xiaolin, President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) met in Beijing with Mr. Rocky S. Tuan, President of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), and his delegation on May 3rd. President Li said that CPAFFC and CFFPD (China Friendship Foundation for Peace and Development) expected to cooperate closely with CUHK during the World Philanthropy Forum, and would actively participate the plan for training of social work talents with Tsinghua University and CUHK so as to train and educate the leading talents of public welfare for the cause of the friendship of the peoples between Chinese and foreign countries. Mr. Rocky S. Tuan stated that CUHK would actively contribute resources and strength to the World Philanthropy Forum and also give the plan for training of social work talents a lot of support in implementing as soon as possible, which demonstrated the contributions CUHK had made to the peaceful development of the nation and the world.       Photographed by Liu Jiacheng    

President Li Xiaolin met with Ambassador Gunnarson and Deputy Chief of Mission Baldursson from Iceland Embassy on April 26. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Independency of Iceland, and Iceland Embassy in China will organize a series of activities. President Li expressed great interests and supports. The two sides exchanged views widely on enhancement of people-to-people friendship and furthering cooperation on cultural exchange, geothermy and arctic affairs.    Photographed by Sun Chi    

President Li Xiaolin met with visiting President of the Republic of Korea-China Friendship Association Park Sam-koo on April 25, 2018. President Li welcomed Park Sam-koo and his delegation to visit China and exchanged opinions with him on the recent China-Republic of Korea relations and the situation of the Korean Peninsula. President Li spoke highly of the positive changes in the situation on the peninsula since the beginning of this year, and expressed her willingness to continue to play a constructive role on the Korean Peninsula issue and work together with the Republic of Korea side to contribute more to maintaining the momentum of relaxation on the peninsula. Park Sam-koo thanked President Li for sparing her time to meet with him, and expressed appreciation for the efforts made by the Chinese side to improve the situation on the peninsula and expectations for the success and positive outcome of the inter-Korean summit and other dialogues. CPAFFC Vice President Lin Yi and Republic of Korea-China Friendship Association Vice President Lee Won-tae were present at the meeting.       Photographed by Zhou Xiaodan  

Mme. Li Xiaolin, President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), met with Mme. LORENA CASTILLO DE VARELA, Panamanian President’s wife, and her delegation on the invitation of CPAFFC on April 23rd. On behalf of CPAFFC, President Li Xiaolin welcomed LORENA CASTILLO DE VARELA to China and said that the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Panama is an important highlight for the national relations between China and Latin America and Caribbean Friendship Association , and even for the international relations in 2017, which turned a new page for the bilateral relations. CPAFFC has been keeping close contacts with Panama-China Friendship Association and does lots of work for the promotion of the friendly exchanges of the two countries. The prevention of AIDS , the eradication of poverty and the strengthening of women and children education to which Mme. LORENA CASTILLO DE VARELA pays attention are also the main work for CPAFFC. President Li expressed that CPAFFC is willing to further develop exchanges in these fields with the relevant organizations from Panamanian side.  LORENA CASTILLO DE VARELA thanked CPAFFC for inviting them to visit China and giving them warm reception. She also expressed that Panamanian side attaches great importance to the friendly relations with China and expects to develop the exchanges in various fields with CPAFFC. Mr. Xie Yuan, Vice President of CPAFFC, Mr. FRANCISCO ESCOBAR, Panamanian Ambassador to China, Mr. Ji Yongjun, Deputy Director-General of Department of American and Oceanian Affairs of CPAFFC, attended the meeting.     Photographed by Xiao Xiao

On April 18th, President Li Xiaolin met with Bruce Bommarito，Vice President of Caesars Entertainment of the United States. The two sides had a discussion on the current US-China trade situation and exchanged views on co-hosting the US-China trade photo exhibition next year.   Photographed by Yang Xuehe

Mme. Li Xiaolin, President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), met in Beijing with Mr. TAKUYA TASSO, Governor of Iwate-ken, and his delegation on April 16th. Mme. Zhou Hong, President of Yunnan People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (YPAFFC), Mme. Zhu Dan, Deputy Director-General of Department of Japanese Affairs of CPAFFC, Mr. SASAKI JUNICHI, Speaker of Iwate-ken, Mr. YAMURA KUNIHISA, President of Iwate-ken Chamber of Commerce and Industry Federation, and etc., attended the meeting. President Li extended welcome to Governor TAKUYA TASSO and Speaker SASAKI JUNICHI together visiting China, and thanked Iwate-ken personages from all walks of life for upholding principle of being friendly to China for a long time. She said that Iwate-ken developed colorful exchanges and cooperation with Yunnan Province and other relevant regions in China, which not only enhanced the mutual understanding and friendly feelings between the two peoples, but also brought benefits for the social development of the two countries. Even more, Iwate-ken played an active role in improving the bilateral relations in the way of enhancing diplomatic relations with other countries through local governments' contacts. President Li said that, this year marks the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of a treaty of peace and friendship between China and Japan, and the 40th anniversary of Chinese reform and opening-up as well as the 45th anniversary of the exchanges of the friendly cities between China and Japan, which are beneficial to the improvement of the bilateral relations. In the Boao Forum for Asian Annual Conference 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping made it clear to all that China’s door of opening-up will not be closed and will only open even wider. China will continue to adhere to its fundamental national policy of opening-up and to promote the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This way, we can make the BRI the broadest platform for international cooperation in keeping with the trend of economic globalization. President Li expected both sides could deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in relevant fields and work together to further push the exchanges and cooperation of the two countries for improvement. Governor TAKUYA TASSO made a brief introduction about the exchanges and cooperation developed by Iwate -ken with China in recent year and said that the personages from all walks of life in Iwate-ken attached importance to the exchanges with China. Iwate-ken Dalian Economic Office was founded in 2005. Iwate-ken also established friendly exchange relations with Yunnan Province in 2013. He expressed that the delegation would also visit Yunnan Province except Beijing and will present the foundation ceremony of Representative Office of Iwate Industry Promotion Center in Yunnan. The various circles in Iwate-ken would like to catch up the opportunities to further promote the exchanges and cooperation with China in various fields and make efforts on the improvement bilateral relations from local-level.      Photographed by Shen Haiting  

On April 10th, President Li Xiaolin met with Nicola Sturgeon，First Minister of Scotland of the UK. President Li Xiaolin welcomed Sturgeon’s revisit to China at the invitation of the CPAFFC and giving speech on the topic of Safeguarding the Rights of the Poor Children. She said that its is one major task of the CPAFFC to facilitating charity work including Safeguarding the Rights of the Poor Children. Together with the UNICEF and other institutes, the CPAFFC carried out a series of projects on child poverty alleviation and is willing to help promote the exchange of experiences in this filed between China and Scotland.  Sturgeon appreciated the CPAFFC’s invitation and host of her revisit to China, said that the Scottish government have included the United National’s Sustainable Development Goals into its government performance framework and carried out a series policies to promote child rights and equity by closing the gaps for the poorest children and is looking forward to cooperation with the CPAFFC in this field. Vice President of the CPAFFC Hu Sishe, Deputy Head of Mission of the British Embassy to China Martyn Roper and UNICEF’s Representative to China Rana Flowers attended the meeting.   Ren Xin   photograph

On March 29, Mme.Li Xiaolin, President of CPAFFC, met with the delegation jointly led by Mr.C K Kho, President of Singa-China Association (SCA) and Mr. James Ow Chin Seng, President of Singapore-China Business Association (SCBA). President Li said that the China-Singapore relations enjoy sound development at present and has harvested abundant cooperative fruits in various fields. Singapore is an important country along the Belt and Road and the bilateral cooperation has huge potentials in this regard. The CPAFFC is willing to join the hands with the Singapore side to enhance the cooperation in education, culture and youth for the people-to-people inter-connectivity and the stable development China-Singapore relations. President Kho said that SCA has engaged in the promotion of bilateral cooperation in business and trade, economy and investment over the past 5 more years. SCA is ready to work with CPAFFC in consolidating the traditional friendship and conduct more mutual visits as well as projects on people-to-people friendship. President Ow said that SCBA acts as bridges for the companies from both countries, serves actively for the joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative and will cooperate with CPAFFC in culture and charity fields.  

Mme. Li Xiaolin, President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), met in Beijing with Mr. YONEYAMA RYUICHI, Governor of Niigata-ken on March, 27th. President Li said, Niigata-ken has a tradition of keeping friendly relations with China. As early as 1980s, Niigata-ken had established friendship-city relations with Heilongjiang Province and had ever developed a series of pragmatic cooperation with Shaanxi Province about crested ibises protection, which had become a remarkable story for the friendly relationship between China and Japan. Since 2014, jointly sponsored and created by CPAFFC and SDT (Shanghai Dance Theater), the dance drama Crested Ibises had visited Japan for three times to perform, and in January this year, the dance drama Crested Ibises performed successfully in America for the first time, which were popular with Japanese and American audiences. Peace and friendship are the common themes for humanity. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship Between China and Japan and also the 45th anniversary of friendship-cites exchanges of the two countries. CPAFFC and CJFA( China-Japan Friendship Association) will hold a series of commemorative activities to push bilateral relations for improvement and welcome Governor YONEYAMA RYUICHI and other friendly personages from all walks of life in Niigata-ken to attend actively by then. Governor YONEYAMA RYUICHI made an introduction about the exchanges and cooperation developed between Niigata-ken and Heilongjiang province and other regions in China. He said, Niigata-ken is the hometown of the late Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, and moreover, Niigata-ken has established relationship with China due to crested ibises. The personages from all walks of life in Niigata-ken attach importance to the exchanges and cooperation with China, and also consider China’s development as important opportunities. They will continue to carry forward the tradition of keeping friendly relations with China in the future and seize on the opportunities to further develop the exchanges and cooperation in various fields with relevant organizations in China so as to make efforts on the improvement of the bilateral relations and the friendship for generations of the two countries. President Li Xiaolin also introduced the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017 and 2018 national two sessions to the delegation.