National Day Message by H. E. Mr. Dong Xiaojun, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of Bulgaria

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

I am extremely happy for the opportunity to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China with friends from various circles from China and Bulgaria. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Vice President Yotova and all my friends for their greetings on the occasion!

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China for the past 73 years, the people of our billion-numbered nation have worked hard as one and reached remarkable achievements that attracted the eyes of the whole world, and since the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the Chinese socialism has entered a new era. Over the past decade, thanks to the leadership of the Party Central Committee headed by Xi Jinping, China made new historic achievements in its reformation policy, in opening up to the world and its modernization. China’s economic, scientific, technological and comprehensive state power and international influence continued to grow.

Over the past decade, the Communist Party of China has solved a number of key problems for the people: it has won victories in the fight against poverty and in building a middle-class society; the COVID-19 measures to tackle the epidemic led to important strategic results and demonstrated the solidarity and unity of the whole country to overcome it; its efforts to ensure the welfare of the people resulted in comprehensive historical progress; the social security system based on the principles of cooperative development, management and sharing continued to be refined.

Dear friends,

2022 is a landmark year in the development of China.

- This year, we successfully hosted the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing. Together with people from around the world, the Chinese people tackled various difficulties and challenges, staging a cost-effective, safe and impressive Olympics, fulfilling the commitments they made when they were chosen to host this largest sporting forum. Once again, Chinese people showed will and determination in contributing to promoting the Olympic Movement and to strengthening the friendship between nations, demonstrating that they have the ability and are ready to continue on this path in the future.

- This year, facing unexpected challenges, the Chinese economy withstood the pressure and achieved positive growth, although it did not come easily. Against the backdrop of the complex international situation and the difficult and daunting tasks aimed at continuing domestic reforms, development and maintaining stability, China has taken comprehensive measures to accelerate the construction of the new two-cycle development model in which the internal cycle as the main one, while both the internal and external complement and encourage each other. We responded effectively to various risks and challenges and reached new achievements in economic and social development. During the first half of the year, the country’s GDP reached 56.26 trillion yuan, with a yearly growth of 2.5%. China exports a variety of raw materials and products to many countries around the world, meeting market demand. In the face of shocks to the global manufacturing and supply chains, as well as increasing risks of stagflation facing the global economy, the rapid recovery of production in China is having a positive impact.

- The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China will be held this year. It has important significance at this pivotal moment when our nation is headed toward making China a modern socialist country and achieving the second goal of the "two centennial celebrations." The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China will summarize the experience of the past five years, outline the direction, goals and programme of action for the Party and the country in the future, and elect a new central leadership. The Congress is awaited with great interest and will be followed by countries around the world.

2022 was also a year of active development of Sino-European and Sino-Bulgarian relations.

- This year, China and Europe continued to maintain strategic communication and improve mutual political trust, bringing stability to our increasingly unstable world. At the 23rd China-Europe Summit, the leaders of the two sides held in-depth dialogue and frank exchanges, improving understanding of their positions and achieving consensus and results on a range of issues, as well as outlining strategic plans for the future development of China-Europe relations. Statistics show that the trade between China and Europe has grown steadily since the beginning of the year. In the first six months, bilateral trade was worth $420,6 billion, or an increase of 8. 4% compared to the same period of the previous year, and this favorable trend is expected to continue throughout 2022. As two major powers, two large markets and two civilizational centers in a multipolar world, China and Europe should preserve the foundation of their partnership, maintain positive momentum in dialogue and communication with each other, seek consensus, deepen cooperation and work together for more stability and predictability in today's turbulent and changing world.

- This year, the China-Central and Eastern Europe Cooperation Mechanism celebrated its tenth anniversary. Despite some "noise" and regression, no one can deny the fact that China's trade with Central and Eastern European countries has grown by an average of 8% over the past decade, which is much higher than that with the European Union. Realities have shown that the mechanism has become an important driving force for the development of relations between China and Central and Eastern Europe, complementing the various bilateral ties, such as those between China and the European Union. It also played an active role in expanding multilateral diplomacy and pragmatic cooperation between China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Bulgaria is an important part of the One Belt, One Road cooperation in the Balkans. It is also a leading country in the Demonstration Zone of Agricultural Cooperation between China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.  In recent years, Sino-Bulgarian relations can boast of serious successes, which are a symbol and an example of the vigorous development of the relations between China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. We are ready to continue to effectively use this platform for cooperation together with the Bulgarian side, taking our pragmatic cooperation to a new level.

- The COVID-19 epidemic continues this year but I am satisfied that exchanges and cooperation between China and Bulgaria in all areas did not stop. I have had a number of meetings with representatives of politics, economy, trade and culture since the beginning of the year at which their firm support for Sino-Bulgarian friendship was always felt. In a few days we will celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries. During this period the two countries have always treated each other with respect and equality, and Bulgaria has remained faithful to the principle of "one China". Our bilateral strategic partnership is enriched by fruitful cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, culture, education, science and technology. For the past two years, despite the impact of the epidemic, interest in bilateral trade has not diminished. In the first half of this year, it reversed the trend and its volume grew by 13,1% to $2,135 billion. China is ready to work with Bulgaria to further develop bilateral relations after the end of the epidemic and lead to more benefits for our countries and peoples.

Finally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all friends who support and work for the Bulgarian-Chinese relations. I wish you health and prosperity.

I wish power and prosperity to the People's Republic of China!

I wish for an everlasting friendship between China and Bulgaria!

Thanks for your attention!

Photo courtesy of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Bulgaria. On it: H. E. Mr. Dong Xiaojun, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the Republic of Bulgaria