Distinguished guests,

Dear friends,

Welcome to "Experience China — A Symphony of Stories on China-U.S. People-to-People Friendship". Stories bear witness to laughter and tears, and are a mirror reflecting good and evil. This year marks the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Today, we will review the friendship forged between our people in the era of war through stories, and explore what has taken our bilateral relationship so far and how we can sustain its sound and steady development.  

Photos do not speak, but they carry the memories of blood and fire. Videos may come in black and white, but they document the epic resistance of an unyielding nation. The exhibition we visited just now brought back all those years when Chinese and American soldiers and civilians fought side by side against fascism for peace and justice, and established a profound friendship through bloodshed and sacrifice.

Let us pay tribute to history, and remember the vital contribution made by the main Eastern battlefield. In 1931, China fired the first shot in the World Anti-Fascist War, and opened the world's first large-scale anti-fascist front. During the following 14 years, the 400 million Chinese soldiers and civilians fought heroically, combated and tied down two-thirds of Japan's land forces, which not only crushed the Axis powers' ambition to join forces, but also thwarted the plot of the Japanese militarists to invade Siberia and expand southward into the Pacific, thus earning precious strategic time and space for the World Anti-Fascist War.

In the most difficult times of the war, 400,000 Chinese soldiers set out on an expedition to western Yunnan and northern Myanmar, where they defeated Japanese troops in three critical battles and laid the foundation for the Allied powers to recover Southeast Asia. At the cost of 35 million lives, China made tremendous sacrifices to secure an extraordinary triumph in the cause of human justice. That chapter of history written with life and blood should always be remembered.

Let us pay tribute to friendship, and cherish the inseparable bond formed between our people in the flames of war. Over eight decades ago, batches of young Americans headed to the Eastern battlefield, dedicated to safeguarding justice. More than 2,000 Flying Tigers pilots laid down their lives in the skies over China, and over 1,000 American soldiers fell along the Stilwell Road. Every Flying Tigers pilot carried a blood chit with them, which read, "These foreign friends have come to China to help us fight the invaders. Soldiers and civilians, one and all, rescue and protect them!" Under this pledge, numerous Chinese civilians risked their lives to rescue American pilots.

In the occupied area of China, Ms. Minnie Vautrin stepped forward to protect tens of thousands of Chinese women and children. In the United States, Ms. Pearl Buck wrote the book Dragon Seed, exposing the atrocities committed by the Japanese invaders in China. We will never forget the friendship between Chinese and American people through life and death in that war, and will pass it down from generation to generation.

Let us pay tribute to the future, and build mighty momentum for people-to-people exchanges. In those darkest times, when many countries shut their door on Jewish refugees, Shanghai opened its arms to 30,000 Jews, including Mr. Michael Blumenthal, who was to become Treasury Secretary under President Jimmy Carter. In Weixian, Shandong Province, ordinary Chinese people braved death to provide assistance to the over 2,300 internees from Allied powers detained by the Japanese, including Mr. Arthur Hummel, who was to become U.S. Ambassador to China.

When the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world in 2020, the people of Nanjing acted swiftly to donate masks to the descendants of Pastor John Magee, who recorded the truth of the Nanjing Massacre with his camera. Eight decades on, we continue to share weal and woe. This is not only an echo of our friendship across time, but also a lasting source of strength for people-to-people goodwill and cooperation. From wartime to the new era, friendship between our people has always been the most solid foundation and the most enduring impetus for bilateral relations, and will continue to light the way to a shared future of China and the U.S.    

Dear friends,

The China-U.S. relationship is made up of stories of people-to-people friendship. From the bond with Kuliang to ping-pong diplomacy, affinity between our people has injected warmth into bilateral relations, helped us break the ice, and yielded fruitful outcomes. When the people of China and the U.S. know and feel close to each other, and jointly pursue peace, justice and progress, China-U.S. relations will have a more solid foundation, a stronger momentum for forging ahead, and more abundant outcomes. Over the past 46 years since China and the U.S. established diplomatic ties, the number of mutual visits made by our people annually has increased from around 10,000 to over 5 million at the peak, and we now have 288 pairs of sister provinces/states and sister cities. Since I came to the U.S. in 2023, I have watched basketball matches and movies with American people, and celebrated festivals and played pickleball with them, during which I have deeply felt their kindness and warm hospitality, and gained more confidence in China-U.S. relations.

As President Xi Jinping pointed out, the hope of the China-U.S. relationship lies in the people, its foundation is in our societies, its future depends on the youth, and its vitality comes from exchanges at subnational levels. Going forward, we need to bring our people closer, rather than sow fear and hostility. We need to encourage and facilitate travels and people-to-people exchanges, rather than erect barriers. We need to promote win-win cooperation, make the list of cooperation longer and the cake bigger, rather than seek decoupling and turn back the wheel of history.

The history of Chinese and American people fighting together and their friendly exchanges have told us that both our people are kind-hearted, love peace and justice, and long for exchanges and cooperation. Let's encourage and support our people in continuing to cultivate goodwill, and interact and collaborate with each other, translate their aspiration for a better life into joint action, write new stories of friendship and cooperation in the new era, and jointly create a brighter future of peace.

Thank you very much.