On November 3, 2009 Ambassador Lan Lijun attended a luncheon hosted by the North Bay & District Canadian Club and delivered a keynote speech. His Worship Victor A. Fedeli, Mayor and Chief Executive Officer of North Bay, and about 170 Club members attended the luncheon.

       Ambassador Lan reflected on China’s historic transformation over the past 60 years. He said, with diligence and wisdom, the Chinese nation created a splendid civilization and made significant contributions to the progress of humanity. Following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the ancient Chinese civilization has been rejuvenated. While briefing the audience on the tremendous progress China has made in the promotion and protection of human rights, development of socialist democracy and freedom of speech, Ambassador Lan gave a whole list of figures and examples.

 

      While referring to the story of the famous Chinese navigator Zheng He as a true messenger of love and friendship in the 15th century, Ambassador Lan pointed out that the Chinese cultural tradition values peace as the most precious. China’s development harms no one and threatens no one. As a peace-loving country, China is eager to learn from and cooperate with others and is committed to building a harmonious world. Ambassador Lan also briefed the participants on China’s constructive efforts in its response to the issues of financial crisis and climate change.

       On China-Canada relations, Ambassador Lan said, thanks to the personal commitment of leaders of several generations and concerted efforts of people from various sectors of both countries, our exchanges and cooperation in all fields have been growing steadily and exchanges at the top and other levels have increased. A review of the growth of China-Canada relations shows that although our two countries differ in national conditions and do not always see eye to eye on everything, we should not let these differences stand in the way of our relations. China and Canada are respectively the largest developing country and the largest developed country in terms of territory. There is no conflict of fundamental interests between us. Rather, we share broad common interests and a good foundation of cooperation. Next year, we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties. We stand ready to work with Canada, seize the opportunity to review the past and plan for the future, and jointly forge an even better future for China-Canada relations.

       The local mainstream media reported on the speech. Ambassador Lan had interviews with COGICO Cable TV and the North Bay Nugget.