Speech by H.E. Ambassador Liu Xiaoming at the Chinese New Year Reception for UK Education Partners: Lose No Time in Seizing Opportunities and Write a New Chapter of China-UK Educational Cooperation

Presidents and Vice-Chancellors,

Professors and Scholars,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Friends:

Good evening. It is a real delight to have you with us at the Chinese New Year Reception for UK Education Partners.

Tomorrow will be the Chinese New Year Eve. On behalf of the Chinese Embassy in the UK, I would like to extend Chinese New Year greetings to all friends, old and new, from the education community! I wish you a happy and prosperous Year of the Rat!

In 2019, as we celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, we looked back at the journey of China-UK diplomatic relationship since it was established at the chargé d'affaires level 65 years ago.

We were gratified to find numerous highlights in China-UK educational exchanges and cooperation, which had been a source of great strength for the overall China-UK relations.

Let me use the word "RAT" to summarise China-UK educational exchanges and cooperation in the Year of the Pig:

The first letter R stands for reciprocity.

Both China and the UK have time-honoured history of education. Respecting the teacher and valuing education has been the fine tradition in both our two countries. Our complementary strengths and respective needs in education and research create opportunities for cooperation. Such cooperation is mutually-beneficial and reciprocal.

Last year, the Chinese Government published the plan known as "China's Education Modernization 2035" and the British Government issued the white paper "International Education Strategy". There is no better time to match the education strategies and policies of our two countries to open up promising prospects for closer China-UK cooperation on education.

Of all European countries, the UK has the largest number of Chinese students and boasts the most extensive cooperation with Chinese universities.

About 200,000 Chinese students are studying in the UK, forming the largest international student community in higher education.

More than 70,000 British young people have visited China for internship and exchanges through the "Generation UK" programme.

More than 1,300 primary and middle school pupils have studied the Chinese language and visited China through the "Mandarin Excellence Programme".