Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends,

October is the best season to Delhi. The weather is cool and pleasant, and families are decorated with lights to celebrate the biggest festival of the year -- Diwali. I feel very reluctant to leave my post and return home at this time. I wish all my Indian friends a happy and prosperous Diwali!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends,

Recently, the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was successfully held, which attracted worldwide attention. It made clear what banners the Party will hold, what path it will take, what goals it wants to achieve and how it will achieve them. Comrade Xi Jinping was elected General Secretary of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China at the Committee’s first plenary session, which is the call of the times, the choice of history, and the aspiration of the people.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the central task of the CPC will be to lead the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in a concerted effort to realize the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization.

Chinese-style modernization is the socialist modernization led by the CPC and contains elements that are common to the modernization processes of all countries, but it is more characterized by features that are unique to the Chinese context. It is the modernization of a huge population, the modernization of common prosperity for all, the modernization of material and cultural-ethical advancement, the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature, and the modernization of peaceful development.

On the new journey, China will always be committed to its foreign policy goals of upholding world peace and promoting common development, and it is dedicated to promoting a human community with a shared future. We will remain firm in pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace, adhere to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in pursuing friendship and cooperation with other countries, be committed to our fundamental national policy of opening to the outside world and pursues a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up, and continue to provide new opportunities for the world with China’s new development. China will practice the vision of global governance featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and hold humanity’s shared values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, as long as the world works together, all countries can live in harmony, cooperate for win-win results, and jointly create a better future for the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends,

In July 2019, I assumed office as the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of India. Over the past three years, I have had the honor to receive President Xi Jinping in Chennai for the second informal meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I have witnessed the bilateral trade volume between the two countries exceeded 120 billion US dollars. I have worked with people from all walks of life in both countries to support each other in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic and tide over the difficult times together. I have visited many places in India, and witnessed the development and changes in India. I deeply realized the strong desire of the Indian people to pursue a better life, and personally felt the support and expectation from the Indian people for China-India friendship. During this period, China-India relations also experienced ups and downs. As the Chinese Ambassador to India, I am fully aware of the mission and tasks that I shoulder. I have been committed to my duties and made every effort to strengthen communication, enhance mutual understanding, properly manage differences, try to resolve difficulties and challenges, and promote the improvement and development of our bilateral relations. I believe that, under the strategic guidance of the leaders of our two countries and with the joint efforts of both sides, the bilateral relations will eventually have the clouds cleared and return to the right track.

In my diplomatic career, I have spent much time with India. I would like to take this opportunity to share some of my thoughts with friends.

Firstly, it’s about who we are. China and India are ancient oriental civilizations adjacent to each other for thousands of years. Asia is the homeland where we live together. We have time-honored historical and cultural ties. Ancient civilizations endow us with a long-term perspective on things and rich wisdom in dealing with problems. China and India are also great agricultural countries traditionally, and farming culture is an important foundation of the two major civilizations, which is very different from the origin of Western civilization. I have visited some villages in India. Walking in the fields there was like going back to a village in southern China. Seeing the cordial and honest villagers made me feel very warm. We all agree on the principle of living in harmony with our neighbors, helping each other, and solving problems through consultation. The famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore said that we Easterners can neither borrow the minds of the West nor the temperament of the West. We need to discover our own right to be born with. I fully agree with him.

Secondly, it’s about how we got where we are today. China-India friendship dates back to ancient times. We have stories of the white horse carrying Buddhist scriptures to China, Monk Xuanzang’s journey to the west，and expedition of the Chinese navigator Zheng He who visited India six times. Our two great civilizations have learned from each other, trade with each other, and enriched both side’s material life as well as mindset. Since modern times, China and India have both been invaded by Western colonialists. Our two nations have sympathized with and supported each other. We realized  liberation and national independence respectively, pioneered the liberation movement of Asia, Africa and Latin America, changed the world map once and for all. In the 1950s, China and India, together with other Asian countries, jointly initiated the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence and turned them into basic norms governing international relations. Over the past more than 70 years since the establishment of our diplomatic ties, China-India relationship has overall maintain an momentum of development, with high-level exchanges providing us guidance continuously, the mechanisms of cooperation becoming more refined, and the scope of cooperation expanding. This has not only benefited the two peoples, but also made a great contribution to the promotion of peace, stability and development in the world. In fact, China-India interactions dated back to over 2000 years ago, and friendly cooperation has covered most of the time.

Thirdly, it’s about where we are going. As the only two countries with over one billion population in the world，China and India are both at a critical period of national development and rejuvenation. The daunting tasks in our development endeavor of our two countries are unparalleled. Development will always be our top priority, which also serves as the basis of solving all the problems that our two countries are facing. The key to achieve development is pursuing our own way, doing our own things well, and enabling more than one billion people in each other’s country live a better life. Thus, we should enhance mutually beneficial cooperation, make our own development be the opportunity to each other as well as the regional countries, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the developing countries together. In this direction, China and India share long-lasting common strategic interests.

The three above dimensions I mentioned highlight the profound ties and common grounds between China and India, and reflect the importance and strategic nature of China-India relations. They also demonstrate that harmonious coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and India are the aspiration of the people and the trend of the times. China and India have been neighbors for thousands of years and will continue to be neighbors in the future. If the Western theory of geopolitics is applied to China-India relationship, then major neighboring countries like us will inevitably view each other as threats and rivals. Consequently, competition and confrontation will be the main mode of interaction, and zero-sum game will be inevitable result. But the reality is that geographical proximity is an objective existence. It should be an opportunity for us to have more interaction and cooperation, tap our potential and learn from and complement each other. If we view it as a kind of bad fate, it will make us suspect and undercut each other, compete and confront with each other, or even become rivals. We should break out of the "geopolitics trap" and find a new path that is different from the past. There is enough room in the world for China and India to develop together, and two countries and peoples should have enough wisdom to find a way to live in peace and achieve win-win cooperation between the two big neighboring and emerging countries.

Today, our world, our times, and history are changing in ways like never before. The historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation is unstoppable. The future of mankind will be a community of shared future. Meanwhile, hegemonic and bullying acts such as the strong bullying the weak, disguised and coercive robbery, and zero-sum game are on the rise. The human society is facing unprecedented challenges, and world has once again reached a crossroads in history. As the two most populous and largest developing countries and ancient civilizations, China and India must make the right choice and make contribution to peace and development in the region and beyond. When China and India maintain stability and development, it means that two-fifths of the world's population has access to development opportunities. The healthy development of China-India relations will bring more stability and certainty to the world. The overarching trend of the world and history as well as the will of the peoples all call for sound China-India relations.

We should always keep the important consensus reached by the two State Leaders as guidance. President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached a host of important consensus, including “China and India are opportunities of development and cooperation partners to each other instead of being threats or competitive rivals”; “Dragon-Elephant Tango” is the only correct choice for the two sides; “we should not allow differences to become disputes” etc. .These consensus are the cornerstones and guidance for the China-India relations. We should implement these consensus, stick to the right direction of bilateral relations and always view China-India relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, so as to establish a basic pattern of bilateral relations featuring peaceful co-existence, mutual respect and trust, and win-win cooperation.

We should enhance communication and cooperation. China and India have established dialogue mechanism in various levels and departments. We should make full use of all the communication channels, deepen mutual understanding in order to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation. We should expand exchanges and cooperation between our political parties, local governments and social organizations. We should deepen economic and financial cooperation and promote people-to -people exchanges. The Chinese side optimized the visa application process for Indian citizens to travel to China, resumed processing visa applications for students pursuing long-term study, and people conducting business, work and family visits. Up to now, more than 1800 visas have been issued to the Indian students, and we hope there will be more and more exchange of visits between our two peoples. We should also turn our broad consensus on multilateral affairs into concrete actions, and enhance communication in the framework of the United Nations, G20, BRICS, SCO and other multilateral institutions. We should strengthen coordination in poverty reduction, disaster prevention, energy security, climate change and other major issues, and make contributions to addressing global challenges.

We should seek common ground while reserving differences and properly handle the differences. China and India are important neighbors to each other. It is only natural for China and India having some differences. The key is how to handle the differences. We should be aware that the common interests of the two countries are greater than differences. Meanwhile, the two sides should strive to manage and resolve differences, and look for a proper solution through dialogue and consultation, instead of defining China-India relations by differences. The two countries need to respect each other’s political systems and development paths, and uphold the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.

Dear friends,

The past 3 years and 3 months have been an unforgettable period in my life. On the occasion of my departure, I would like to express my most heartfelt appreciation to all the friends for your care to China’s development and support to the cause of China-India friendship, and to all the friends for your support and assistance to me in the performance of my duties. The civilizations of China and India were created by the two peoples, and the future of the bilateral relations will also be written by the two peoples. I am convinced that the cause of China-India friendship is correct and has broad prospects. Let us look up at the blue sky, keep our feet on the earth, have faith in our hearts, have direction in our eyes, and have warmth in our hands. Through joint efforts of both sides, we can bring China-India relations back on the right track and promote the sound and steady development of the bilateral relations, so as to deliver benefits to the two countries and the two peoples.

Thank you very much.

H.E. Ambassador Sun Weidong’s Farewell Remarks.pdf