The Chinese Mission to the EU and Embassy in the Kingdom of Belgium co-hosting a reception to celebrate the 96th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army

This article was initially published at the website of the Chinese Mission to EU.

On the night of July 19, 2023, the Chinese Mission to the European Union and Embassy in the Kingdom of Belgium co-hosted a reception to celebrate the 96th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The reception, held at the Chinese Mission to the EU, gathered around 450 attendees including Vice Chief of Defence of the Belgian Armed Forces, Major General Phaleg Bernard, and political and military officials from the EU and NATO, ambassadors, defense attaches and military representatives of various countries to the EU, Belgium, and NATO as well as friends from different sectors. Ambassador Fu Cong, Head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, the Chinese Ambassador to Belgium Cao Zhongming, and Defence Advisor of the Mission of China to the EU, Major General Yan Wenjing had extensive exchange of views and interactions with the participating guests. 

Since ancient times, the Chinese nation has cherished a love of peace and pursued harmony with other nations, said Ambassador Fu Cong in his speech. Since the People’s Republic was founded in 1949, China has never started a single conflict, nor taken one inch of land from other countries. The world today is not a tranquil place. Great power competition is intensifying, geopolitical conflicts are escalating, the global security governance is woefully lagging behind, and traditional and non-traditional security threats keep flaring up. All countries are confronted with multiple risks and challenges. It was against this background that President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Security Initiative (GSI). The initiative champions the spirit of solidarity to adapt to the profoundly changing international security landscape, and advocates a win-win paradigm to address the complex and intertwined security challenges. It aims to eliminate or mitigate the root causes of global conflicts, improve global security governance, encourage joint international efforts to bring more stability and certainty to a volatile and changing era, and promote durable peace and development across the world. The Chinese army is a force for peace. A growing China and a stronger Chinese army will inject more certainty and stability into the world. China hopes to join all peace-loving nations in promoting world peace, security, and prosperity and in building a global community with a shared future for mankind.

In his speech, Major General Yan Wenjing declared that the PLA is an armed force of the people and for the people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. This force appears whenever and wherever the people needs it. This is an armed force which will be much stronger when faces strong rivals, using mullets and rifles to defeat enemies in larger strength and equipped with overwhelmingly superior weapons. This force never yields to difficulties and has never been defeated spiritually and mentally. This force will safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity at all cost. This is a peace-loving, open and cooperative force, committed to providing more and better public security goods. The world today is changing dramatically. The haze of war is darkening the land where people have enjoyed peace for decades. 2,500 years ago, the Chinese sages admonished us that “Harmony is the most precious of all things.” “The world will be in peace when people love each other, in chaos when people hate each other”. Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it. World peace is indivisible and humanity shares a common destiny. China will always be a builder of the world peace, a contributor to global development, and defender of the international order. The Chinese armed forces would like to cooperate with peace loving organizations and states, face global security challenges hand in hand, and contribute more to a community with a shared future for mankind.

Through vivid media presentation, the reception showcased the great achievements in the modernization of China’s national defense and armed forces in the past 96 years, as well as the international public security goods provided to the world, including international peacekeeping, humanitarian rescue and counter piracy. The guests congratulated China on the 96th anniversary of the founding of the PLA. Deeply impressed by its rapid development, the guests expressed their willingness to further develop relations with China and to strengthen friendly exchanges and cooperation with China in areas of defense and security.