Distinguished Guests,

Ladies, gentlemen and friends,

    Good morning and namaste!

    Today happens to be the 74th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India. On this special occasion, I am very happy to be with everyone here to commemorate the centenary of the first visit to China of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore Ji, a great Indian poet, Asia’s first Nobel Prize laureate in Literature and the founder of Visva-Bharati.

    Tagore Ji is an old friend of the Chinese people, and he always had special and friendly feelings towards China. He made remarkable contributions to promoting cultural exchanges between our two countries and enhancing friendship between our two peoples. Tagore Ji’s successful visit to China in 1924 has been a milestone event in the history of China-India friendly exchanges.

    He reinvigorated the ancient path of China-India cultural exchanges, and promoted the mutual learning between our two great civilizations. During his visit to China, he delivered many lectures, elicited a warm response, and profoundly influenced the Chinese cultural and intellectual circles. He fondly said, “I shall consider myself fortunate if, through this visit, China comes nearer to India and India to China, for no political or commercial purpose, but for disinterested human love and for nothing else.”

    His masterworks contain profound oriental philosophies and are full of humanity. Chinese famous poets like Xu Zhimo and Bing Xin drew nourishment from his works, and promoted the development of modern Chinese literature. His collections of poems such as Gitanjali, Stray Bird, Gardener and Crescent Moon are well-known in China. Some of his poems have been included in Chinese textbooks and influencing generations of Chinese readers.

    He called for justice and peace, and supported the Chinese people in the struggle against foreign aggression. On the occasion of accepting the Nobel Prize in Literature, Tagore Ji said, “ Man is not to fight with other human races, other human individuals, but his work is to bring about reconciliation and peace and to restore the bonds of friendship and love.” He awakened the national consciousness of the Eastern countries to resist the Western colonialism, and supported the Chinese people to stand up to foreign aggression. During the visit to Visva-Bharati, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai said, “Tagore Ji was not only a talented poet who had made outstanding contributions to world literature, but also an eminent representative of the great Indian people who resented darkness and strove for brightness. The Chinese people have cherished him with profound sentiments. They can never forget Tagore Ji’s warm affection for them. The Chinese People shall also not forget the support from Tagore Ji in their hard struggle for national independence.”

    He cultivated the flowers of China-India friendship, and left a great legacy for future generations. Tagore Ji said with joy during his visit to China, “I always feel that India has been one of China’s extremely close relatives, and China and India have been enjoying time-honored and affectionate brotherhood.” After returning to India, he devoted to establishing Cheena-Bhavana in Visva-Bharati. Thanks to the unremitting efforts of Tagore Ji and Prof. Tan Yunshan, who later became the first director of Cheena-Bhavana, this Bhavana was finally completed in 1937, and took a pioneering role in China studies in India. For more than 80 years, this Bhavana has nurtured a large number of envoys of friendly exchanges between China and India, and has greatly promoted the development of China-India friendship. During the state visit to India in 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping conferred the “Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Friendship Award” on the Cheena-Bhavana, in recognition of its longstanding contribution to enhancing China-India friendship.

    Ladies, gentlemen and friends,

    It has been a hundred years since Tagore Ji’s first visit to China. Over the past century, China and India have fought shoulder to shoulder for national independence and liberation, jointly upheld the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and together pursued national development and revitalization. We have written many splendid chapters of friendship during this period. Over the past century, China-India relations have had ups and downs, but friendly cooperation has always been the mainstream.

    China-India relations suffered some setbacks in recent years. This is not what we want to see, nor is it in the fundamental interests of our two countries and two peoples. Some people focus on the differences between China and India, and cast doubt on the bilateral relations. Some even deny the significance of past friendly exchanges between our two countries. This is unfair to our predecessors and those who have made great efforts to promote China-India friendship, nor is it responsible for the future development of this important bilateral relationship. The Chinese side always views China-India relations from a strategic and long-term perspective. We believe that our two countries share broad common interests and have huge potential for cooperation. We have always been committed to bringing bilateral relations back to the track of sound and stable development.

    Over the past year, China-India relations have shown a positive momentum of improvement. The two sides maintained high-level communications and interactions. Bilateral trade has grown steadily and people to people exchanges between our two countries have recovered gradually. As long as both sides have a correct understanding of China-India relationship and deal with it in the right way, seek common ground while shelving differences, properly manage divergences and work towards the same direction, I am confident that we will surely be able to dispel the dark clouds and usher in the spring.

    I would like to share a passage from Tagore Ji’s remarks in China a hundred years ago, “let what seems a barrier become a path, and let us unite, not in spite of our differences, but through them. For differences can never be wiped away, and life would be so much the poorer without them. Let all human races keep their own personalities, and yet come together, not in a uniformity that is dead, but in a unity that is living.”

    Diversity spurs interaction among civilizations, which in turn promotes mutual learning and their future development. China and India, as two great civilizations, have been benefiting from mutual exchanges and learning. Facing the global transformation, only through dialogue and cooperation, can our two countries achieve national rejuvenation, usher in “Asian Century” and build a community with shared future for mankind.

    I hope that all of us could follow Tagore ji’s footsteps, continue to support the development of China-India relations and make more contributions to China-India friendship.

    Finally, I wish this conference a complete success.

    Thank you and dhanyavaad!