Speech by Cai Mingzhao, President of China International
Publishing Group, at the Group's New Year Reception for Foreign
Experts
(December 27, 2002)
Ladies and gentlemen, friends and comrades,
As
we ring out the old year and ring in the new, we are happily
gathered here for the New Year reception for foreign experts of the
Foreign Languages Publishing and Distribution Administration, and
jointly welcome the coming of the New Year. Present at the
reception are Comrade Chen Yangjing, deputy head of the State
Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, representatives of the
relevant ministries and committees of the Central and state organs,
Comrade Israel Epstein, member of the Standing Committee of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, foreign experts
of the China International Publishing Group (CIPG) and their family
members, leaders of institutions under the group, and people
dealing with foreign experts' affairs. On behalf of the CIPG, I
would like to express our warm welcome to all our foreign experts
and their family members, and all our guests. I would like to
extend New Year greetings to you all and my heartfelt gratitude to
all our foreign experts for their work over the past year.
2002 has been a year of great significance in China's history. The
16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held, at
which the important thought of the "Three Representatives" was
enshrined as part of the Party's guiding ideology, and the goals
and program of action for the Party and the country at the new
stage in the new century were put forward. The congress also
elected the new Central Party leadership. It was a congress of
unity, of victory, and of making new efforts. It has greatly
inspired the enthusiasm of the whole Party and people of all ethnic
groups. It further exhibited the good image of our Party in
persevering with reform and opening-up, safeguarding world peace
and promoting the common development of mankind.
2002 has also been the first year in CIPG's second phase of reform,
the emphasis of which is on greatly enhancing our capacity of
publishing and distribution. Over the past twelve months, all the
cadres and staff members of the CIPG have conscientiously studied
and carried out Comrade Jiang Zemin's "May 31" speech and the
spirit of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of
China. In response to the requirements of the important thought of
the "Three Representatives," they have firmly focused their work on
the goal of CIPG's second phase of reform, have further deepened
reform and quickened the pace of development, effectively enhancing
CIPG's publishing and distribution capacity and the influence and
reach of China.org.cn. Statistics show that, from January through
November, the CIPG's volume of circulation of foreign-language
magazines saw an increase of 15.45 percent over the same period of
last year. Foreign-language book titles increased by 18 percent,
and circulation increased by 20.7 percent. The number of readers
who browsed China.org.cn, a subsidiary of the CIPG, increased by
125 percent compared to the early part of this year. We have made
contributions to introducing the real China to the rest of the
world, and to promoting mutual understanding and friendship between
the Chinese people and people of other countries.
The CIPG would not have been able to make this progress without the
support from all sides. These achievements are also the
crystallization of the hard work and efforts of our foreign
experts. Our foreign experts have made outstanding contributions to
international communication, and played important roles. One of the
key measures of CIPG's second phase of reform is to further bring
into play the role of foreign experts. In 2002, experiments were
made at People's China and China Today, where foreign
experts assumed some leading positions. This proved effective in
further improving the quality of our magazines. All our foreign
experts are actively engaged in the work of book and magazine
publishing, and the operation of China.org.cn. Besides completing a
great amount of polishing work, they have been involved in
reporting and other types of work, writing articles and books about
China, and offering valuable suggestions and comments with respect
to choice of subject, reporting, editing and designing. Their
efforts have played an irreplaceable role in the international
communications of the CIPG.
In
2003, the CIPG will comprehensively carry out the spirit of the
16th Party Congress, take development as our foremost task in all
our work and improve our international communications. In
accordance with the requirements that we "come up with new ideas
for development, make new breakthroughs in reform, break new ground
in opening up and make new moves in all fields of endeavor," we
shall actively enhance the renovation and development of our
international communications and make efforts to increase CIPG's
publishing and distribution capacity. Our task in 2003 will be
extremely arduous. We sincerely hope that our foreign experts will
continue to show their concern for our international communications
undertakings, and provide good ideas for its development and
innovation, work hard and make new contributions.
Now I would like to propose a toast, to the health and happiness of
all present, and to the coming of the New Year. Ganbei!
(China.org.cn December 30, 2002)