 Good afternoon, we're very fortunate this afternoon to have a chance to hear from one of the distinguished diplomats of the world and of this meeting. Foreign Minister Wang Yi has a distinguished career both as Vice Foreign Minister and also as Ambassador to Japan. And he is going to speak to us briefly with some thoughts and then I will ask him a few questions and we'll see how we're doing on time. Unfortunately, we're starting a little bit late not through any fault of ours but just scheduling with other meetings and so we're a little bit short on time. But let's see how we can illuminate the problems of how China sees the world and East Asia and so let me ask you, Mr. Minister, to address us. Okay, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I will speak Chinese so please use your headsets. Ladies and gentlemen, friends, good afternoon. It's my great pleasure to sit with my good friend Dr. Joseph Nye and all of you to discuss the global dimensions of China's development. China has always been a hot topic at the World Economic Forum and this year is no exception. After 35 years after China first launched reform and opening, China has sounded the clarion core for a new round of all-round reform. This will herit a new era of China's development and have extensive and positive impact on the whole world. The day before yesterday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang published an article at the official website of the Forum in which he gave a comprehensive and authoritative account of the state reform and prospects of the Chinese economy. The Premier pointed out that the sustained and healthy growth of the Chinese economy will create new opportunities for the world and inject new momentum into its development. The new round of reform in China covers political, economic, cultural, social and ecological areas. It has 15 aspects over 60, areas and over 300 important measures. This round of reform is more sweeping, thorough and difficult than ever before. You may want to know whether this round of reform will be successful and what will it mean for the world. I would like to tell you in clear terms that we have every confidence in the success of this reform. Our confidence comes from the Chinese nation's 5,000-year tradition of self-improvement and its profound civilization. Our nation has come through numerous difficulties and tests, yet we have never been daunted and we have been thriving. The important reason is that the Chinese nation is good at innovation and improving on itself. At no times have the Chinese people been afraid of reform. We would like to carry out reform and we are good at it. Our self-confidence comes from the path China has chosen. During the last 65 years since the founding of New China, we have searched hard and found a path in full keeping with China's conditions and has the support of the entire nation, i.e. the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Experience has and will continue to prove that if we stick to this path with no deviation, then China will maintain vitality and gain the momentum for development. Our confidence also comes from the firm leadership of the Communist Party of China. As a ruling party in China, the Communist Party has 86 million members. This is a unique advantage and the most important resource that we have in China as long as these 86 million party members are united as one, then we will have unparalleled strengths and conquer any and all problems in the process of reform. Our confidence also comes from the solid foundation and the rich experience we have gained over the years. In the era of reform and opening China has moved from poverty to prosperity. We used to cross the river by feeling the stones, but now we have a complete set of theories and policies. We have a clear sense of the problems that we face and we are fully capable of resolving these problems. Our confidence also comes from our enormous development space and potential. China has 1.3 billion people, 9.6 million square kilometers of land territory. Our development space is immense and our development potential is far from being fully untapped. Yet at the moment we have significant urban rural disparity and regional gaps. This is a big challenge for China but also where our hopes for future development lie. As reform deepens, the enormous demand in China will be unleashed wave by wave and keeping the Chinese economy growing at a fast pace for a long period to come. The confidence also comes from the wing-wing strategy of opening up. A key experience from our success is that we have pursued reform and opening in parallel. We have opened ourselves wider in the course of reform and used opening up to drive reform. China's reform will benefit the world even more and we will gain more impetus for reform from the rest of the world. Dear friends, the rapid march towards modernization of 1.3 billion people is an exciting picture and the best contribution the Chinese nation can make to humanity. We will be responsible to our own country and nation and we will show our due responsibilities to the world. The new round of reforming China meets the interests of the Chinese people and the needs of the world. We will transform our growth model, improving the quality and efficiency of the economy, avoiding the middle income trap and achieving sustainable development. A China committed to reform, a China enjoying growing prosperity will mean a lot of things to the world. I argue that it will provide even more opportunities for the world. First, market opportunities. Global demand is weak at the moment yet the Chinese market has been expanding. Last year, Chinese people bought some 21 million vehicles, accounting for over one quarter of global car sales and every year China now imports close to $2 trillion of goods. It is expected that over the next five years we will import $10 trillion of goods. Second, investment opportunities. Now the world economy faces financing bottlenecks and the Chinese enterprises have become a new source of global investment. Last year our non-financial overseas investment has exceeded $90 billion. We encourage Chinese companies and individuals to invest abroad and the new round of reform will take outbound investment from China into a new stage. Third, growth opportunities. The world economy is quite sluggish at the moment. China is a $9 trillion economy and last year we achieved 7.7 percent growth, a stellar performance among the G20 countries. We have achieved this in the course of adjusting the economic structure so it was real solid growth. And we estimate that 7 percent growth of the Chinese economy could add 1 percentage point to the global economy. The new round of reform will help China to maintain medium to high growth for a long time to come and this will no doubt be a piece of good news for the world economy. Fourth, cooperation opportunities. Global governance reform is in a difficult stage and the push for a new round of reform in China will help the world maintain an open economy and free trading regime. It will help to make economic globalization more healthy and encourage policy coordination between countries. I also argue that China will contribute more strengths to global peace. First, we follow the path of peaceful development and we encourage other countries to follow suit. This we believe is the only choice in a globalized world and the only viable path forward for human progress. Secondly, China will shoulder more international responsibilities. We will uphold justice and righteousness and practice equality in world and regional affairs. We will be a more active part in the solution of hotspot issues. We will use peace to better develop ourselves which will in turn contribute to world peace. Third, China will continue to handle tensions and disputes through equal-footed consultation while defending our country's fundamental interests. We will resolve disputes through dialogue with maximum sincerity and patience. Fourth, China will work with countries of the world to uphold human conscience and international justice. We will never allow past aggressors to overturn the verdict of history. We will never allow erstwhile powers to again embark on the path of expansion. And we will never allow fascist and militarist ideas to revive themselves in any way, shape and form. Dear friends, last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the goal of the Chinese dream of national renewal. The new round of reforming China will be the best way to achieve this goal. The steady realization of the Chinese dream will be good for China. It will also be good for the world, as President Xi has pointed out. The Chinese dream crystallizes every Chinese pursuit of happiness, and it is in common with the dream of every other people in the world. As an important member of the international community, China will, as we pursue and realize our dream, work with the international community to make our due contribution to human development and progress. Thank you. Mr. Minister, thank you for that reaffirmation of the progress that China's made and its interest in cooperation in the world. I wonder, though, if I could ask you first about relations with your neighbor Japan. There has been a lot in the news lately about this. We heard Prime Minister Abe here at Davos. And this morning, the Financial Times has an editorial quoting Prime Minister Abe saying the situation in the East China Sea is like 1914. Another is a very dangerous situation in which miscalculation could lead to war. Do you agree with that statement or do you disagree? It distracts me that his statement is a bit anachronistic, because the current era is a world of difference from 100 years ago. The forces for peace in the world, including China, are growing, and peace is assured. It also strikes me why would he make that statement. If the Japanese leader would like to review past history together with us, then we'd also like to do that, because the Chinese nation cannot forget that episode in history, and the Asian people cannot accept the episode in history. Let me just cite a few examples. In 1910, Japan annexed the Korean Peninsula and began its colonial rule on the peninsula. It was an infamous chapter in Japan's history. And in 1930, it created the Liu Tiago incident and occupied northeast China, killing many Chinese people. In 1937, it instigated the Marco Polo bridge incident, and began an all-out assault on China in that war. 35 million Chinese soldiers and civilians were either killed or injured. And then in 1940, Japan waged the Pacific War, leading ultimately to the demise of Japanese militarism. So, reviewing this episode of history, we could clearly tell who was the instigator of war and who was the troublemaker. I'm sure the answer is all too clear, as for the issues that currently exist in the Sino-Japanese relationship. Dr. Joseph Nye raised a good question. Now, some people were trying to distract us, but let's return to the issue per se. The biggest issue affecting the China-Japan relationship is the Yasukuni shrine. Let me use a few minutes to tell you what is the truth. The Yasukuni shrine during the war time was a symbolism of Japanese militarism. After the war, it was kept, and even to this day, even to this day, the shrine still advocates that past aggression was something justified. It still says that the Pacific War was launched in self-defense. It still insists that the Tokyo trials were unfair, and the shrine still honors the 14 class A war criminals as heroes. Now, when the Japanese leader visits and presents flowers to such a shrine to pay homage, then he would cross the bottom line of not just the China-Japan relationship, but also human conscience and international justice, and the outcome of the Second World War and the international order built on it. We're in Europe, so let me say that the class A war criminals of Japan were like the Nazis. Can you imagine this that a European leader could today lay a wreath at the memorial to Nazi war criminals? Would the European people accept such a move? No, and it would be illegal, besides. I'm sure if you put yourself in our shoes, you could understand the depths of our feeling. I just want to urge the Japanese leader to rethink his own comments and actions, and to listen to the criticism from the international community and the growing opposition from people inside Japan, and he should not go down that wrong path. I wonder if I could follow that up, Mr. Minister, by asking about the Daiyu Senkaku Islands. In 2012, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked me and some other ex-officials to go and visit Beijing and Tokyo. We came away convinced that neither Beijing nor Tokyo wanted a battle over the Daiyu Senkaku Islands. We also came back convinced that the communications between Tokyo and Beijing were not as good as they should be, and therefore there was a danger of miscalculation. So one of the questions is, could you improve calculate in communication? For example, a hotline, military to military contacts, are there ways to make sure that there isn't a miscalculation over this issue? You've mentioned another sensitive issue that's affecting the bilateral relationship, the issue of the Daiyu Islands. Frankly, this issue again was created by the Japanese side. That's a fact. Back in 1972, when China and Japan worked on the normalization of our relations, we recognized this was a controversial issue. China would of course stick to its position. At that time, the Chinese and Japanese leaders agreed that in order to normalize relations, then the two sides needed to shelf the dispute over the islands. That was a common understanding reached between the two sides, and that's why for 40 years the issue has not affected the relationship. But then in October 2012, we anticipated the move from the Japanese side. We urged Japan not to move forward with the nationalization of the islands. But Japan ignored our warning. The so-called nationalization of those islands would break the status quo and reassert Japan's unilateral position over those islands. And that's why this issue worsened. And China had no choice but to react to the Japanese move. But then we offered to have negotiation as to how to best handle the issue of the Daiyu islands. But let me tell you, as a matter of fact, Japan still refuses to discuss the issue of the Daiyu islands with China, because in its view, the two sides do not have a dispute over the islands. But the whole world recognizes there is a dispute over the islands, and my good friend Joseph Nye was worried about a potential conflict over the islands. So it's unimaginable that Japan could still insist that there is no bilateral dispute over those islands. So today let me again make the offer that we should begin to have bilateral negotiation over the islands as soon as possible to establish a crisis management mechanism. Thank you. I wonder if I could turn now to a different relationship, which is that between the United States and China. President Xi Jinping has talked about a new type of great power relationship. Could you tell us what is a new type of great power relationship? This is a good question. China and the United States are both major countries. The direction of the relationship affects not just our two countries, but also the whole world. So the world is watching where this relationship is headed, and there are all kinds of musings. And we want to work on people's expectation about the China-U.S. relationship. China and the United States together announced to the world that we will not have either conflict or confrontation, because we live in a globalized world, and China and the United States are increasingly a community of shared interests. It's impossible for the two countries to have major power confrontation, as was the case in the past, and it's impossible for us to encounter the Thucydus trap. And our joint commitment to avoiding conflict and confrontation could change the negative expectations in the world about China-U.S. relations, and could encourage the world to better develop their relations with both countries. But avoiding conflict and confrontation is not enough. On this basis, we need to show mutual respect and engage in win-win cooperation. We cannot imagine the resolution of any major issue in the world without sino-american coordination and cooperation. So there are three key phrases for the new type of relationship. Avoiding conflict and confrontation as one, mutual respect as another, and win-win cooperation as a third. Of course, we've just begun the effort to build this new type of relationship. On our way ahead, there are going to be setbacks to be sure, but the important thing is for both sides to make the effort and move towards each other. China is ready to do its part. If I could ask you a third question, it would be about, as you put it, my favorite topic, soft power. But it's worth noting that when President Hu Jintao told the 17th Party Congress that China needed to increase its soft power, that policy has been continued by President Xi Jinping, and he recently made a statement also that China needs to increase its soft power. How do you see China doing in that effort to increase soft power, and what are the steps that you would take to implement those statements by President Hu and President Xi? Well, you invented the concept of soft power. It was an important contribution to human civilization and progress. Soft power is essential to a country and especially a major country, and China has realized that we have been studying and exploring and practicing the idea of soft power. And I believe China has at least three aspects of soft power. Firstly, our fine traditional culture. Over 2,000 years ago, there was a debate about the direction of the country, and people argued we should have benevolence rather than hegemony, and we emphasized the need to rule the country by virtue and value peace. These are important concepts that are still relevant to the 21st century world. This was the first aspect of China's soft power. Second aspect is the development path that China has chosen. It is fully in keeping with China's national conditions. It has the support of the 1.3 billion people. It has proved effective. This path has served as well, and it will continue to serve as well, because it is a path of scientific development. This path would, of course, work well for China, but it could also be something that other countries, especially other developing countries, could study and draw on. The third aspect of China's soft power is the principle that we have abided by in our foreign policy. We have a good diplomatic tradition, put simply, it is about upholding justice or righteousness and practicing equality. These are the traditions we've been following over many years, and something with unique Chinese characteristics compared with other major powers. This has been our statement and practice. When the heads of small countries visit China, we still give them 21 guns salute, red carpet, military parade, and so on. And they often tell us that China is a big country, yet you treat us, the small countries, as equals. That's something we have not seen from other major powers. So the equality of countries large and small is also part of China's soft power. There are, of course, many more aspects. I recently met with Joseph Nye in Beijing, I very much respect his views, and I'm sure we will continue to discuss the subject in the future. And as time passes, we will add more substance to and strengthen China's soft power. Thank you. Thank you very much. We have just one minute left, so we're not going to have time for audience questions. But maybe as a final question, since we are in Europe, I could ask you how do you see China's relations developing with Europe? This is a big question. China has always valued its ties with Europe, for we have always seen Europe as a very important force in today's world, and we see the China-Europe relationship as the integration of two large markets, as exchanges between two large civilizations, and as cooperation between two major forces. The China-Europe relationship has been growing well. Last year, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. We hosted the visit of European leaders, and during that visit, we adopted a strategic agenda for China-EU cooperation till 2020, in which we mapped out various areas of cooperation between China and Europe. We are very optimistic about China-Europe relations, because in generally, we respect each other and we complement each other. This year, President Xi Jinping will visit Europe. Last year, Premier Li Keqiang visited Europe. I'm sure that working together, the China-Europe relationship will grow from strength to strength for the benefit of our two peoples and also the whole world. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Minister, for your wonderful tour of the world. We still had other parts of the world, but we don't have time. So let us all join in thanking the Minister for this very helpful presentation.