3 September 2022

Dear President Liu,judges,parents,teachers,

Dear contestants,distinguished guests,and friends,

Good afternoon.

It’s my great pleasure to attend this year’s Chinese speaking competition held by the Chinese Language Teachers' Association of Western Australia. Just now the 28 contestants talked about your families,friends,hobbies in Chinese,and I watched the competition from the beginning till the very end. The 28 contestants have all done your best in the competition. I am very proud of you. Language is not only a useful tool of communication, but also an efficient carrier of culture. Learning Chinese can help us better understand Chinese civilization, including its long history, splendid culture and diversified social customs, especially the core of Chinese culture among which is "harmony without uniformity". More than 25 million foreigners among over 180 countries and regions are studying Chinese language, of which 76 countries have included Chinese programs in their national curriculum, and meanwhile about 400 million people in China are learning English. Through learning a foreign language and a different culture, people from different countries may better understand each other, enhance friendship and promote mutually beneficial cooperation. 

The WA government attaches great importance to promoting good relations with China and Chinese language teaching. For many years, more than 50 primary and secondary schools in WA have been teaching Chinese as second language, which is a compulsory course for year 3 to year 8. The WA School Curriculum and Standards Authority has formulated curriculum for Chinese learning from Kindergarten all through to high schools. CLTAWA has played an important role in Chinese language teaching in Western Australian elementary and secondary schools. I highly appreciate the unremitting efforts taken and the outstanding achievements made by all the Chinese language teachers of Western Australia in their teaching of Chinese language. More and more Australian people are learning the Chinese language.  According to the newest statistics by ABS, excluding English, Chinese is the most frequently spoken language in Australian families, and more than 685, 000 people speak Chinese at home. I suppose many of you know that several Australian PMs including Anthony Albanese and Kevin Rudd can speak Chinese quite well.

Both Chinese people and Australian people are great peoples. The mutual respects and win-win exchanges and cooperation in economy,trade,sci-tech,education,tourism, etc, conform to the fundamental interests and common aspirations of the two countries.  

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of  diplomatic relations between our two countries, the brighter future of China-Australia relations in the next 50 years is in the hands of the young people as the contestants present today. I hope all the contestants will continue with your Chinese language learning, and when you grow up, you will act as bridges of friendship and cooperation between China and Australia. Let’s work hand in hand to facilitate the sound development of strategic partnership of our two countries.

Thank you!