Mr Steven Rosato,

Mr Wu Shangzhi,

Dear Friends,

Good Morning. It is my great pleasure to join you in the discussion on President Xi's new book: "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China".

In recent years, China has made great strides in many fields. Increasingly the world is focusing on the historic and profound changes taking place in China. What has made China's achievements possible? In what direction will the new generation of Chinese leaders steer the big vessel of China and how? How will China transform its economic growth model and respond to challenges of employment, resources, energy and ecology? How will China address the key issues of distribution of wealth and social justice? How will this ancient civilization modernize itself? How will the ruling party lead the nation in the most promising and challenging times to accomplish its historic mission? What does all this mean for the global community? The world looks for answers to these questions, answers that are clear, to-the-point and convincing.

In response, the Information Office of the State Council of China, the CCCPC Party Literature Research Office and China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration have jointly compiled and published this new book Xi Jingping: The Governance of China.

The book has documented thinking and practices of President Xi and the new CPC leadership on governance, opening up a new window to the world on contemporary China. The 18 chapters of the book cover a wide range of topics, from deepening reform to economic development, from culture to environment, from rule of law to social undertakings, from foreign policy to national defense and from anti-corruption to CPC leadership. For those who would like to better understand today's China, especially how the top leadership charts the course of China's development and reform, this book offers a rare and authentic perspective.

President Xi Jinping, as well as other members of the Chinese leadership, have their roots in the people. They rose step by step from the grassroots. They spent decades living and working in villages, counties, cities and provinces before taking up the responsibilities of national leadership. They have experienced the setbacks as well as the successes of the People's Republic of China since its founding. They share the aspirations and concerns of the people. They have a strong sense of mission and urgency for the future of the nation. This book crystallizes their vision, which is now called the Chinese Dream. And the title of the very first article in the book can be seen as the best and most concise summary of the whole volume: the people's wish for a good life is our goal.

In order to reach this goal, China needs a peaceful and stable external environment and cooperation with the rest of the world. At the same time, China's development also opens up great prospects for global peace and prosperity. President Xi points out in the book that to realized the Chinese Dream, we must pursue peaceful development and that the realization of the Chinese Dream will bring the world peace, not turmoil, opportunities, not threats. This is the world outlook of the Chinese leader, an outlook that focuses on community building and aims at win-win outcome, an outlook that conforms with the mega-trends of the 21st century.

Of all the external ties that China has, our relationship with the US is the most important one. It is also a relationship about which President Xi has envisaged a long-term goal. As he notes in the book, the Chinese Dream has many things in common with all the beautiful dreams of people all over the world, including the American Dream. As a result of the in-depth strategic communication between President Xi and President Obama, the two countries are now working together to build a new model of relationship that will expand cooperation and manage differences in a constructive way. This is an unprecedented endeavor, and we have no alternative but to succeed in the interests of our two peoples and the entire world. I am confident that President Xi's upcoming state visit to the U.S. will give further guidance and new impetus to it.

In conclusion, I hope that the symposium will help readers to know more about this book and that the book will help American readers to better understand China and help us to dispel some blind suspicions and fears about China and its policies. There is no better guide for that than this book.

Thank you.