On the evening of April 2nd, the Chinese former Ambassador to France, Congo and Lebanon, Wu Zexian, at the invitation of President Qin He, gave a report themed “China’s Diplomacy in the New Era—40th Anniversary of Reform and Opening up” in the Multifunctional Lecture Hall.

Wu Zexian, a member of the Communist Party of China, born in Wuxi in Jiangsu province, graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. From 1978 to 2006, he worked in the Chinese Embassy in France three times and in the Department of West European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs twice serving as Deputy Office Director, Office Director, and Counsellor. He was appointed as China’s Ambassador to Congo and Lebanon successively from 2007 to 2013. And in 2013, he retired and now gives lectures in China Foreign Affairs University and Beijing Foreign Studies University.

In the lecture, Ambassador Wu Zexian elaborated on major foreign affairs in the last 70 years since the founding of New China. He noted that seeking peace and pursing development have always been the guiding principles for China’s diplomacy as evidenced by the “Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence” and “Seeking Common Ground While Reserving Differences” initiated in the early New China and today’s “Community of Shared Future for Mankind.”

Ambassador Wu Zexian said: “As a diplomat, I was never asked to attack, invade other countries or solve problems with armed forces during implementation of tasks. Instead, I was always asked to solve them in a peaceful way to achieve common development. Such a foreign policy, ideal and principle is what China has been pursuing since ancient times. We are always ready to establish friendship with all countries in the world, and behaviors of falsification or an unreasonable kind are firmly condemned.” This is his full understanding of China’s foreign policy.

The ambassador’s lecture arouse a strong response from the students. They all expressed that the lecture given by Ambassador Wu Zexian not only enabled them to further understand the basic principles and norms of China’s diplomacy and clearly clarified great responsibilities and missions that foreign learners shoulder, but also motivated them to improve professional skills and strengthen determinations to serve the great cause of China’s diplomacy.