On December 16, 2019, Yang Jiechi, Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, attended and addressed the reception commemorating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) in Beijing. 

Congratulating the CPIFA on the 70th anniversary of its founding, Yang Jiechi said, the CPIFA was founded on the initiative of the late Premier Zhou Enlai, the first institute of its kind devoted to people-to-people diplomacy after the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Since its inception, the CPIFA has been actively playing its unique role in people-to-people diplomacy, serving the overall interests of China's reform, development and stability and supporting China’s overall diplomacy.

Yang Jiechi said, one of the distinctive attributes of the PRC's diplomacy is to uphold the position of the people. People-to-People diplomacy has become an important part of the PRC’s diplomacy. Over the past 70 years, China's diplomacy has taken root among the people and delivered benefits to them, and always born in mind and practiced the purpose of diplomacy for the people. People-to-People diplomacy has played an irreplaceable role in enhancing friendship among the people, cementing state-to-state relations, promoting practical cooperation and facilitating exchanges among civilizations, and has made important contributions to China's overall diplomacy.

Yang Jiechi said, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that China cannot develop itself in isolation from the world, and the world needs China for global prosperity. Over the past 70 years, the relationship between China and the world has undergone historic changes. China's international status is rising, with growing international influence and more and more contributions to the world. China is committed to independence, and also has been actively cooperating with other countries and making friends both extensively and deeply. We have never forgotten the friendship of the people of other countries towards the Chinese people.

Yang Jiechi said, the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century. The international landscape is undergoing deep adjustment and the trend towards a multi-polar world and economic globalization is unstoppable. Next year, China will complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieve its first centenary goal. China will stick to the path of peaceful development and its development will certainly bring more opportunities to the world. We firmly believe that friendly exchanges among the people are the fundamental force for promoting world peace and development and we will always march forward hand in hand with the people around the world.

President Wang Chao of CPIFA hosted the reception. Nearly 300 Chinese and foreign guests attended the reception, including former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan, former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan, Head of the Diplomatic Corps in China and Cambodian Ambassador to China Khek Cai Mealy Sysoda and other diplomatic envoys to China, representatives from think tanks and cooperation institutions as well as friendly personages.