From: yaozuwing@gmail.com

Feng to Comrades

Full Text from President Xi Jinping's Speech

Dr. Henry Kissinger; Gov. Jay Inslee of the state of Washington; Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker; Mayor Ed Murray of Seattle; Chairwoman Carla Hills of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations; Chairman Mark Fields of the U.S.-China Business
Council; ladies and gentlemen, good evening.

Thank you Dr. Kissinger for your kind introduction. Dr. Kissinger has always been able to come up with some new observations. His introduction has really given me a new perspective to look at myself.

It is great to be among so many friends, old and new in a state of Washington, and the City of Seattle, the first leg of my state visit to the United States. Let me begin by extending to you, and through you, to all the American people, my cordial
greetings and best wishes.

I am no stranger to the state of Washington and the City of Seattle. Known as the Evergreen state, and the Emerald City, here you have got the majestic Mount Rainier and the charming Lake Washington. The film Sleepless in Seattle has made the city almost
a household name in China. Besides, Washington is the leading state in U.S. exports to China and China is the No. 1 trading partner of the Port of Seattle. Washington and Seattle have become an important symbol of the friendship between Chinese and
American people and the win-win cooperation between the two countries. As the Chinese saying goes, the fire burns high when everyone brings wood to it. It is the love and care and hard work of the national governments, local authorities, friendly
organizations, and people from all walks of life in those countries that have made China-U.S. relations flourish. In particular, the national committee on U.S-China Relations, the U.S.-China Business Council, the U.S.-China Policy Foundation, the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, The China General Chamber of Commerce USA, the Committee of 100, the China Institute, the Council of Foreign Relations, the Asia Society, The Brookings Institution, and many other friendly groups and individuals that have made a
tiring effort over the years to promote friendly relations and cooperation between the two countries and brought this relationship to this far.

Let me pay high tribute and express my heartfelt gratitude to all the local governments, social organizations, universities, think-tanks, and people from all sectors of society who have dedicated themselves to the cause of China-U.S. friendship.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends. Since the founding of the People’s Republic, especially since the beginning of reform and opening up, China has set out on an extraordinary journey. The Chinese of my generation have had some first-hand experience.
Toward the end of the 1960s, when I was in my teens, I was sent from Beijing to work as a peasant in a small village, where I spent seven years. At that time, the villagers and I lived in earth caves and slept on earth beds. Life was very hard. There was
no meat in our diet for months. I knew what the villagers wanted the most. Later, I became the village’s party secretary and began to lead the villagers in production. One thing I wished most at the time was to make it possible for the villagers to eat
meat to their heart’s content. But it was very difficult for such a wish to come true in those years.

At the spring festival earlier this year, I returned to the village. It was a different place now. I saw black top roads. Now living in houses with bricks and tiles, the villagers had Internet access. Elderly folks had basic old-age care, and all
villagers had medical care coverage. Children were in school. Of course, meat was readily available. This made me kindly aware that the Chinese dream is, after all, a dream of the people. We can fulfill the Chinese dream only when we link it with our
people’s yearning for a better life.

What has happened in [my village] is but a microcosm of the progress China has made through reform and opening up. In a little more than three decades, we have turned China into the world’s second-largest economy, lifted 1.3 billion people from a life
of chronic shortage, and brought them initial prosperity and unprecedented rights and dignity.

This is not only a great change in the lives of the Chinese people, but also a huge step forward in human civilization, and China’s major contribution to world peace and development.

At the same time, we are civilly-aware that China is still the world’s largest developing country. Our per capita GDP is only two-thirds that of global average and one-seventh that of the United States, ranking around 80th in the world. By China’s
own standard, we still have over 70 million people living under the poverty line. If measured by world bank standard, the number would be more than 200 million. Over 70 million citizens live on basic living allowances and the number of people with
disabilities exceeds 85 million. During the past two years, I have been to many poor areas in China and visited many poor families. I wouldn’t forget the look in their eyes longing for distant, happy life.

I know that we must work still harder before all our people can live a better life. That explains why development remains China’s top priority. To anyone charged with the governance of China, their primary mission is to focus all the resources on
improving people’s living standard and gradually achieve common prosperity. To this end, we have proposed the two centenary goals mentioned by Dr. Kissinger, namely to double the 2010 GDP and per capita income of the Chinese and complete the building
of a moderately prosperous society by 2020 and to build a prosperous, strong, democratic … harmonious, modernist socialist country that realizes the great renew of the Chinese nation by the middle of the century.

Whatever we do now is aimed at fulfilling these goals. To succeed in completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, we must comprehensively deepen reform, advance the law-based governance, and apply strict … discipline.
That is what our proposed 4-pronged strategy is all about.

Since you are all interested in the direction of China’s development and foreign policy orientation, let me take this opportunity to share with you some of my thoughts in this regard. China’s economy will stay on a steady course with fairly fast
growth. The Chinese economy is still operating within a proper range. It grew by 7 percent in the first half of this year, and this growth rate remains one of highest in world. It has not come by easily, given the complex and volatile situation in world
economy. At present, all economies are facing difficulties, and our economy is also under downward pressure. But this is only a problem in the course of progress. It will take … steps to achieve stable growth, deepen reform, adjust structure, improve
livelihood, and prevent risks while strengthening and innovating macro-regulation to keep the growth at medium-to-high rate.

Currently, China is continuing to move forward in this new type of industrialization, digitalization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization. With a high savings rate, a huge consumption potential, a hard working population, and a rising proportion
of middle income people — now we have 300 million middle income earnings in China — China enjoys enormous space … to grow in terms of market size and potential. China will focus more on improving the quality and efficiency of economic growth, and
accelerating the shift of growth model and adjustment in economic structure. I will lay greater emphasis on innovation and consumption-driven growth — in this way, we will solve the problem of unbalanced, uncoordinated, and unsustainable development,
and enable the Chinese economy to successfully transform itself and maintain strong momentum of growth.

Recent abnormal ups and downs in China’s stock market has caused wide concern. Stock prices fluctuating accordance with your inherent laws and it is the duty of the government to ensure an open, fair, and just market order and prevent massive panic
from happening. This time, the Chinese government took steps to stabilize the market and contain panic in the stock market, and thus avoided the systemic risk. Mature markets in various countries have tried similar approaches. Now, China’s stock market
has reached the phase of self-recovery, and self-adjustment. On the 11th of August, China moved to improve its RMB central parity quotation mechanism, giving the market a greater role in determining the exchange rates. Our efforts have achieved initial
success in correcting the exchange rate deviation. Given the economic and financial situation at home and abroad, there is no basis for continuous depreciation of the RMB. We will stick to the purpose of our reform to have the exchange rate decided by
market supply and demand and allow the RMB to float both ways. We are against competitive depreciation or a currency war. We will not lower the RMB exchange rate to boost export. To develop the capital market and improve the market-based pricing of the
RMB exchange, is the direction of our reform. This will not be changed by the recent fluctuation in the stock market.

The key to China’s development lies in reform. Our reform is aimed at modernizing the country’s governance system, and governance capabilities so that the market can play a decisive role in the allocation of resources. The government can play a
better role and there is faster progress in building the socialist market economy, democracy, advanced culture, harmonious society, and soundly environment.

At the third of the 18th party central committee in 2013, we decided on an over-arching plan for deepening reform featuring over 330 measures. In 2014, 18 major reform items were by-and-large completed. In the first half of this year, we rolled out 70
key reform programs with their effects gradually becoming evident. When it comes to the toughest reforms, only those with courage will carry the day. We have the results and guts to press ahead, and take reform forward. We will stick to the direction of
market economy reform and continue to introduce bold and result-oriented reform measures concerning the market, taxation, finance, investment and financing, pricing, opening up, and people’s livelihood.

China will never close its open door to the outside world. Opening up is a basic state policy of China. Its policies that attract foreign investment will not change, nor will its pledge to protect legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors in
China, and to improve its services for foreign companies operating in China. We respect the international business norms and practice of non-discrimination, observe the … principle of national treatment commitment, treat all market players —
including foreign-invested companies — fairly, and encourage transnational corporations to engage in all forms of cooperation with Chinese companies. We will address legitimate concerns of foreign investors in timely fashion, protect their lawful
rights and interests, and work hard to provide an open and transparent legal and policy environment, an efficient administrative environment, and a level playing field in the market, with a special focus on IPR protection so as to broaden the space of
cooperation between China and the United States and other countries.

China will follow the basic strategy of the rule of law in governance. Law is the very foundation of governance. We will coordinate our efforts to promote the rule of law in governance and administration, for the building of the country, the government
and society on solid basis of the rule of law, build greater trust in judicial system, and ensure that human rights are respected and effectively upheld. China will give fair treatment to foreign institutions and foreign companies in the country’s
legislative, executive, and judicial practices. We are ready to discuss rule of law issues with the U.S. side in the spirit of mutual learning for common progress.

China is a staunch defender of cybersecurity. It is also a victim of hacking. The Chinese government will not, in whatever form, engage in commercial thefts or encourage or support such attempts by anyone. Both commercial cyber theft and hacking against
government networks are crimes that must be punished in accordance with law and relevant international treaties. The international community should, on the basis of mutual respect and mutual trust, work together to build a peaceful, secure, open, and
cooperative cyberspace. China is ready to set up a high-level joint dialogue mechanism with United States on fighting cyber crimes.

China recognizes the positive role played by foreign non-profit organizations. So long as their activities are beneficial to the Chinese people, we will not restrict or prohibit their operations, but will protect their operations through legislation and
protect their legitimate rights and interests. On their part, foreign NPO’s in China need to obey Chinese law and carry out activities in accordance with law.

China will continuing fighting corruption. As I once said, one has to be very strong if he wants to strike the iron. The blacksmith referred to here is the Chinese communist party. The fundamental aim of the party is to serve the people’s heart and
soul. The party now has over 87 million members and unavoidably, it has problems of one kind or another. If we let these problems go unchecked we will risk losing the trust and support of the people. That is why we demand strict enforcement of party
discipline as the top priority of governance. In our vigorous campaign against corruption, we have punished both tigers and flies — corrupt official — irrespective of ranking, in response to our people’s demand. This has nothing to do with power
struggle. In this case, there is no House of Cards.

China is ready to cooperate closely with the international community in fighting corruption and tracking down fugitives. The Chinese people look to the U.S. for support and coordination so that corrupt elements will be denied — an overseas safe haven.


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