Peking University, June 1, 2016: On May 26, 2016, President of India Pranab Mukherjee addressed the audience of students and professors during the China-India University Presidents Roundtable event at the Yingjie Exchange Center of Peking University. His highlighted commonalities between the two civilizations’ history, culture, and modern development, and expressed his hopes for the future of China-India relations.
Lin Jianhua welcoming Pranab Mukherjee
Peking University Vice President Gao Song gave the opening remarks and welcomed the president and other distinguished guests, including the Indian Minister of Textiles Santosh Kumar Gangwar, the Chinese Minster of Education Yuan Guiren, and the Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affiars Liu Zhenmin. Peking University President Lin Jianhua then took the podium and introduced President Mukherjee, commenting that he is in fact an old friend of Peking University, as he had previously visited in 2008 when he was the Foreign Minister of India. President Lin expressed his hopes for increased academic exchanges between the two countries.
Pranab Mukherjee addressing the audience
President Mukherjee began his speech highlighting the historical ties between the two ancient civilizations, including an ancient Buddhist heritage and a common struggle against imperialist powers. As the two most populous countries, India and China also face similar developmental issues, and the President expressed his confidence that the two great Asian nations would join hands to face these problems in the new “Asian Century”.
Pranab Mukherjee and Lin Jianhua exchanging gifts
To enhance cooperation between the two nations, President Mukerjee first stressed the importance of political understanding. Despite differences like the border dispute that has challenged the two countries’ relations in the past, the President is confident that both nations will “draw upon civilizational wisdom” and solve these problems to the satisfaction of both sides. The president then stressed the importance of building a “people-centric partnership” and emphasized that to build this kind of partnership, “we must have mutual trust built on the mutual respect and the mutual appreciation of our respected political and social systems.”
Group photo
The president spoke of increasing cooperation in different fields as the pillars of this people-centric partnership. He called for more political contact on both the national and provincial levels, the continued cooperation in improving the two nations’ tourist industries, more technological cooperation in the digital age, and more frequent intellectual exchanges. The president remarked, “joint research and scholarship programs can help dispel the notion that we have to look to the west and not to each other to make progress in education, science, and technology.” Finally, President Mukerjee recited a 1942 quotation of Mahatma Gandhi: “I look forward to the day when a free India and a free china will cooperate together in friendship and brotherhood for their own good and for the good of Asia and the world.” The president called on the people of India and China to work towards this objective, and he expressed his confidence that this vision could be achieved.
Background Info:
About the China-India University Presidents Roundtable
On May 26, 2016, the China-India University Presidents Roundtable was held at the Yingjie Overseas Exchange Center on the Peking University campus. During his visit, Pranab Mukherjee, President of the Republic of India, addressed the roundtable, which was attended by Yuan Guiren, Minster of Education, and Liu Zhenmin, Vice Minister of Foreign affairs as well as the presidents from eight Chinese universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and twelve Indian universities, including the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi and Nalanda University.
The Chinese and Indian university presidents discussed the topics “Scientific Research: Building World-class Universities and Disciplines” and “Education: Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship” during the roundtable. After the discussions concluded, President Mukherjee as well as the Chinese Minister of Education Yuan Guiren witnessed the exchange of cooperative agreements between 16 Chinese and Indian universities, including the exchange of an agreement between Peking University and Nalanda University.
Written by: Jessie Gammon
Edited by: Zhang Jiang
Source: Office of Internationa Relations
