On September 23th, Valentina Matviyenk, Chairperson of Russia's Federation Council, visited Peking University (PKU), leading a delegation that included Ilyas Umakhanov, Russian Federation Council Vice Chairman, and Andrey Ivanovich Denisov, Russian Ambassador to China. They were received at the Yingjie Exchange Center by Wang Chen, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress, Cao Weizhou, Vice Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress, Zhu Shanlu, Chairman of Peking University Council, Wang Enge, President of PKU, as well as Li Yansong, Vice President of PKU.
Chairman Zhu met with the guests and extended warm welcome for their arrival. He expressed that PKU always maintains close cooperation ties with universities and research institutes in Russia, and hoped the expansion of cooperation among higher institutions in the two countries would push forward friendly bilateral ties.
Matvienko told Zhu Shanlu that she was delighted to have the opportunity to visit PKU, and felt honoured to receive the title of Honorary Professor from PKU. She pointed out that as economic and trade ties between Russia and China enjoying robust development, cooperation in education area should be strengthened in order to boost mutual understanding. She hoped that Peking University will make more endeavour in this regard, particularly in high-tech fields, and contribute to the economic development and modernization of both countries.
The delegation then proceeded to the Sunlight Hall in Yingjie Exchange Center for Matvienko’s public speech. President Wang Enge noted in his welcome speech that as friendly neighbors China and Russia have scored fruitful results in strengthening strategic partnership and expanding pragmatic cooperation in various fields. Wang reviewed Matvienko’s outstanding contributions to Sino-Russian cooperation in the education field, as well as PKU’s efforts in this aspect. He said that the future of China and Russia depends on their peoples, and in particularly requires mutual understanding among the youths of both countries. President Wang’s speech was followed by a conferment of the Honorary Professor title upon Matvienko.
Matvienko expressed her gratitude for the title conferment, and would continue to make every effort to deepen cultural and educational cooperation between China and Russia. She pointed out that as two important countries in the Asia Pacific, China and Russia should take the lead in ensuring regional stability. Matvienko noted that the Russian Federation Council and the National People’s Congress enjoy a friendly relationship, with both sides having worked hard to develop the legal basis for Sino-Russian relations.
Matvienko declared that 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the world’s Anti-Fascist War and both China and the Soviet Union had made huge contributions to the Anti-Fascist War, and that she was firmly opposed to any tampering of history or beautification of populism and militarism. Matvienko also mentioned that she was proud of Russia’s hosting of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, and at the same time congratulated China on the success of the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games.
After the speech she took questions from the students present, and exchanged opinions with them on issues such as Russia’s corruption problem and friendly exchanges between youths of the two countries.
