The meeting of Li Hai, Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Irkutsk, with university students took place at ISU on the topic “Chinese modernization and China-Russia relations in the new era.”

In his speech, the Consul General spoke about the characteristic traits of modernization in China, particularly noting the five traits of the process: the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, following the path of peaceful development, the coordinated development of material and spiritual culture, improving the welfare of the population and a large population coverage. In his speech, Li Hai also paid attention to the issues of modern cooperation between Russia and China:

“China and Russia are forming an architecture of broad gauge and comprehensive multi-vector cooperation. Many strategic projects in the field of energy, nuclear energy, aviation, astronautics, electronics, agriculture, digital economy, biomedicine and technological innovations are being successfully implemented and new growth points of our cooperation are constantly emerging.”

After his speech, the Consul General of the People's Republic of China answered some questions from students concerning, in particular, the well-known “Belt and Road Initiative” (global infrastructure development strategy) and those areas of the economy where Russian-Chinese cooperation is of particular importance. In addition, Li Hai expressed hope that the youth of Russia and China, including ISU students, will take up the baton of friendship between the countries and contribute to strengthening the cooperation.

The Consul General’s speech was held at the site of the International Institute of Economics and Linguistics of ISU. About 250 university students, including foreign students, attended the event. Konstantin Grigorichev, Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs of ISU, said his welcoming speech, stressing the importance for the university of the possibility of inviting leading foreign professors and persons who take part in the cooperation between Russia and its partner countries. Addressing Li Hai, he said:

“I am very grateful that you agreed to open with your lecture a series of events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and China. I think that this lecture that marks the beginning of this year for our students will be extremely useful and informative and will set the tone for all the events that will be dedicated to the interaction of our countries in 2024.”

It should be noted that this year, in connection with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Russia-China diplomatic relations, a series of events is planned at ISU. By the decision of the President of Russia the years 2024-2025 were established as the Years of Culture of Russia – China. The decision was made to “further develop Russia-China relations and expand the bilateral ties in the field of culture.”