China Institute and CGTN Collaborate for Keynote Speech at the 2023 Understanding China Conference

GUANGZHOU, China, Dec. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — China Institute for Innovation & Development Strategy (“CIIDS”), in collaboration with CGTN, is set to host the Understanding China Keynote Speech at the 2023 Understanding China Conference, which took place in Guangzhou from December 1 to 3.


Mushahid Hussain Syed, chairman of the Defense Committee of the Pakistani Senate, shared a nostalgic look back at his 1970s visit to China during his keynote at the 2023 Understanding China Conference in Guangzhou. He went through the historical roots of cultural exchanges between China and Pakistan, and the transformative impact of the “Belt and Road” initiative and its main project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, on the nation’s economy, society, and quality of life

The Understanding China Keynote Speech event is an opportunity for speakers from various backgrounds to discuss themes such as mutual learning between civilizations, technological innovation, cultural exchanges, and green development. They also share their personal experiences of China’s modernization, providing a multi-field and three-dimensional perspective.

Yves Leterme, former Belgian Prime Minister, emphasized the significance of strong China-EU relations for the world’s future advancement, supporting an open and inclusive attitude with a continuous deepening of exchanges and a boost in mutual understanding. Moon Chung-in, chairman of Sejong Institute in South Korea, noted a divide in South Korean attitudes towards China’s rise. He advises China to foster relationships and enhance its global interactions to show the world its true nature. Martin Jacques, senior fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, assessed China’s progression over the past 70 years, convincingly explained why the future “China” will still be China. Vikram Channa, vice president of Content at Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, shared his insights from over two decades of filming documentaries in China. Drawing from his own experiences in Alibaba Cloud R&D, Wang Jian, academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, expressed his aspiration to utilize technology to bring young people together and shape a brighter future.

The Conference also ran a unique forum, Stories as Bridges: Teenagers and Understanding China, concurrently. Distinguished experts and scholars from China, the UK, the US, and Belarus, as well as international students in China, convened to discuss how teenagers can communicate effectively. 

Hu Min, the forum’s convener and the director of the China Story Research Institute of CIIDS, also the founder and CEO of New Channel International Education Group, introduced a three-pronged strategy for “understanding China” at the forum. This strategy aims to enhance the understanding of China among its citizens, particularly the youth, to provide the world with an authentic view of China, and to encourage global sharing of knowledge and understanding about China.