Ambassador Fu Cong, Head of the Chinese Mission to the European Union, delivered a speech at the Dutch University of Leuven in Belgium. Photography by Chen Weihua.
Leuven, Belgium, China, March 6 (Interns Zhang Xingran and Zou Jiyu) On the evening of March 5, local time, Fu Cong, head of the Chinese Mission to the European Union, delivered a speech entitled "Promoting Understanding through Exchanges and Writing a New Chapter of China-EU Cooperation" at the University of Leuven in Belgium, and held a warm interaction with teachers and students.
With a history of nearly 600 years, KU Leuven is one of Europe's most prestigious and top research universities. According to the school's website, there were 1,399 Chinese students in the 2021-22 academic year, including 14 from Hong Kong and 125 from Taiwan.
Focusing on the theme of China-EU educational exchanges, Ambassador Fu Cong talked about the history of education in China and Europe, and pointed out that Chinese and European universities have always been at the forefront of continuing civilization and creating knowledge. He mentioned that the number of international students in China has exceeded 400,000, which is of great significance for China-EU exchanges and cultural mutual learning.
Ambassador Fu Cong believes that China and the EU have maintained a good momentum of exchanges, that there are extensive common interests between the two sides, and that China and the EU are partners rather than rivals. By telling the personal experiences of several students studying in China, he encouraged more Europeans to visit China and not be misled by some one-sided reports from the West. He said that China recently implemented a visa-free policy for many EU member states, and now it is more convenient to go to China.
Ambassador Fu Cong introduced the "Window to the EU" China** Scholarship Program. The aim of the project is to promote the mobility of people in the field of higher education in China and Europe, and to sponsor outstanding students, teachers and scholars from EU member states to study or conduct research at Chinese universities. The scholarship categories are undergraduates, master's students, doctoral students, etc., and the disciplines cover science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, literature, philosophy, art, etc.
Ambassador Fu Cong participated in the panel discussion. Photo by Zhang Xingran.
Du Yan (right) talks about her work and study experience in China. Photography by Chen Weihua.
After the keynote speeches, Peter Lievens, Vice President of KU Leuven, Professor Dorien Emmers of the Chinese Research Group of KU Leuven, Professor Yang Xing of the School of Chemical Engineering of KU Leuven and Ambassador Fu Cong had a panel discussion.
Pete Livings introduced the policy objectives and concrete measures of EU-China cooperation at the school level. Du Yan recounted her experience of studying abroad at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and working as an English teacher at a boarding school in Ya'an, Sichuan, emphasizing the key importance of first-hand experience for cross-cultural studies. Yang Xing shared the collaborative research carried out by KU Leuven and the Chinese academic community in the field of chemical engineering.
After the panel discussion, Ambassador Fu Cong answered the questions raised by the teachers and students one by one.
Eduard Apetrei, who studied criminology in Leuven, said that China and Europe have already produced fruitful results in scientific and technological cooperation, and hopes that more joint research in the field of social sciences can be carried out in the future to deepen understanding of each other's societies.
The audience asked questions. Photography by Chen Weihua.
Ambassador Fu Cong interacts with the students. Photography by Chen Weihua.
Gao Youyuan, a Chinese student studying for a PhD in chemical engineering at KU Leuven, said that there are many international students in his research group, who come from different countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland, but they have a very happy cooperation together.
He said that the Belgian classmates would explain to him the 600-year history of the founding of the University of Leuven, introduce scholars such as Erasmus and Mercator who came out of here, and he would also tell the Belgian classmates about the history of various Chinese dynasties.
After listening to Ambassador Fu Cong's speech, another Chinese student, Wang Jiahui, was very much looking forward to the future academic exchanges between China and Europe. Wang Jiahui said that high-level academic exchanges are conducive to bridging the gap between China and the EU and understanding each other. She hopes that more Chinese students will come to Europe in the future, and that her European friends will visit China.
At the 24th China-EU Summit held in Beijing on December 7 last year, the two sides agreed that people-to-people exchanges are an important cornerstone of China-EU relations, hoped to accelerate the resumption of people-to-people exchanges and people-to-people exchanges, and agreed to hold a new meeting of the China-EU High-level Dialogue Mechanism on People-to-People Exchanges in 2024.
The scene of the lecture and discussion. Photo by Zhang Xingran.
*: China**Net.