On the evening of January 12, 2018, the Foreign Ministry and the People's Government of Beijing Municipality jointly held the 2018 new year reception for foreign correspondents in China at the Capital Museum. Assistant Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Member of Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Executive Vice Mayor of Beijing Zhang Gong attended the reception. Spokesperson and Director-General of the Information Department of the Foreign Ministry Lu Kang chaired the reception.

Qin Gang expressed in his speech that the year 2017 was a quite extraordinary year for China. The 19th CPC National Congress was successfully convened, at which new blueprints for China’s future development were planned, and new goals as well as new missions were put forward, making socialism with Chinese characteristics enter a new era. China has made a solemn appeal to the whole world to jointly build a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind. China has enjoyed continuous and steady economic growth, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of 80 trillion yuan and with more than 10 million rural people being lifted out of poverty. China has contributed over one third of the world economic growth, making the country’s role as a stabilizer of world economy more evident. Meanwhile, China’s relations with the world have been standing at a new historical starting point. President Xi Jinping has expounded China’s stances on, contributed Chinese wisdom and proposed China’s solutions to such issues as globalization and free trade, regional cooperation and global governance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the G20 Summit, APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and other multilateral occasions. The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and the ninth BRICS Summit were successfully held. China’s initiatives have increasingly gained the international community’s approval and support, and the Chinese Dream is connected more closely with the World’s Dream.

Qin Gang said that the year 2018 marks the start of comprehensively implementing the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress, and also marks the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening-up policy. The general mission of 2018 is the implementation and advancement, and China will present a new look, showcase new deeds and undertake new responsibilities. China will, in accordance with the blueprints and requirements of the 19th CPC National Congress, carry the reform through to the end and deepen the opening up. China will focus on the three tough battles, namely, preventing major risks, targeted poverty alleviation and pollution control. China will stay focused and carefully engage in our own business well, and China’s stable development is a contribution to the world. China could not make such great achievements from reform and opening up without the world’s support and cooperation. In the new era, China has the responsibility as well as capacity to share development opportunities with various countries. China will continuously strengthen friendly cooperation and exchanges with various countries in the world, in a bid to jointly promote the building of a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice and win-win cooperation, as well as jointly build a clean and beautiful world with everlasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness and inclusiveness. It is the lofty goal of China's diplomacy and also the greatest common divisor of the best wishes of the people across the world.

Qin Gang expressed that in 2018, China will host a series of home-field diplomatic activities, including the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Qingdao Summit, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit, and the first China International Import Expo. Leaders of China will still have a busy diplomatic agenda, and there will still be many visiting foreign leaders. China will continue living a busy and fulfilling life in a world that is undergoing great development, major transformation and major adjustment. Foreign correspondents in China are witnesses of China’s development as well as tellers of China’s stories. China continues welcoming foreign correspondents in China to report on China in a fair and objective manner, and jointly witness China’s development in the new era as well as the significance of its development to the world.

Nearly 600 people were present at the reception, including foreign correspondents in China, foreign diplomats in China, principals of some central ministries and commissions as well as relevant departments of People's Government of Beijing Municipality and heads of China’s mainstream media.